Independent baby name blog & directory, est. 2006.
How popular is the baby name Bernard in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, see baby names similar to Bernard and check out all the blog posts that mention the name Bernard.
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Number of Babies Named Bernard Born in the U.S. Since 1880
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Avast! Did you know that today is Talk Like a Pirate Day?
“Arrr” itself doesn’t make a great name — even for pirates — but here’s the next best thing: over 120 names that feature the “ar”-sound.
Which of the “ar”-names above do you like best? Did I miss any good ones?
(Image from Pixabay)
Additions, 9/20:
Oodles of multiples — eight sets of twins, one set of triplets, six sets of quadruplets, and one set of quintuplets — were featured in an early 1944 issue of LIFE magazine. Most of these multiples had been born in the 1920s and 1930s.
Curious about the names? I knew you would be! Here they are, along with ages and other details.
Twins:
Triplets:
Quadruplets:
Quintuplets:
Which of these sets of names do you like best? Why?
Source: “Twins: Accident of Their Birth Sets Them Apart from Other People.” LIFE 6 Mar. 1944: 91-99.
(formerly Bernard McFadden)
His most successful business venture was his publishing empire, starting with Physical Culture magazine (1899-1955). This was followed by other magazines and over 100 books, including Virile Powers of Superb Manhood (1900) and Muscular Power and Beauty (1906).
He also organized bodybuilding competitions, opened health food restaurants, and even tried to found a community based on his beliefs called Physical Culture City. (It was in New Jersey.)
But he had plenty of detractors, including the editors of TIME magazine, who nicknamed him “Body-Love” Macfadden.
Speaking of names, Bernarr wasn’t born with the name Bernarr. His birth name was Bernard Adolphus McFadden. In his late 20s, while working in New York City as a personal trainer and physical therapist, he decided to rebrand himself. He ultimately settled on the distinctive “Bernarr Macfadden.” Here’s one version of the story:
Bernard Adolphus McFadden was a name that did not satisfy him. He had experimented with Bernard Adolphus, B. A. McFadden and B. Adolphus McFadden. Professor B. McFadden was not much of an improvement. Bernard sounded weak to him. If he accented the last syllable and substituted an R for the D, it would seem powerful, something like a lion’s roar — Bernarr, a unique name that people would remember. He dropped the Adolphus and, probably because there were so many McFaddens, he chose the name Macfadden, much to the resentment of his relatives scattered across the Midwest.
Bernarr Macfadden married several times and had a total of nine children — first six girls, then three boys. Their names were Helen, Byrne, Byrnece, Beulah, Beverly, Braunda, Byron, Berwyn, and Brewster. The B-names were clearly inspired by the “B” of Bernarr, and I suspect that Braunda was named with the word “brawn” in mind.
Sources:
Last month we looked at the top Providence names of 1867, so today let’s check out the rankings from the year before — 1866.
First, some stats:
And here’s some extra information I forgot to mention in the last post: In 1860, the city of Providence was home to 29.0% of Rhode Island’s population. In 1870, it was home to 31.7% of the population. So each of these 3 sets of rankings (1866, 1867, 1868) ought to account for roughly 30% of the residents of the state.
Now, on to the names…
The top 5 girl names and boy names of 1866 were, unsurprisingly, very similar to the top names of 1867.
| Top Baby Girl Names | Top Baby Boy Names |
|---|---|
|
1. Mary 2. Catherine 3. Ellen 4. Margaret 5. Sarah |
1. John 2. William 3. James 4. George 5. Thomas |
The girls’ top 5 is identical, while the boys’ top 5 includes Thomas instead of George.
As expected, Mary was the front-runner by a huge margin. And, while there were dozens of Catherines, and a single Catharine, there weren’t any Katherines.
John had an even more commanding lead in 1866 than in 1867.
(I didn’t combine any variant spellings, but I did lump the abbreviated names Chas., Benj., and Fred’k in with Charles, Benjamin and Frederick.)
*Does Augustavus = Augustus + Gustav, I wonder?
I counted 19 pairs of twins born in Providence in 1866. I didn’t notice any triplets this year. (All of these names have already been accounted for above.)
| Twins (b/b) | Twins (b/g) | Twins (g/g) |
|---|---|---|
|
Edgar & Oscar Edward & James Francis & James James & John John & Thomas (blank) & (blank) |
Frederick & Alice John & Alice Samuel & Sarah Stephen & Annie (blank) & Catherine |
Agnes & Anna Eldora & Ellen Eliza & Mary Elizabeth & Julia Frances & Mary Josephine & Mary Mary & Sarah Theresa & (blank) |
I’ll try to finish/post the final set of rankings before the end of the year.
Source: Snow, Edwin M. Alphabetical Lists of Persons Deceased, Born and Married in the City of Providence During the Year 1866. Providence: Hammond, Angell & Co., 1867.
The registrar of Providence, Rhode Island, published a series of documents listing all “of the names of persons deceased, born and married in the city of Providence” during years 1866, 1867 and 1868. The series may have been longer, but these are the only documents I could find online.
I’ve finally finished creating a set of rankings using one of the documents — 1867. But before we get to the rankings, here are some stats:
And now, on to the names…
A quick look at the top 5 girl names and boy names in Providence in 1867:
| Top Baby Girl Names | Top Baby Boy Names |
|---|---|
|
1. Mary 2. Catherine 3. Ellen 4. Margaret 5. Sarah |
1. John 2. William 3. James 4. Charles 5. George |
Notice how the #1 name, Mary, was bestowed three times as often as the #2 name, Catherine.
*Elmer, who had the middle initial “E.,” was likely named after Civil War casualty Elmer E. Ellsworth.
Twenty-one sets of twins and two sets of triplets were born in Providence in 1867. (All of these names were accounted for above — I just thought it’d be fun to check out the sibsets.)
| Twins (b/b) | Twins (b/g) | Twins (g/g) | Triplets |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Abraham & George Charles & George Charles & John Daniel & David Dunlap & Frank Eugene & Timothy George & John George & William James & John John & Martin |
Albert & Harriet Ashel & Ida George & Grace James & Mary Maurice & Ann |
Annie & Fannie Annie & Mary Ann & Ellen Jennie & Minnie Margaret & Martha (blank) & (blank) |
Carl, (blank) & (blank) James, Alexander & Sarah |
I’ll post Providence’s 1866 and 1868 rankings as soon I get them done. Until then, here are two older posts featuring uniquely named Rhode Islanders: Aldaberontophoscophornia (b. 1812) and Idawalley (b. 1842).
Sources:
Deneen is the million-dollar baby name mystery. It saw a massive spike in usage in 1964, and I had no idea why for years. Only recently have I stumbled upon a plausible explanation.
But first let’s check out the numbers. Here’s how many U.S. baby girls were named Deneen (or a variant) from 1963 to 1966, sorted by 1964 levels of usage:
| Name | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deneen | 22 | 1,604 | 421 | 223 |
| Denine | 17 | 133 | 101 | 71 |
| Daneen | 29 | 132 | 85 | 70 |
| Dineen | 10 | 68 | 43 | 35 |
| Denene | 7 | 66 | 38 | 31 |
| Denean | 7 | 58 | 61 | 40 |
| Danine | 7 | 29 | 23 | 31 |
| Danene | 12 | 24 | 18 | 11 |
| Deneane | – | 24* | 11 | 9 |
| Deneene | – | 24* | 13 | 14 |
| Danean | – | 14* | 14 | 6 |
| Deeneen | – | 12** | – | – |
| Doneen | 7 | 11 | – | 9 |
| Dennine | – | 10* | 7 | 7 |
| Deneena | – | 7** | – | – |
| Deniene | – | 7* | – | – |
| Dennen | – | 7** | – | – |
| Donene | – | 7 | – | – |
| Deaneen | – | 5** | – | – |
| Deneem | – | 5** | – | – |
| Dinene | – | 7** | – | |
| TOTALS | 118 | 2,247 | 842 | 557 |
*Debut, **One-hit wonder
According to the state-by-state data, Deneen usage tended to be highest in the most populous states. This isn’t much of a clue, but it does tell us that the influence was national (e.g., movie, music) and not regional (e.g., college sports, local politician).
For a long time my only guess on Deneen was the same guess Hilary Parker made in her poisoned baby names post: musical duo August & Deneen. But their hit single “We Go Together” came out in 1968 — long after the 1964 baby name spike. So August & Deneen clearly isn’t the answer.
About a month ago I tried another Deneen search. This time around I found a recent thread on Deneen at the Baby Name Wizard forum. According to intel gathered by forum members, Deneen could have been popularized by a ’60s commercial for Ivory dishwashing liquid.
At first I wasn’t so sure. The only vintage Ivory commercials I could find online were for Ivory Snow laundry detergent and, while many of these did feature names (e.g., Allison, Betsy, Bonnie, Debbie, Esther, Joy, Kerry, Kimberly, Michelle, Terry) the names were never on-screen. You don’t get a spelling-specific name spike if the influence is audio-only.
Then I noticed, lower down in the thread, that someone included a link to a single Ivory dishwashing liquid commercial from 1962. The spot featured a mother-daughter pair, “Mrs. Bernard Pugar and Dana,” and their names were indeed shown on-screen for several seconds. Now this looked promising.
I’ve since tracked down a similar Ivory commercial featuring “Mrs. Blake Clark” and her daughter Nicky, though Nicky’s name was never shown on-screen. No luck finding a Deneen version yet.
So I’ll just sit tight and hope that, one day, someone uploads the commercial in question and puts this whole Deneen baby name mystery to rest. :)
In the meanwhile, some questions:
P.S. Djuna popped up on the baby name charts in 1964 as well. I’m declaring 1964 the year of the mysteriously trendy D-names.
Here’s another “biggest changes” analysis, but this one is for the England and Wales boy names. (We looked at the girl names yesterday.)
The tables below include two versions of each list. On the left are the top raw-number differences, taking all names into account. On the right are the top ranking differences, taking only the top 1,000 names (roughly) into account.
Biggest Increases in Popularity
| Raw Numbers (all names) | Rankings (top 1,000) |
|---|---|
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I think the rise of Oscar can be attributed, at least in part, to Oscar Pistorius. Can you think of explanations for any of the other names? (I’d especially like to know what gave Buster a boost.)
Biggest Decreases in Popularity
| Raw Numbers (all names) | Rankings (top 1,000) |
|---|---|
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A lot of Ry- and Ri- names took hits last year. Is the sound falling out of the favor? What do you think?
Top Debut Name
Gurfateh.
Fewer than 3 baby boys got the name in 2012, but 12 baby boys were named Gurfateh in 2013. (But keep in mind that I only have the full England and Wales baby name lists going back to 2007.)
Here are the U.S. boy names that changed the most in popularity in 2013, if you’d like to compare.