Name Nerds

Top 100 Names in the UK That Weren't As Popular in the USA Recently I found a dataset (and you know how much I LOVE datasets!) from the UK Office of Statistics that details the top 100 baby names i...

Though the UK & USA have a lot in common, we don't always see eye to eye on baby names. Here are some names that were more popular in the UK than the USA in the past 120 years. tinyurl.com/379ph3v4
#babynames #names #ukvsusa #boynames #girlnames #popularnames #namefashion #nametrends

Presidential Children, Wives and Name Popularity Happy Presidents' Day!  Presidential names have always been popular in the USA. According to the Social Security Name Database , In 2021, t...

Happy Presidents' Day! Do presidents' names influence names in the general population? The answer is... sometimes. Here's a blog post about it! tinyurl.com/4dp556d5 #babynames #USpresidents #presidentsday #popularnames #onomastics #boynames #girlnames #elizabeth #nametrends

Have you met a baby Buford or Euless lately? Probably not, as these names have gone extinct! Here's a post about boys' names that haven't been used in the last 100 years. Included are some Japanese names, though not as many as there are for girls (see previous post) tinyurl.com/4fdh8anx
#babynames

Names ending in long E that sound nicknamey to today's ears were also used for boys from 1880-1926. Here are all the -E names that were in the SSA Database. The second chart is all the -E names that were still used in 2025. Full post: tinyurl.com/586wzxv3
#babynames #boynames #namefashion #nicknames

Nicknamey-sounding names have been used since at least the 1880s. In fact, they were much more widespread back then! Here are all the -ie names found in the SSA database from 1880-1926, and the ones from back then that are still used today. #babynames #namefashion
more here: tinyurl.com/yxh53b43

Extinct Girls' Names Are you looking for a name that is rare, but not unheard of? These are names that have gone extinct. That is, these names haven't appeared ...

Are you looking for a rare girls' name? Here's a post about names that have gone "extinct," that is, names that haven't appeared in the SSA database since 1926. There are some nice ones here, as well as some that sound very out of date today! #babynames #girlnames #namefashion

tinyurl.com/4v5usvet

Lots of similar-sounding names piggyback on the sound of other names once they get too popular, like Katelyn -> Kaylin, Tracy -> Lacy &Macy etc. One such name from the 1920s is #Myrtis. Read all about this name here: tinyurl.com/y8b5ne9c
#names #babynames #oldnames #unusualnames #girlnames

In England, until mid 19th century, Maria was pronounced like Mariah, Sophia was /so FYE a/. Lydia, Lucia, Julia & Theodosia followed suit. Continental European influence changed the standard pronunciations in the 1800s, and and an H was added to distinguish Maria from Mariah. #babynames #namefacts

It has a lot of spellings because MEGAN can be pronounced /MEG in/, /MEE gin/ or /MAY gin/ and many of the spellings reflect that.

#Megan debuted in 1922 in the SSA DB. Since then, 57 spellings were added, last being Meghyn in 2009. It is a Welsh pet form of Margaret, but everyone thinks it's Irish because of the character in the 1977 novel & 1983 miniseries "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough. #babynames #givennames

641 Boys names were added to the SSA database in 2024. there's not enough room for all, so a selection is below. (full list on sheet2 tinyurl.com/yuzvc8ta.) Lahiam was the top debut with 152 babies (+8 Lahyams). Xyleek was #2 with 115 babies (+19 Zyleeks) #babynames #names #unusualnames #boynames

Oh yeah, I loved that song! I was a senior in high school lol (I'm old)

Number names are ejoying popularity now. Seven is the most common, adding multiple spellings in recent years for both sexes. Though we lost Primus and Nyne declined for boys, we added Five and more spellings of Six in 2024! Eleven is still a contender for girls thanks to #strangerthings. #babynames

Oops, I posted the wrong image in the last post. Here are the biggest dropping boys' names from 2023-2024. Poor Darikson! Likewise, people have less love for Nyne, Dj, Khaliq, Levitt, Yamari, Hannan, Ithiel, & Esli.
#babynames #boynames #usanames #names #givennames #firstnames #popularnames

The changes in the Boys' 2024 top list for the USA from 2023 are Here: tinyurl.com/yuzvc8ta. The 1st sheet has all the stats 2023/24 & 2nd sheet has the added names & dropouts. Here are some highlights:
#names #babynames #boynames #popularnames #usanames

2024 Boys Names grouped by spelling are up! Full list: tinyurl.com/2024boys Top 150 below. Moving up: Arthur, Crew, Bodhi, Enzo, Emiliano, Thiago. Moving down: Mason, Axel, Carson, Aaron, Lincoln, Jameson, Zayden, Jasper, Kai, Hunter, Zion
-o is in! -on is out!
#babynames #names #boynames #popular

Aed (modern Aodh) was the name of a god, meaning "fire"- modern surnames McHugh, McCoy, etc. are derived from this, and the first name Aidan is a diminutive of Aed. Midir probably is borrowed from another language, but it isn't known in any other form.

hahah their names are a weird mixture of Old Irish versions and modern spellings: Aengas is Óengus in Old Irish, Brigit is Bríd, Bodb Derg isn't really a name, it probably means "red crow", Cermait is legit,-- the surname Carmody comes from this (modern spelling is Cearmaid).

The cats are Chicken and Leroy, the fish are Euphemia and Edith, and the turtle is Stellan (Stella until we discovered he was a boy)

Yes, I have 2 cats, 2 goldfish, a turtle, and 5 roommates!

being used as a short form of Jessica, a name coined by Shakespeare for his play the Merchant of Venice. He probably based it on the obscure biblical Hebrew name Yiska, translated Iscah & sometimes Jesca in English. It started being given to girls in the 1800s and gained popularity in the 1960s.

Names that sound related but aren't: #Jesse (boys' name) and Jessie (girls' name). Jesse is an English form of the biblical Hebrew Yishai, meaning "gift" via the Greek form, Iessai. Jessie was originally a Scottish short form of Jean or Janet (tinyurl.com/5xz2vfa8). In the 20th century, it started

Jessie was used as a dim of Jean/Janet in Scotland. It comes from Seasag or Seasaidh, which were dims of Seonaid, the Gaelic feminine form of John. #Jessica didn't become widely used until the 20th century. It was originally coined by Shakespeare for his play #themerchantofvenice. #babynames

Names you didn't know were related: #Jenny & #Jessie. They are known as short for Jennifer & Jessica now, but they are much older. Since medieval times, Jenny was a diminutive of Jane, the common English feminine form of John. Its association with Jennifer didn't come until the 20th century.

2024 Top Girls' Names in the USA The 2024 SSA List of top names is up! I have grouped them by spelling. The quick results of the top 100 is thus: The full list is here:  T...

Sophia has been the #1 girls' name in the USA since 2007 when it dethroned Emily! Isabella briefly took the top spot in 2009, but Sophia's supremacy is almost old enough to vote! Blog post here: tinyurl.com/469be7ff #babynames #sophia #sofia #names #USAnames #popularnames #girlnames

Here is the top 100 girls' names of 2024 grouped by spelling. The most popular spelling is listed in this chart. The full list is here: tinyurl.com/5n8wewts. Some highlights: #Ailani is up 210 places, #Alana is up 30 places, and #Daisy is up 43 places. #babynames #girlnames #popularnames #names2024

awww I love her!

Ok, but first prove you are a robot

2025 Name Debuts: Girls

try this link; the above link seems kind of wonky: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

The biggest debut was the name Yashna with 170 namesakes, along with 17 Yashnareddys, 5 Yashnasris & 26 Yeshnas. Other big debuts were Azeira (65), Dalzary (44), Ailanys (34), Zayelle (30), & Heyssel (29). Better list here: tinyurl.com/57tu3nun
#names #babynames #USAnames #popularnames #girlnames