How popular is the baby name Fantine 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 Fantine.

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Popularity of the baby name Fantine


Posts that mention the name Fantine

Pop culture baby name game, 2013

pop culture baby name game 2013

Every year on Britney Spears’s birthday (December 2) we start another round of the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game.

What is the Pop Culture Baby Name Game, you ask? Good question! It’s not a “game” really, but more of a group brainstorm. We try to guess which baby names became more popular during the year thanks to pop culture — music, movies, television, sports, politics, current events, products, etc.

I’ve searched for all the 2013 predictions we’ve made so far (in posts & comments) and listed them below. I also threw in a few more possibilities — mostly celebrity baby names. So here’s what we’re starting with:

  • Ace – Jessica Simpson’s baby boy, born in June
  • Armand or ArmieLone Ranger actor Armand “Armie” Hammer
  • Axl – Fergie’s baby boy, born in August
  • Bailey (per skizzo) – Grey’s Anatomy baby
  • Benedict (per Rita) – Benedict Cumberbatch
  • Bilbo (per elbowin) – The Hobbit character
  • Cressida or Cressie – Prince Harry’s girlfriend Cressida “Cressie” Bonas
  • Cricket – Busy Philipps’s baby girl, born in July
  • CypherAfter Earth character
  • D’Ussé – Jay Z-endorsed cognac
  • Elon – Tesla founder Elon Musk
  • Evanora (per skizzo) – Oz the Great and Powerful character
  • Everly – Channing Tatum’s baby girl, born in May
  • Evo (per elbowin) – Bolivian president Evo Morales
  • FantineLes Mis character (especially since the Oscars)
  • Finley (per skizzo) – Oz the Great and Powerful character
  • Francesco, Francis, Francisco – Pope Francis, elected in March
  • Gatsby (per skizzo) – movie The Great Gatsby
  • George – Kate and William’s royal baby boy, born in July
  • Harley (per skizzo) – Iron Man character
  • KitaiAfter Earth character
  • Ladar (per elbowin) – Lavabit owner Ladar Levison
  • Lincoln – movie Lincoln
  • Lula – Bryan Adams’s baby girl, born in February
  • Luna – Penelope Cruz’s baby girl, born in July
  • Macklemore – rapper Macklemore
  • Malala – young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai
  • Marnie – Lily Allen’s baby girl, born in January
  • Milan – Shakira’s baby boy, born in January
  • Minaj – singer Nicki Minaj
  • Neymar (per Rita) – Brazillian football player Neymar
  • North or Nori – Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s baby girl, born in June
  • Philomena – movie Philomena
  • Quvenzhané (per Rita) – child actress Quvenzhané Wallis
  • Rainbow – Holly Madison’s baby girl, born in March
  • Robin (per Rita) – singer Robin Thicke
  • Snowden – NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
  • Tesla – Tesla cars
  • TessanneThe Voice contestant winner Tessanne Chin
  • Thatcher (per Rita) – Margaret Thatcher, died in April
  • Theodora (per skizzo) – Oz the Great and Powerful character
  • Turbo – movie Turbo
  • Wendy – Texas politician Wendy Davis
  • Winnie – Jimmy Fallon’s baby girl, born in July
  • Yeezus or Yeezy – Kanye West album Yeezus
  • Zoella – beauty blogger Zoella

Wanna play? Tell me in the comments which baby names you think got a boost from pop culture in 2013. Don’t forget to mention the reason.

I’ll post the results of the game after the SSA updates the national baby name data in May. If you don’t want to miss the results post, subscribe to the blog!

Previous rounds of the Pop Culture Baby Name Game: 2012, 2011 #1, 2011 #2, 2010

How will “Les Miserables” influence baby names?

Poster for the movie "Les Misérables" (2012)
Poster for “Les Misérables

The latest film version of Les Misérables comes out on December 25.

The movie(s) and the musical are based on Victor Hugo’s book Les Misérables, which is set in France in the early 1800s — not long after the French Revolution.

The story is full of characters with interesting (dare I say enticing?) French names. Will any of them become trendy baby names once the movie is out? Perhaps!

Here are six likely contenders:

Cosette

  • Character: Cosette [ko-ZET]
  • Etymology: Unknown. Hugo may have based Cosette on the French word chosette, a diminutive of chose, “thing,” hence, “little thing.” He calls attention to the similarity between Cosette and chosette in this passage, in which Jean Valjean talks to Gavroche:

    “The letter is for Mademoiselle Cosette, is it not?”

    “Cosette?” Gavroche grumbled; “yes, I think it is that absurd name.”

    “Well,” Jean Valjean continued, “you have to deliver the letter to me; so give it here.”

    […]

    “Here it is.”

    And he handed the paper to Jean Valjean.

    “And make haste, Monsieur Chose, since Mamselle Chosette is waiting.”

  • Interesting fact: Cosette’s real name is Euphrasie, the French form of Euphrasia, meaning “good cheer” in ancient Greek. Neither Euphrasie nor Euphrasia has ever appeared on the SSA’s baby name list.
  • Popularity graph for Cosette (and spelling variant Cozette).

Éponine

  • Character: Éponine Thénardier
  • Etymology: Éponine is based on the name Epponina, which belonged to the loyal wife of Julius Sabinus, a Roman officer who rebelled against the Roman Empire. Hugo says Éponine’s mother discovered the name (and the name of Éponine’s sister, Azelma) while reading romance novels:

    [T]he female Thénardier was nothing but a coarse, vicious woman, who had dabbled in stupid romances. Now, one cannot read nonsense with impunity. The result was that her eldest daughter was named Eponine; as for the younger, the poor little thing came near being called Gulnare; I know not to what diversion, effected by a romance of Ducray-Dumenil, she owed the fact that she merely bore the name of Azelma.

  • Popularity graph for Eponine.

Fantine

  • Character: Fantine
  • Etymology: Unknown. Hugo says this about the origin of both Fantine and her name:

    Fantine was one of those beings who bloom, so to speak, out of the dregs of the people. Issuing from the lowest depths of the social darkness, she had on her forehead the stamp of the anonymous and the unknown. She was born at M—- on sur M—-. Of what parents? Who could say? She had never known either father or mother. She called herself Fantine. Why Fantine? She had never been known by any other name. At the period of her birth the Directory was still in existence. She had no family name, as she had no family; and no Christian name, as the church was abolished. She accepted the name given her by the first passer-by, who saw her running barefooted about the streets. She received a name as she received the water from the clouds on her head when it rained. She was called Little Fantine. No one knew any more.

  • Popularity graph for Fantine (…currently none, as the name is too rare to have ever appeared on the SSA’s baby name list).

Jean

  • Character: Jean Valjean
  • Etymology: Jean [ZHAWN] is the French form of John, which is ultimately derived from a Hebrew name meaning “God is gracious.”
  • Popularity graph for Jean.

Marius

  • Character: Marius Pontmercy
  • Etymology: Uncertain, though the name Marius “may be connected with Mars, the name of the god of war, or perhaps mas, maris ‘virile’.”
  • Popularity graph for Marius.

Valjean

  • Character: Jean Valjean
  • Etymology: Hugo says the surname is a contraction of voilà Jean:

    Jean Valjean came from a poor peasant family of Brie. He had not learned to read in his childhood. When he reached man’s estate, he became a tree-pruner at Faverolles. His mother was named Jeanne Mathieu; his father was called Jean Valjean or Vlajean, probably a sobriquet, and a contraction of voilà Jean, “here’s Jean.”

  • Popularity graph for Valjean.

Which of these names is most likely to take off in 2013, do you think?

Sources:

  • Éponine – Wikipedia
  • Hanks, Patrick, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
  • Roche, Isabel. Character and Meaning in the Novels of Victor Hugo. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2006.