How popular is the baby name Harry 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 Harry.
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According to the Government of South Australia, the most popular baby names in the state in 2019 were (again) Charlotte and Oliver.
Here are South Australia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:
Girl Names
Charlotte, 119 baby girls
Ava, 112
Olivia, 103
Grace, 93
Amelia, 86 (tie)
Willow, 86 (tie)
Isla, 83
Ivy, 79 (tie)
Sophie, 79 (tie)
Mia, 69
Boy Names
Oliver, 152 baby boys
Leo, 106
William, 102
Jack, 101 (tie)
Noah, 101 (tie)
Henry, 99
Charlie, 94
Oscar, 90
Harvey, 81 (tie)
Mason, 81 (tie)
In the girls’ top 10, Ivy replaces Harper.
In the boys’ top 10, Oscar, Harvey and Mason replace Harrison, Lucas and Harry. Notably, Oscar’s usage increased by three dozen baby boys, and Harvey’s usage increased by 20.
According to data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in the country in 2019 were — yet again! — Emily and Jack.
Here are Ireland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:
Girl Names
Emily, 452 baby girls
Grace, 426
Fiadh, 334
Sophie, 330
Hannah, 321
Amelia, 315
Ava, 313 (tie)
Ellie, 313 (tie)
Ella, 292
Mia, 289
Boy Names
Jack, 677 baby boys
James, 534
Noah, 502
Conor, 427
Daniel, 399
Adam, 345
Liam, 334
Tadhg, 318
Luke, 317
Charlie, 316
Jack has been the top boy name since 2007 (with the exception of 2016) and Emily has been the top girl name since 2011.
In the girls’ top 10, Hannah returned and Emma dropped out.
In the boys’ top 10, Liam and Tadhg (pronounced tyeg, like the first syllable of “tiger”) replaced Harry and Michael.
The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the most popular baby names in England and Wales last year were, yet again, Olivia and Oliver.
Here are the top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:
Girl Names
Olivia, 4,082 baby girls
Amelia, 3,712
Isla, 2,981
Ava, 2,946
Mia, 2,500
Isabella, 2,398
Sophia, 2,332
Grace, 2,330
Lily, 2,285
Freya, 2,264
Boy Names
Oliver, 4,932 baby boys
George, 4,575
Noah, 4,265
Arthur, 4,211
Harry, 3,823
Leo, 3,637
Muhammad, 3,604
Jack, 3,381
Charlie, 3,355
Oscar, 3,334
In the girls’ top 10, Lily and Freya replace Emily and Ella. The boys’ top ten includes the same ten names as in 2018.
In the girls’ top 100, Lara and Mabel replace Aisha and Francesca. In the boys’ top 100, Alfred, Chester, Hudson, Ibrahim and Oakley replace Alex, Dexter, Dominic, Kai, Sonny and Tobias.
The fastest risers within the top 100 were Hallie (on the girls’ list) and Tommy (on the boys’).
Several names that saw increased usage due to pop culture were…
The girl name Dua, now at an all-time high thanks to English pop singer Dua Lipa, whose parents were Kosovar refugees.*
The boy name Kylo, thanks to the Star Wars sequel trilogy. (Kylo debuted in 2015, the year the first film was released.)
The boy name Taron, likely due to actor Taron Egerton, featured in the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman.
Here are the top ten lists for England and Wales separately, if you’d like to compare the regions…
Finally, here are some of the rare baby names from the other end of the rankings. Each one was given to exactly 3 babies in England and Wales last year.
The baby name Makeba started appearing in the U.S. baby name data in the early 1960s:
1966: 8 baby girls named Makeba
1965: unlisted
1964: 5 baby girls named Makeba
1963: 5 baby girls named Makeba
1962: 5 baby girls named Makeba
1961: unlisted
1960: unlisted
It saw peak usage in the early 1970s.
What launched the name?
South African singer Miriam Makeba, who was born near Johannesburg in 1932 to a Xhosa father and a Swazi mother.
Her birth name was actually Zenzile, nickname Zenzi. (The English name Miriam was adopted later for career purposes.) According to Makeba, the name Zenzile means “you have no one to blame but yourself” or “you have done it to yourself.”
But “Zenzile Makeba” wasn’t her full name. Her full name was Zenzile Makeba Qgwashu Nguvama Yiketheli Nxgowa Bantana Balomzi Xa Ufun Ubajabulisa Ubaphekcli Mbiza Yotshwala Sithi Xa Saku Qgiba Ukutja Sithathe Izitsha Sizi Kkabe Singama Lawu Singama Qgwashu Singama Nqamla Nqgithi.
Why so long?
The reason for its length is that every child takes the first name of all his male ancestors. Often following the first name is a descriptive word or two, telling; about the character of the person, making a true African name somewhat like a story. This may sound most unusual to Americans, but it is the custom of my people.
Miriam Makeba began singing professionally in the early 1950s. In the late ’50s she met famous Jamaican-American singer Harry Belafonte, who introduced her to American audiences. Her fame grew (both in the U.S. and in Europe) during the ’60s, and she became “the first African artist to globally popularize African music.”
I haven’t had any luck tracking down the etymology of Makeba, but I know the name came from Miriam’s mother, Nomkomendelo Christina Makeba. The name Nomkomendelo means “the one whose father was commandeered” (as she was born on the day her father was forced to join the British army to help fight the Second Boer War).
Do you like the name Makeba?
Sources:
Makeba, Miriam and Nomsa Mwamuka. Makeba: The Miriam Makeba Story. Johannesburg: STE Publishers, 2004.
Here’s a curious one: Buff. It appeared in the SSA data in the middle of the 20th century as both a boy name and a girl name — but slightly more often as a girl name. The female usage was entirely in the 1950s:
1960: unlisted
1959: 5 baby girls named Buff
1958: unlisted
1957: unlisted
1956: 6 baby girls named Buff
1955: 15 baby girls named Buff
1954: 10 baby girls named Buff
1953: 6 baby girls named Buff
1952: 5 baby girls named Buff [debut]
1951: unlisted
What was the influence here?
An actress with an intriguingly gender-neutral name: Buff Cobb.
She was born Patrizia Chapman in Italy in 1927 to American parents. When she decided in her teens to become a film star, she created the stage name “Buff Cobb” from her mother’s nickname, Buffy, and her maternal grandfather’s surname, Cobb. (He was writer/humorist Irvin Cobb.)
While Buff’s film career didn’t pan out, she did tour with a company putting on Noël Coward’s play Private Lives in the late ’40s. During a stop in Chicago, she was interviewed for a radio show by a young reporter named Mike Wallace — most famous today for his work as a 60 Minutes correspondent from 1968 to 2006.
She and Mike got married in 1949 and began co-hosting a Chicago radio show, which led to two New York City TV shows (both live):
Mike and Buff (1951-1953), originally entitled Two Sleepy People, one of television’s first talk shows. “[T]he couple would engage in heated debate over a different topic each day, then try to settle their differences after interviewing experts.” One of Mike’s catchphrases on the show was: “Smarten up, Buff!” The show was sponsored by Pepsi and guests included Harry Belafonte and Mickey Spillane.
All Around the Town (1951-1952), an interview show typically broadcast from different parts of New York City.
A year after Mike and Buff was cancelled, the real Mike and Buff were also cancelled — they divorced in 1954. Buff appeared regularly on just one more TV show after that: the ’50s game show Masquerade Party, from 1953 to 1955. Usage of the (female) name Buff was highest during these years.
Do you like the name Buff for a baby girl? Do you like it more or less than Buffy and Buffie (both of which also debuted during the first half of the ’50s)?
Sources:
Gladstone, B. James. The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Life and Loves of Greg Bautzer. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013.
