How popular is the baby name Nicola 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 Nicola.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Nicola


Posts that Mention the Name Nicola

The Coming of Karenina

anna karenina, 1978, television, baby name
Nicola Pagett as Anna Karenina

The literary surname Karenina debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1978:

  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: unlisted
  • 1978: 7 baby girls named Karenina
  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: unlisted

But the Leo Tolstoy tome Anna Karenina was first published as a standalone book way back in 1878…so how did “Karenina” end up in the U.S. baby name data 100 years later?

Television. Specifically, the 10-episode mini-series Anna Karenina that originally aired on British television in 1977, then aired on American television (as part of PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre) in early 1978. The mini-series starred British actress Nicola Pagett as Countess Anna Karenina.

How did Tolstoy come up with the surname Karenin(a) in the first place? He based it on the ancient Greek word káranon, meaning “head.”

What are your thoughts on the baby name Karenina?

Sources:

  • Anna Karenina (1978) – Masterpiece Theatre
  • Bartless, Rosamund. “Principal Characters and Guide to Pronunciation.” Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Rosamund Bartless. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Popular Baby Names in British Columbia, 2017

According to British Columbia’s Vital Statistics Agency, the most popular baby names in the province in 2017 were Olivia and Benjamin.

Here are British Columbia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names
1. Olivia, 260 baby girls
2. Emma, 231
3. Sophia, 183
4. Ava, 178 (tie)
5. Charlotte, 178 (tie)
6. Emily, 170
7. Chloe, 160
8. Hannah, 155
9. Amelia, 152
10. Abigail, 129

Boy Names
1. Benjamin, 221 baby boys
2. Liam, 220
3. Logan, 210
4. Lucas, 209
5. Ethan, 197 (tie)
6. James, 197 (tie)
7. Oliver, 186
8. Noah, 177
9. William, 176
10. Owen, 170

In the girls’ top 10, Hannah replaces Evelyn.

In the boys’ top 10, Logan replaces Jacob.

Names at the other end of the spectrum — used just five times each in 2017 — include…

  • Girl names: Ann, Beatrix, Cedar, Della, Elowen, Greta, Harlyn, Inaaya, Jenny, Karla, Leen, Marwa, Nicola, Ocean, Paris, Reyna, Sakura, Tina, Zaynab
  • Boy names: Ayan, Bishop, Clay, Darian, Emery, Flynn, Gurtaj, Houston, Ivar, Jerry, Kendrick, Loki, Mack, Niall, Princeton, Rayyan, Stellan, Tai, Zavier

The top names in 2016 were Olivia and Lucas.

Source: Baby’s Most Chosen Names in British Columbia, 2017

Baby Names from Pullman Cars?

pullman car, train,

Years ago I posted about Livonia, a baby both born on and named after a Pullman car. Recently I wondered: What other Pullman car names would have made good baby names?

So I downloaded a big spreadsheet of over 12,000 Pullman car names from The Pullman Project and was slightly surprised to see that thousands of them could have been baby names, if we allow for the splitting of compound car names (like Fort Miley, Glen Norman, Meredith College, and West Willow).

Here are a handful of examples. On the left are relatively common/familiar names, and on the right are some unexpected choices.

Alana, Archer, ArnoldAdriatha, Arundel, Arvonia
Baxter, Becket, BradleyBantry, Bellonia, Besco
Calvin, Catalina, ClydeCadesia, Clarnie, Clymer
Dana, Deborah, DwightDarlow, Dathema, Dodona
Edith, Eileen, ElmoEdminster, Emalinda, Etherley
Finley, Flavia, FloydFithian, Flaxton, Florilla
Gary, Georgette, GraysonGavarnie, Gilia, Gloxinia
Harper, Harriet, HectorHarista, Humela, Hythe
Iona, Isabella, IvanIrvona, Isleta, Ixion
Jessica, Jordan, JuliaJacelia, Jathniel, Justitia
Kara, Keith, KennethKeinath, Kenia, Kittson
Laurel, Lewis, LindenLauveta, Leolyn, Lysander
Madison, Marco, MaudeMardonia, Mayence, Morganza
Nicola, Noel, NoraNarinda, Nasby, Norlina
Olivia, Omar, OtisOaklyn, Olanda, Oxus
Parker, Perry, PhilippaPenlyn, Pipila, Pixley
QuincyQuarren
Rebecca, Riley, RonaldRexis, Risley, Ruxton
Sarah, Scott, SusanneSalphrona, Sarver, Sibley
Thora, Tracy, TylerTascott, Tilden, Tisonia
Vanessa, Vernon, VictoriaVarick, Vinora, Vivita
Wesley, Wilson, WrenWelby, Wescott, Wexford

Which of the names above do you like best?

Popular Baby Names in Italy, 2015

A few weeks ago, Italy finally released baby name rankings for 2015. According to the data from Istat (Istituto nazionale di statistica), the most popular baby names in the country last year were Sofia and Francesco.

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

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Sofia, 7,191 baby girls
2. Aurora, 6,687
3. Giulia, 6,222
4. Giorgia, 4,099
5. Alice, 3,845
6. Martina, 3,743
7. Emma, 3,690
8. Greta, 3,676
9. Chiara, 3,516
10. Anna, 3,322		1. Francesco, 8,763 baby boys
2. Alessandro, 6,708
3. Mattia, 6,402
4. Lorenzo, 6,389
5. Leonardo, 6,144
6. Andrea, 6,047
7. Gabriele, 5,469
8. Matteo, 4,941
9. Tommaso, 4,386
10. Riccardo, 4,351

In the girls’ top 10, Anna replaces Sara, and Alice jumps from 10th to 5th.

The boys’ top 10 is essentially the same, the biggest move being Mattia rising from 6th to 3rd.

Francesco has been on top since 2001, but it became even more popular in 2013 after Pope Francis was elected.

Here are a few more names from within the top 50:

  • Girl names: Ginevra (12th), Gaia (13th), Ludovica (32nd), Ilaria (46th)
  • Boy names: Nicolò (22nd), Simone (24th), Gioele (37th), Nicola (46th)

Nicolò is pronounced nee-ko-LO, whereas Nicola is pronounced nee-KO-lah. The feminine versions of the name are Nicoletta and Nicolina.

Finally, here are the top baby names among foreigners (mainly from Romania, Morocco, Albania and China) living in Italy:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Sara
2. Sofia
3. Aurora		1. Adam
2. Youssef
3. Rayan

Intriguingly, Kevin was ranked 8th for boys and 1st (!) among both the Albanians and the Chinese. I mentioned Kevinism in last week’s Senga post and already it’s coming to mind again…

Sources: How many babies are named…? – Istat, These are the most popular Italian baby names, Births and fertility among the resident population (pdf)

Where Did Lido “Lee” Iacocca Get His Name?

Lido "Lee" Iacocca

Businessman Lido Anthony “Lee” Iacocca was born in Pennsylvania in 1924 to Italian immigrants Nicola “Nick” Iacocca and Antonietta Perrotta. Lee Iacocca went on to become the president of Ford Motor Company from 1970 to 1978 and the CEO of Chrysler Corporation from 1978 to 1992.

Where did the first name Lido come from?

Before his marriage, Nick and one of Antoinette’s brothers had visited Venice, Italy, enjoying the grand and beautiful Lido Beach. To Nick, the spot was perfect. So was his new son, hence the name Lido.

And what drove Lido Iacocca to shorten his already-short first name to “Lee”?

Early on in his career…

“As part of my job, I had to make a lot of long-distance calls. In those days, there was no direct dialing, so that you always had to go through operators. They’d ask for my name, and I’d say “Iacocca.” Of course, they had no idea how to spell it, so that was always a struggle to get that right. Then they’d ask for my first name and when I said “Lido,” they’d break out laughing. Finally I said to myself: “Who needs it?” and I started calling myself Lee.”

Which name do you prefer, Lido or Lee?

Sources:

  • Collins, David R. Lee Iacocca: Chrysler’s Good Fortune. Ada, OK: Garrett Educational Corp, 1992.
  • Iacocca, Lee and William Novak. “Iacocca: An Autobiography”
    Reader’s Digest Jul. 1985: 79.