How popular is the baby name Fergus 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 Fergus.

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Popularity of the baby name Fergus


Posts that mention the name Fergus

Top male names in Early Medieval Ireland

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Which names were the most popular among males in early medieval Ireland?

To find out, researcher Heather Rose Jones compiled a list of the most-used male names in the book Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae, “a collection of Irish genealogical material from the pre-Norman period (i.e., roughly pre-12th century).”

The 10 most-used names were…

  1. Áed, 248 instances
  2. Óengus/Áengus, 191
  3. Ailill, 145
  4. Fergus, 140
  5. Eochaid, 130
  6. Lugaid, 129
  7. Domnall, 120
  8. Cairpre, 109
  9. Conall, 108
  10. Cormac, 105

It’s pretty interesting that Áed came out on top, as Áed is the ultimate root of the Aidan-names (e.g. Ayden, Aedan, Adyn) that became so trendy during the first decade of the 2000s.

Other names in Ireland’s medieval top 100 include Crimthann, Crundmáel, Indrechtach, and Imchad. Click the link below to see the rest.

Source: 100 Most Popular Men’s Names in Early Medieval Ireland by Heather Rose Jones

Image: Adapted from Cliffs of Moher 3 by Carogonmu under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Popular baby names in British Columbia (Canada), 2018

According to British Columbia’s Vital Statistics Agency, the most popular baby names in the province in 2018 were Olivia and Liam.

Here are British Columbia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2018:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 246 baby girls
  2. Emma, 222
  3. Amelia, 170 (tie)
  4. Charlotte, 170 (tie)
  5. Chloe, 160
  6. Sophia, 149
  7. Ava, 148
  8. Isla, 137
  9. Emily, 134
  10. Abigail, 132

Boy Names

  1. Liam, 283 baby boys
  2. Lucas, 225
  3. Oliver, 211
  4. Benjamin, 200
  5. Logan, 183
  6. Ethan, 182
  7. Noah, 181 (tie)
  8. William, 181 (tie)
  9. James, 175
  10. Leo, 165

In the girls’ top 10, Isla replaced Hannah.

In the boys’ top 10, Leo replaced Owen.

Names used just five times each in 2018 include…

  • Girl names: Ayda, Bria, Clover, Dilnoor, Ever, Flora, Guneet, Havana, Irene, Jenny, Krystal, Lavinia, Magnolia, Opal, Pippa, Rosha, Sahej, Taryn, Waverly, Zia
  • Boy names: Adriel, Bjorn, Clyde, Drake, Eamon, Fergus, Graydon, Hamza, Ibraheem, Jagger, Kaya, Leland, Malikai, Ollie, Partap, Reginald, Smith, Tegh, Watson, Zephyr

In 2017, the top names were Olivia and Benjamin.

Source: Baby’s Most Chosen Names in British Columbia, 2018

Popular baby names in British Columbia (Canada), 2015

According to data released on December 30th by British Columbia’s Vital Statistics Agency, the most popular baby names in the province in 2015 were Emma and Oliver.

Here are British Columbia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl Names
1. Emma, 258 baby girls
2. Olivia, 256
3. Emily, 183
4. Sophia, 173
5. Ava, 163
6. Chloe, 159
7. Charlotte, 155
8. Abigail, 150
9. Amelia, 140
10. Ella, 133

Boy Names
1. Oliver, 217 baby boys
2. Ethan, 206
3. Liam, 203
4. Benjamin, 201
5. Lucas, 193
6. Alexander, 183 (tie)
7. Jacob, 183 (tie)
8. Mason, 177
9. William, 173
10. Hunter, 169

On the girls’ list, Emma replaced Olivia as the #1 name and Ella replaced Lily in the top 10.

On the boys’ list, Oliver replaced Ethan as the #1 name; Alexander and Hunter replaced Noah and Logan in the top 10.

BC Vital Statistics also attempted to come up with rankings that combined variant spellings:

Girl Names (spellings combined)
1. Emma
2. Olivia
3. Sophia/Sofia
4. Emily/Emilee/Emilie
5. Amelia/Emelia/Emilia

Boy Names (spellings combined)
1. Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson
2. Lucas/Lukas
3. Oliver
4. Ethan
5. Liam

But combining spellings isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. For instance, if “Amelia” is combined with “Emilia” (which is actually in the Emily family) then why wasn’t “Alivia” combined with “Olivia”? That would boost Olivia/Alivia into the #1 spot. And should “Eva” go with “Ava,” since they’re occasionally pronounced the same way…?

Here are some names from the other end of the rankings, each used just five times in 2015:

  • Girl Names: Anahat, Avreet, Bronwyn, Calla, Clementine, Deanna, Gaia, Harseerat, Jayla, Karis, Lynn, Mae, Mehar, Mirabelle, Ocean, Sailor, Senna, Sahej
  • Boy Names: Andrei, Apollo, Boaz, Brighton, Cory, Dorian, Elio, Fergus, Haroon, Indy, Jimmy, Jodh, Luciano, Nigel, Pasha, Stellan, Trent, Viraj

The news release also mentioned that the top names of 2016 would likely be Olivia and Lucas (according to data covering the year up to December 12). Here are the 2014 rankings.

Sources: British Columbia’s top baby names for 2015, Baby’s Most Chosen Names in British Columbia, 2015

Baby name needed: Boy name for Cian’s brother

A reader named Jamie writes:

Cian Joseph is two years old, and will be welcoming a little brother in May. My husband is Irish, and so we’re sticking with names from that region. We know the middle name will be James, but we’re hitting a road block on first names. So far the only name we both like is Declan, but our super-Irish last name includes 2 K-sounds and ends in -lin. They sound a little funny together.

My first thoughts were Desmond and Diarmaid (Dermot), which are both similar to Declan. There’s also a saint named Donnan. Speaking of saints, how about:

Brendan
Brogan
Eoghan
Ernan
Faolan
Fergus
Fintan
Flannan
Finnian
Garbhan
Grellan
Loman
Manchan
Mel
Murtagh
Odhran
Ronan
Ruadhan
Senan
Ultan

Most of the above are spelled other ways as well, which is convenient (as some versions are easier to pronounce in English, while others are closer to the original Irish).

Historical Irish kings had names like Niall (Neil), Domnall (Donald) and Ruaidri (Rory).

Looking to surnames, there are options like Brady, Grady, Murphy and Nolan.

Do you think any of the above sound particularly good with James? What other names would you suggest?

Update, 6/07: Scroll down to the last comment to find out which name Jamie chose…