How popular is the baby name Mavourneen 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 Mavourneen.

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Popularity of the baby name Mavourneen


Posts that mention the name Mavourneen

Where did the baby name Moonyeen come from?

Actress Norma Talmage in the silent film "Smilin' Through" (1922)
Norma Talmadge in “Smilin’ Through

I wasn’t sure what to make of the names Moonyeen and Moonyean when I first spotted them in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1937: unlisted
  • 1936: 9 baby girls named Moonyeen
  • 1935: unlisted
  • 1934: 5 baby girls named Moonyean [debut]
  • 1933: 14 baby girls named Moonyeen
  • 1932: unlisted
  • […]
  • 1923: unlisted
  • 1922: 7 baby girls named Moonyeen [debut]
  • 1921: unlisted

Each appeared in the data exactly twice.

Where did the names come from, and why were they on the radar during the 1920s and ’30s?

Looks like they can be traced back to the Broadway play Smilin’ Through (1919), which featured a character named Moonyeen. The story was popularized by several film adaptations, including Smilin’ Through (1922), starring Norma Talmadge, and Smilin’ Through (1932), starring Norma Shearer. The 1932 version was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

In the story, Moonyeen was killed on her wedding day. Her fiancé John, now alone, harbored an all-consuming hatred of Moonyeen’s killer. But this came to a head many years later when Moonyeen’s niece (who John had adopted and raised as his own) happened to fall in love with the killer’s son.

I’m not entirely sure how the writers of the original Smilin’ Through came up with the name. My guess is that they based it on the Irish word muirnín, which means “darling” or “sweetheart.” It’s a term of endearment very similar to mo mhúirnín, “my darling,” which gave rise to the name Mavourneen.

Source: SSA

Image: Lobby card for Smilin’ Through (1922)

Maureen and Mavourneen: Too close for twin names?

Maureen O’Connor, former San Diego mayor (1986-1992), was charged with money laundering in federal court earlier this month.

I don’t know much about the situation, but I was intrigued to learn that Maureen had 12 siblings, including a twin sister with a very similar name — Mavourneen.

(The other siblings are Patrick, Michael, Dennis, Sharon, Dianne, Colleen, Sheila, Timothy, Karen, Thomas and Shawn.)

The names Maureen and Mavourneen (pronounced muh-VOOR-neen) are both Irish, but they have different etymologies:

Maureen is an anglicized form of Máirín, which is a pet form of Máire, which — like the English name Mary — is based on the French name Marie, which comes from the Latin name Maria. In ancient Rome, Maria was originally a feminine form of Marius, but it was later popularized as a version of the Hebrew name Miriam. The meaning of Miriam is unknown, though hypothesized definitions abound: “beloved,” “rebellious,” “strong sea,” “bitter sea,” “drop of the sea,” etc.

Mavourneen is an anglicized form of the Irish phrase mo mhúirnín, meaning “my darling.” It began as a term of endearment, but morphed into a given name probably when the song “Kathleen Mavourneen” (1837) became popular in the mid-1800s. (A number of the 19th-century Mavourneens I’ve tracked down were named “Kathleen Mavourneen.” Many of the 20th century Mavourneens too, actually.)

In terms of popularity, Maureen was one of the top 100 baby names in the U.S. from 1947 until 1954. Mavourneen, on the other hand, has never cracked the U.S. top 1,000.

And now the main question: What do you think of the names Maureen and Mavourneen for twins? Cute? Too close? Somewhere in between?

[Related post: How Similar Should Twin Names Be?]