How popular is the baby name Birdie in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Birdie.
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While the name Nipsey didn’t debut in 2019, Nispey Hussle’s legal first name, Ermias, was the fastest-rising boy name of 2019 (in terms of relative increase).
Dua, one of the rising names in last year’s game, stayed perfectly level this time around — exactly 72 baby girls in both ’18 and ’19. (In the UK, on the other hand, Dua’s usage increased quite a bit.)
What are your thoughts on the results this year? Did anything surprise you?
[The usual disclaimer: Some of the names above were already moving in the direction indicated. Others were influenced by more than a single pop culture person/event. In each case, I leave it up to you to judge the degree/nature of pop culture influence.]
Babsie Babsie was a character played by actress Olympe Bradna in the film Souls at Sea (1937).
Babsy Babsy was a character played by actress Ruth Robinson in the film Under Eighteen (1931).
Baclanova Olga Baclanova, often credited simply as Baclanova, was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1940s. She was born in Russia in 1896.
Balu Balu was a character played by actress Kathlyn Williams in the short film The Leopard’s Foundling (1914).
Bara Bara was a character played by actress Edythe Sterling in the film The Ghost Wagon (1915).
Bebe Bebe Daniels was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1950s. She was born in Texas in 1901. Her birth name was Phyllis Virginia Daniels.
Belinha Belinha De Rezende was a character played by actress Dolores del Rio in the film Flying Down to Rio (1933).
Belita Belita was an actress and figure skater who appeared in films from the 1940s to the 1960s. She was born in England in 1923. Her birth name was Belita Gladys Olive Lyne Jepson-Turner.
Usage of the baby name Belita (which debuted in the data in 1943).
Belva Belva McKay was an actress who appeared in films in the 1920s. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1904.
Bertalda Bertalda was a character played by actress Marguerite Snow in the short film Undine (1912).
Bertha Bertha Kalich was an actress who appeared in films in the 1910s. She was born in Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine) in 1874. Bertha was also a character name in multiple films, including Fisher Folks (short, 1911) and Caravan (1946).
Bertie Bertie Pitcairn was an actress who appeared in films in the 1910s. Bertie was also a character played by actress Wanda Hawley in the film Let Women Alone (1925).
Beryl Beryl Mercer was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1930s. She was born in England in 1876. Beryl Morhange was an actress who appeared in 1 film in 1915. Beryl was also a character name in multiple films, including Only the Maid (short, 1915) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939).
Beulah Beulah Bondi was an actress who appeared in films from the 1930s to the 1960s. She was born in Illinois in 1889. Beulah was also a character name in multiple films, including Beulah (1915) and The Martyr Sex (1924).
Binnie Binnie Barnes was an actress who appeared in films from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was born in England in 1903. Binnie was also a character name in multiple films, including Children of Chance (1930) and Big House (1938).
Blanche Blanche Friderici was an actress who appeared in films from the 1920s to 1930s. She was born in New York in 1878. Blanche Sweet was an actress who appeared in films from the 1900s to the 1950s. She was born in Illinois in 1896. Blanche was also a character name in multiple films, including The War o’ Dreams (short, 1915) and The Wild Party (1923).
Blanchette Blanchette was a character played by actress Marguerite Snow in the film The Patriot and the Spy (1915).
Blanny Blanny Wheeler was a character played by actress May Allison in the film Fair and Warmer (1919).
Blanquette Blanquette was a character played by various actresses (such as Madge Stuart and Margaret Lockwood) in various movies called The Beloved Vagabond, all based on the novel of the same name by William John Locke.
Blossy Blossy Waveney was a character played by actress Olive Sloane in the film The Door That Has No Key (1921).
Bodil Bodil Rosing was an actress who appeared in films from the 1920s to the 1940s. She was born in Denmark in 1877. Bodil Ipsen was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1960s. She was born in Denmark in 1889.
Bona Bona was a character name in multiple films, including The Silken Spider (short, 1916) and The Wine Girl (1918).
Bonita Bonita Granville was an actress who appeared in films from the 1930s to the 1980s. She was born in Illinois in 1923. Bonita was also a character name in multiple films, including A Question of Seconds (1912) and Arizona (1913).
Bunty Bunty Payne was an actress who appeared in films from the 1930s to the 1940s. She was born in England in 1912. Her birth name was Gladys Helena Pain. Bunty was also a character played by actress Ilka Chase in the film The Careless Age (1929).
Burahami Burahami was a character played by actress Gladys Frazin in the film Kiss Me Sergeant (1932).
Buria Buria was a character played by actress Maude Eburne in the film The Warrior’s Husband (1933).
Burnu Burnu Acquanetta was an actress who appeared in films from the 1940s to the 1990s. She was born in Wyoming in 1921. Her birth name was Mildred Davenport.
Butterfly Butterfly McQueen was an actress who appeared in films from the 1930s to the 1980s. She was born in Florida in 1919. Her birth name was Thelma McQueen.
According to the government of College Station (in Texas), the most popular baby names in the Texas city in 2019 were Olivia and Aiden.
Here are College Station’s top 3 girl names and top 3 boy names of 2019:
Girl Names
Olivia, 17 baby girls
Emma, 12
Harper, 11
Boy Names
Aiden, 11 baby boys (tie)
Liam, 11 (tie)
Grayson, 10
In the girls’ top 3, Olivia replaces Ava.
The boys’ top 3 is entirely new: Aiden, Liam, and Grayson replace James, Jackson, and Aaron.
The most popular middle names were Grace, Rose, and Marie (for girls) and James, Lee/Leigh, and Michael (for boys).
Some of the interesting first-middle combinations bestowed last year include Alpha Dewdrop, Birdie Scout, Brontayveai Imblessed, Castyn Maverick, Indie River, Klutch Christian, Piston Jayne, Rupert Badlands, Tesla Eden, and Zoiimi My’Life.
In 2018, the top two names in College Station were Emma and James.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a reader looking for lists of old-fashioned double names. She was aiming for names like Thelma Dean, Eula Mae, and Gaynell — names that would have sounded trendy in the early 1900s. She also mentioned that she’d started a list of her own.
So I began scouring the interwebs. I tracked down lists of old-fashioned names, and lists of double names…but I couldn’t find a decent list of double names that were also old-fashioned.
I loved the idea of such a list, though, so I suggested that we work together to create one. She generously sent me the pairings she’d collected so far, and I used several different records databases to find many more.
I restricted my search to names given to girls born in the U.S. from 1890 to 1930. I also stuck to double names that I found written as single names, because it’s very likely that these pairings were used together in real life (i.e., that they were true double names and not merely first-middle pairings).
Pairings that seemed too timeless, like Maria Mae and Julia Rose, were omitted. I also took out many of the pairings that feature now-trendy names — think Ella, Emma, and Lucy — because they just don’t sound old-fashioned anymore (though they would have a few decades ago).
The result isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a decent sampling of real-life, old-fashioned double names. I’ve organized them by second name, and I also added links to popularity graphs for names that were in the SSA data during the correct time period (early 1900s).
I spotted plenty of other combinations that just didn’t happen to be written as single names in the records, so here’s a handy dandy little table to cover some of the other existing combinations…
Nope, this isn’t a post about a pink smoothies. “Feminine blend” was a phrase Henry Louis (H. L.) Mencken used in his 1919 book The American Language to describe a female name created by blending two other names together. Here are the feminine blends he lists:
Adelloyd
(Addie + Lloyd)
Adnelle
(Addison + Nellie)
Adrielle
(Adrienne + Belle)
Armina
(Ardelia + Wilhelmina)
Bethene
(Elizabeth + Christine)
Birdene
(Birdie + Pauline)
Charline
(Charles + Pauline)
Leilabeth
(Leila + Elizabeth)
Lunette
(Luna + Nettie)
Marjette
(Marjorie + Henrietta)
Maybeth
(May + Elizabeth)
Olabelle
(Ola + Isabel)
Olouise
(Olive + Louise)
Romiette
(Romeo + Juliette)
Rosella
(Rose + Bella)
If you had to use one of the above in real life, which one would you choose?