How popular is the baby name Mirja 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 Mirja.

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Popularity of the baby name Mirja


Posts that mention the name Mirja

Popular baby names in Austria, 2016

Flag of Austria
Flag of Austria

According to data released by Statistics Austria, the most popular baby names in the country in 2016 were Anna (and variants) and Lukas (and variants).

Here are Austria’s top 10 girl name-groups and top 10 boy name-groups of 2016:

Girl Name-Groups
1. Anna (plus 20 variants, including Jannah) – 2,204 baby girls
2. Sophie (plus 12 variants, including Zofia) – 1,564
3. Maria (plus 36 variants, including Mery and Mirja) – 1,356
4. Emilia (plus 13 variants, including Emmelie) – 1,150
5. Elena (plus 39 variants, including Aljona and Ilona) – 981
6. Emma (zero variants) – 808
7. Sarah (plus 9 variants, including Saara) – 803
8. Lena (plus 7 variants, including Lenja) – 783
9. Laura (zero variants) – 645
10. Mia (plus 1 variant) – 639

Boy Name-Groups
1. Lukas (plus 11 variants, including Lucca) – 1,520 baby boys
2. David (plus 11 variants, including Dawood) – 989
3. Elias (plus 31 variants, including Elijah and Ilyaz) – 981
4. Jakob (plus 19 variants, including Tiago and Jacques) – 890
5. Maximilian (plus 8 variants) – 838
6. Alexander (plus 31 variants, including Alechandro and Eskandar) – 832
7. Paul (plus 6 variants, including Paulus) – 826
8. Jonas (plus 11 variants, including Yunus) – 823
9. Tobias (plus 2 variants) – 790
10. Felix (plus 2 variants) – 686

In the boys’ top 10, the Felix group replaced the Leon group. In the girls’ top 10, there were no replacements. Here are the 2015 name-group rankings, if you’d like to compare.

In terms of non-combined spellings, the top two names were Anna and David:

Girl Names
1. Anna, 998 baby girls
2. Emma, 808
3. Marie, 710
4. Lena, 678
5. Sophia, 652
6. Laura, 645
7. Mia, 639
8. Sophie, 625
9. Emilia, 592
10. Lea and Valentina (tie), 529 each

Boy Names
1. David, 938 baby boys
2. Maximilian, 829
3. Lukas, 805
4. Tobias, 789
5. Paul, 785
6. Elias, 774
7. Jakob, 756
8. Jonas, 731
9. Alexander, 695
10. Felix, 686

Sources: Anna and Lukas were the most popular baby names in 2016, Anna und Lukas waren auch 2016 wieder die beliebtesten Babynamen

Image: Adapted from Flag of Austria (public domain)

How did “What’s My Line?” influence baby names?

Title of the TV game show "What's My Line?"

What’s My Line? (1950-1967) was one of the longest-running game shows on television — not to mention one of the earliest.

The word “line” in the title didn’t refer to a line of script, but to a line of work. Essentially, the show consisted of four celebrity panelists trying to guess a contestant’s occupation — typically something unexpected, e.g., “lipstick demonstrator,” “makes kilts,” “vaccinates chickens.”

Given the popularity of the show, and the fact that contestants’ names were emphasized (each one signed in on a chalkboard at the start of his/her segment), it’s not surprising that some of the more unusual contestant names ended up influencing U.S. baby names. For example…

Rondi
Contestant Rondi Stratton, whose job was demonstrating mattresses in store windows, was on the show in October of 1952. The baby name Rondi saw increased usage in 1952-1953.

Barbi
Contestant Barbi Nierenberg, who was a maternity dress buyer, was on the show in November of 1952. The baby name Barbi debuted in the data in 1953. (Barbie dolls weren’t launched until 1959.)

Wynelle
Contestant Wynelle Davis, who was a fireworks seller, was on the show in June of 1953. The baby name Wynelle saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Contestant Sunee Parker (men's barber) from the TV game show "What's My Line?" (1950-1967).
Sunee Parker, men’s barber

Sunee
Contestant Sunee Parker, who was a men’s barber, was on the show in October of 1953. The baby name Sunee debuted in the data the same year.

television, 1950s, game show, whats my line
Rozana Ruehrmund, bill collector

Rozana
Contestant Rozana Ruehrmund, who was a bill collector, was on the show in August of 1954. The baby name Rozana debuted in the data the same year.

Zana
Contestant Zana Stanley, who handled bad checks at a District Attorney’s office, was on the show in November of 1954. The baby name Zana saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Lili
Contestant Lili Lisande Wieland, who was a Christmas shopper at Saks Fifth Avenue, was on the show in December of 1954. The baby name Lili saw increased usage the same year.

Thor
Contestant Thor Thors, who was the Icelandic ambassador to the United States, was on the show in November of 1955. The baby name Thor saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Evonne
Contestant Evonne Gaines, who owned a dog grooming salon, was on the show in March of 1957. The baby name Evonne saw increased usage the same year.

Bunny
Contestant Bunny Yeager, who was a “cheesecake photographer,” was on the show in July of 1957. The baby name Bunny saw increased usage the same year. (Bunny, born Linnea Eleanor Yeager, was a former pin-up model herself.)

Darris
Contestant Darris Miller (f), who made one-piece pajamas for dogs, was on the show in August of 1959. The baby name Darris saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Perian
Contestant Perian Conerly, who wrote a football column for newspapers, was on the show in December of 1959. The baby name Perian debuted in the data the next year. (Her growing visibility as a columnist may have been an influence here as well.)

Sherrylyn
Contestant Sherrylyn Patecell, who was a Rockette — not to mention the recently elected Miss New York City — was on the show in July of 1960. The baby name Sherrylyn debuted in the data the same year. (Her pageant win may be a confounding factor here.)

LaVelda
Contestant LaVelda Rowe and her identical twin sister LaVona Rowe, both news photographers, were on the show in July of 1960. The baby name LaVelda was a one-hit wonder in the data the same year.

television, 1950s, game show, whats my line
Sita Arora, English teacher

Sita
Contestant Sita Arora, who was a high school English teacher originally from Bombay, was on the show in September of 1960. The baby name Sita debuted in the data the same year.

Dorinda
Contestant Dorinda Nicholson, who taught hula dancing, was on the show in August of 1962. The baby name Dorinda saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Candi
Contestant Candi Brasovan, who was a salami seller, was on the show in January of 1963. The baby name Candi saw increased usage the same year.

Sheva
Contestant Sheva Rapoport, who was a dentist, was on the show in February of 1966. The baby name Sheva debuted in the data the same year.

…And here are some other interesting What’s My Line? contestant names. These didn’t influence the data, but they caught my eye nonetheless.

  • 1952: Regife
  • 1953: Rosebud
  • 1954: An’a, Gudny, Jun, Tala
  • 1955: Edle (pron. “ed-lee”), Kirpal, Relly, Sheréé, Sylvette, Vari, Zarine
  • 1956: Heloisa, Martica, Trema
  • 1957: Benna, Felisa, Gundega, Jolie, Mirella, Reimar, Vondon
  • 1958: Kinlock, Rildia*
  • 1959: Jorunn, Mirja, Rood, Roswitha
  • 1960: Gedney, Jo-ag-quis-ho (Onondaga for “the sun making tracks in the snow”)
  • 1961: Alfena
  • 1962: Alansa
  • 1963: Inter, Meeg
  • 1964: Sura
  • 1965: Brackett, Sua
  • 1966: Rosmare

*Piano teacher Rildia Cliburn was the mother of pianist Harvey Lavan “Van” Cliburn. Her own mother was named Sirrildia.

Other game shows that influenced American baby names include Card Sharks, Jeopardy!, and American Gladiators.

Sources: What’s My Line? – TV.com, What’s My Line? – Wikipedia