How popular is the baby name Millicent 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 Millicent.
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The 2012 U.S. presidential election was held two days ago, on November 6th.
The day before the election, Chris and Wendi Bench of Utah welcomed a baby boy and named him Senator. Wendi said, “I’m not really sure what influenced it…but I thought it would be a great name to give him a little bit of respect, with some room for scandal.”
And the day of the election, Millicent Owuor of Kenya welcomed twin boys and named them Barack and Mitt. “Several other new mothers around Kogelo also named their newborns after Obama, but Owuor was the only one to call her baby Mitt.”
I’ve got some 13th-century English names for you today!
They come from the fine rolls of Henry III of England (1216–1272).
“Fine rolls” were basically financial records. They kept track of money offered to the king in return for concessions and favors. King Henry III wasn’t the first to keep them, but they “expand[ed] considerably in size and content during Henry’s reign.”
For a time, the Henry III Fine Rolls Project — the aim of which was to “democratize the contents” of Henry III’s fine rolls “by making them freely available in English translation to everyone via a website” — hosted a sortable database of all the given names in the rolls. While that database was available, I used it to create lists of the most-mentioned male and female names. (All the names are still online, but they’re no longer sortable.)
The rankings below — which cover a wide range of birth years, and a small segment of society — aren’t the same as the single-year, society-wide baby name rankings we’re accustomed to. But they do give us a general idea of which names were the most popular during the 1200s.
Of the 8,423 male names in the fine rolls, these were the most popular:
William (1,217 mentions)
John (669)
Richard (495)
Robert (434)
Henry (376)
Ralph (365)
Thomas (351)
Walter (346)
Roger (337)
Hugh (297)
Geoffrey (261)
Simon (218)
Adam (200)
Nicholas, Peter (180 each)
Gilbert (157)
Alan (110)
Phillip (109)
Reginald (88)
Stephen (83)
Elias (66)
Alexander (65)
Osbert (52)
Eustace (44)
Andrew, Matthew (42 each)
Ranulf (40)
Other names on the men’s list: Hamo, Fulk, Payn, Waleran, Drogo, Engeram, Amfrid, Ratikin, Walkelin, Bonefey, Fulcher, Hasculf, Herlewin, Joldwin, Lefsi, Marmaduke, Orm, Albizium, Cocky, Deulobene, Gwenwynwyn, Markewart.
Of the 1,314 female names in the fine rolls, these were the most popular:
Other names on the women’s list: Albrea, Amabilia, Eustachia, Idonea, Egidia, Millicent, Amphelisa, Avegaya, Barbata, Comitessa, Frethesenta, Wulveva, Alveva, Dervorguilla, Deulecresse, Elizabeth (just 1!), Flandrina, Oriolda.
A researcher working on the project reported that, of all the men mentioned in the rolls, 14.4% were named William and 7.9% were named John. She also noted that, just like today, the female names showed a greater amount of diversity:
Compared with 57.8 per cent of the men, only 51.8 per cent of the women had one of the top ten names. And 9.44 per cent of the women had names that occurred only once, whereas 3.38 per cent of the men had names that occurred only once.
A reader named Jessica has a son named Atticus and is expecting her second baby at the end of February. Here’s what she says:
We don’t know the gender of this baby, but we have already agreed on a boy’s name (which I can’t share–sorry!–because my husband and I have agreed not to tell anyone), but we have yet to agree on a girl’s name. We’ve come up with several ideas (Annaliese, Piper, Penelope, Evelyn), but nothing seems to fit. Generally, we like less common names with a bit of history to them. Definitely nothing trendy or “made up.” Also, no names starting with a “B” since the child’s last name will begin with a “B” and I’m not keen on the combination. We are pretty flexible on middle names, so I’m not worried about that. Hope you can help! Thanks!
Here are some ideas to kick things off:
Anastasia
Camille
Celia
Daphne
Genevieve
Helen
Imogen
Ione
Linnea
Luna
Millicent
Naomi
Phronie (Sophronia)
Pippa (Philippa)
A reader named Abby is expecting fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, in October. She and her husband already have a son named Leo Sebastian.
They’re aiming for vintage names (with kind of a quirky/British feel) that aren’t too popular. These are their favorites so far, top picks in italics.
Boy Names
Girl Names
Her Picks:
Edward (Teddy) Henry Jasper Jude Maxwell (Max) Oliver
Alice Elsa (Elsie) Ivy Juliet Violet
His Picks:
August (Auggie/Gus) Dashiell (Dash)
Beatrix Felicity Matilda Penelope (Nellie) Ramona
Abby says, “He thinks mine are slightly boring, I think his are a tad too flamboyant.”
They’d like our opinions on two things:
What other boy and girl names would we suggest?
Out of the current favorites, what are the best pairings?
The twins’ surname will be similar to Waters.
Here are my thoughts…
1. First, name suggestions. Most of these names have a vintage feel, and none of are currently in the top 100 (though several are heading that way).
Boy Names
Girl Names
Archer Byron Calvin Elias Felix Gideon Graham Grant Heath Hugh Niles Oscar Pierce Roman Rufus Seth Silas Simon Theodore (Teddy) Tobias
Adele/Adeline Camille Cecily Celia Corinne Daphne Eloise Esme Eugenia Flora Hazel Helena Iris Jane Josephine Marion Millicent (Millie) Nicola Rosamund Stella
I didn’t include any w-names, but I was tempted to throw in Willa and Winifred (Winnie). Maybe even Wilhelmina (Minnie).
2. Out of the current favorites, Henry and Penelope are the two I like best for twins. I also like Maxwell and Beatrix (because both have that quirky x).
What other names/pairings would you suggest to Abby?
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