How popular is the baby name Blanche in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Blanche.

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Popularity of the baby name Blanche


Posts that mention the name Blanche

Unusual name: Bessica

American Pilot Bessica Raiche (1875-1932)
Bessica Raiche

Did you know that the first woman in the U.S. to fly a plane solo (intentionally*) was named Bessica?

Dr. Bessica “Bessie” Raiche (1875-1932) flew her homemade airplane on September 16, 1910, in Hempstead Plains, New York. It was her first time flying a plane, and during the short flight she “skimmed over the airfield a few feet off the ground.”

A month later, Aeronautical Society of America presented Bessica with a gold medal inscribed to “the first woman aviator of America.”

Bessica was a medical doctor, and she flew planes for only a short time before moving to California and resuming her medical practice.

Her mother’s name was Elizabeth, so I’m guessing “Bessica” was based on Bess, the diminutive of Elizabeth.

Do you like the name Bessica? Would you use it for a modern-day baby girl?

*Two weeks earlier, pilot Blanche Stuart Scott had unintentionally become airborne while taxiing a plane.

Sources:

The 24 children of Isaac Singer

Businessman Isaac M. Singer (1811-1875).
Isaac Singer

A reader got in touch recently to ask about several unusual names. One of them was “Vouletti,” which belonged to a daughter of Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875).

Isaac Singer is best remembered for his successful sewing machine manufacturing company, founded in 1851 and still going strong today. Also notable, though, is the fact that he had a total of 24 children with five different wives and mistresses.

With Maria Haley, he had two children:

  • William Adam (b. 1834)
  • Lillian C. (b. 1837)

With Mary Ann Sponsler, he had ten children:

  • Isaac Augustus (b. 1837)
  • Vouletti Theresa (b. 1840)
  • Fanny Elizabeth (b. 1841)
  • John Albert (b. circa 1843)
  • Jasper Hamet (b. 1846)
  • Julia Ann (b. circa 1847)
  • Mary Olivia (b. 1848)
  • Charles Alexander (1850-1852)
  • Caroline Virginia (b. 1857)
  • …plus one more

With Mary McGonigal, he had five children:

  • Ruth
  • Clara
  • Florence
  • Margaret
  • Charles Alexander (b. 1859)

With Mary E. Walters, he had one child:

  • Alice Eastwood (b. 1852)

With Isabella Eugenie Boyer (of France), he had six children:

  • Adam Mortimer (b. 1863)
  • Winnaretta Eugenie (b. 1865)
  • Washington Merritt Grant (b. 1866)
  • Paris Eugene (b. 1867) – Palm Beach developer, namesake of Singer Island
  • Isabelle Blanche (b. 1869)
  • Franklin Morse (b. 1870)

These are traditional names for the most part, which makes “Vouletti” all the more intriguing.

Vouletti Singer was born in 1840, married William Proctor in 1862, had three children, and died in 1913. Though her name was definitely spelled Vouletti — that’s the spelling passed down to various descendants, and the one used by her friend Mercedes de Acosta in the poem “To Vouletti” — I found it misspelled a lot: “Voulitti” on the 1855 New York State Census, “Voulettie” on the 1900 U.S. Census, “Voulettie” again in a Saturday Evening Post article from 1951.

So…where does it come from?

I have no clue. I can’t find a single person with the given name Vouletti who predates Vouletti Singer. I also can’t find anyone with the surname Vouletti. (There was a vaudevillian with the stage name “Eva Vouletti,” but she doesn’t pop up until the early 1900s.)

Theater could be a possibility, as Isaac Singer was an actor in his younger days. Perhaps Vouletti was a character name he was familiar with?

My only other idea is the Italian word violetti, which means “violet.” Her parents might have coined the name with this word in mind.

Do you have any thoughts/theories about the unusual name Vouletti?

Pennsylvania family with 25 children

kinderfest

In late 1899, multiple newspapers ran the story of Mary Swartwood of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Why? Because she had just welcomed her 25th child.

She was only in her early 40s, but had married her husband (Samuel) at the age of 14 and had welcomed her first baby at the age of 15.

Here are the names and birth years of all 25 Swartwood kids:

  1. Walter, 1872
  2. Louis, 1873
  3. Thaddeus, 1875
  4. Maud, 1876
  5. Cora, 1877
  6. Blanche, 1878
  7. Mabel, 1879
  8. Herbert, 1880
  9. Warren, 1881
  10. Elsie, 1882
  11. Samuel, 1884
  12. Daniel, 1885
  13. Ruth, 1886
  14. Alonzo, 1889 (twin)
  15. Gertrude, 1889 (twin)
  16. Elmer, 1890
  17. Calvin, 1891
  18. Florence, 1892
  19. Esther, 1893 (twin)
  20. Benjamin, 1893 (twin)
  21. Earl, 1895
  22. Jessie, 1896
  23. Edith, 1897
  24. Lottie, 1898
  25. Arthur, 1899

Out of the 25 names on the list, which girl name and which boy name do you like best?

Source: “25 Children in 27 Years.” Hartford Weekly Times 26 Oct. 1899: 6.

Gaiety Girl names: Gertie, Gaby, Ellaline

English actress Lily Elsie (1886-1962)
Lily Elsie

Before there were Follies girls, there were Gaiety Girls.

The Gaiety Girls were showgirls who appeared in Edwardian musical comedies at London’s Gaiety Theatre during the 1890s.

English actress Gabrielle Ray (1883-1973)
Gabrielle Ray

There’s no definitive list of all the Gaiety Girls, but here are the stage names (and birth names) of several dozen of them:

Stage NameBirth Name
Alice DelysiaAlice Lapize
Billie CarletonFlorence Stewart
Blanche MasseyBlanch Massey
Camille CliffordCamilla Clifford
Cicely CourtneidgeEsmerelda Cicely Courtneidge
Connie GilchristConstance Gilchrist
Constance CollierLaura Constance Hardie
Denise OrmeJessie Smither
Dorothy MintoDorothy Scott
Eleanor “Nellie” SourayEllen Mary Souray
Ellaline TerrissMary Ellaline Terriss
Evelyn LayeElsie Evelyn Lay
Florence SmithsonFlorence Smithson
Gaby DeslysMarie-Elise-Gabrielle Caire
Gabrielle RayGabrielle Cook
Gertie MillarGertrude Millar
Gina PalermeMarie Louise Irène de Maulmont
Gladys CooperGladys Cooper
Irene Desmond(unknown)
Irene Richards(unknown)
Jessie Matthews(unknown)
José CollinsCharlotte Josephine Collins
Kitty GordonConstance Blades
Lily ElsieElsie Hodder
Mabel LoveMabel Watson
Mabel RussellMabel Russell
Mamie Watson(unknown)
Marie StudholmeCaroline Maria Lupton
May EtheridgeMay Etheridge
May Gates(unknown)
Moya NugentMoya Nugent
Olive MayOlive Mary Meatyard
Phyllis DarePhyllis Constance Haddie Dones (sister of Zena)
Rosie BooteRose Boote
Sylvia GreySylvia Grey
Sylvia StoreySylvia Storey
Zena DareFlorence Hariette Zena Dones (sister of Phyllis)

Which of the above names do you like best?

Sources: Gaiety Girls – Wikipedia, Gaiety Girls exhibition – National Portrait Gallery