How popular is the baby name Nola 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 Nola.
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Years ago, I wrote a post with some naming tips for minimalists. But — as Abby of Appellation Mountain astutely pointed this out in her comment to that post — “minimalism” as applied to baby names could be about capturing a namestyle just as much as it could be about reflecting a lifestyle.
So today I’m giving minimalism another go. This time around, though, it’ll be a list of baby names that fall somewhere between short/simple and modern/stylish.
All of these names have made gains recently (Hank and Linus included!). For more details on usage, click through to see the popularity graphs.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a reader looking for lists of old-fashioned double names. She was aiming for names like Thelma Dean, Eula Mae, and Gaynell — names that would have sounded trendy in the early 1900s. She also mentioned that she’d started a list of her own.
So I began scouring the interwebs. I tracked down lists of old-fashioned names, and lists of double names…but I couldn’t find a decent list of double names that were also old-fashioned.
I loved the idea of such a list, though, so I suggested that we work together to create one. She generously sent me the pairings she’d collected so far, and I used several different records databases to find many more.
I restricted my search to names given to girls born in the U.S. from 1890 to 1930. I also stuck to double names that I found written as single names, because it’s very likely that these pairings were used together in real life (i.e., that they were true double names and not merely first-middle pairings).
Pairings that seemed too timeless, like Maria Mae and Julia Rose, were omitted. I also took out many of the pairings that feature now-trendy names — think Ella, Emma, and Lucy — because they just don’t sound old-fashioned anymore (though they would have a few decades ago).
The result isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a decent sampling of real-life, old-fashioned double names. I’ve organized them by second name, and I also added links to popularity graphs for names that were in the SSA data during the correct time period (early 1900s).
I spotted plenty of other combinations that just didn’t happen to be written as single names in the records, so here’s a handy dandy little table to cover some of the other existing combinations…
You’re playing a round of mini-golf with some friends. The group behind you includes a friendly lady who happens to be pregnant, and the two of you chat on-and-off between holes. Somewhere around hole 17 she mentions that she still can’t think of a name for the baby. Then she tells you the gist of what she’s looking for:
A two-syllable name for Nola’s sister. Can’t have the long “ee” sound in it or end in “s.”
“Do you have any suggestions?”
You’re a name-lover, and you could potentially give her dozens of suggestions on the spot. But your friends have already started teeing off on the last hole, so you only have time to give her five baby name suggestions before parting ways.
But here’s the fun part: Instead of blurting out the first five names you come up with (which is what you’d be forced to do in real life) you get to press a magical “pause” button, brainstorm for a bit, and then “unpause” the scenario to offer her the best five names you can think of.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you brainstorm:
Be independent. Decide on your five names before looking at anyone else’s five names.
Be sincere. Would you honestly suggest these particular baby names out loud to a stranger in public?
Five names only! All names beyond the first five in your comment will be either deleted or replaced with nonsense words.
Finally, here’s the request again:
A two-syllable name for Nola’s sister. Can’t have the long “ee” sound in it or end in “s.”
Which five baby names are you going to suggest?
[To send in your own 2-sentence baby name request, here are the directions, and here’s the contact form.]
The Social Security Administration’s annual baby name list only includes names given to 5 or more U.S. baby girls (or baby boys) per year.
Most rare names never make the list, but a select group have appeared a single time. I like to call these the one-hit wonder baby names.
One-hit wonders tend to pop up with a relatively low number of babies — 5 or 6 — but a handful are given to dozens of babies…only to disappear again the next year! Intriguing, no?
Below are the highest-charting one-hit wonder names for every year on record before 2013. (We won’t know which 2013 names are one-hit wonders until later lists come out.) The format is: “Girl name(s), number of baby girls; Boy name(s), number of baby boys.”
A reader named Allison and her husband Dawson are expecting 5 (!) little ones. Three will be boys, two will be girls, and their surname will sound a lot like “Barber.” Here’s more from Allison:
We have twins Holden Patrick (Holden is from Catcher In the Rye and Patrick is my father’s middle name) and Theo Drummey (Theo because we liked it and Drummey is a family name.) I’m Irish and my husband is Canadian but doesn’t really have a name preference (other then if he had his wish our first daughter would be Jasmine Atlanta). As you can see I like to have my heritage in the names but I know from my family that names spelled in Gaelic form don’t usually go over well with the western way we pronounce things. At the same time I really like simple classy names and names with meaning… We have a large mix of name choices the only thing we knew is we don’t want any Winifreds or Paulinas or Alfreds or Richards, we also would like to stay away from Liam, Aidan, Maeve, Finn, Brigid all family names that have been taken. We are stuck! Here is our list of names so far, completely mixed up…
Tadgh- pronounced Tighe
Cian- pro. Keean
Callum- pro. Kaylum
Caelum
Rory
Christian
Samuel
Benjamin
Maxwell
Emmett
Ryann
Cecelia/Cecilia
Auden
Caoimhe- pro. Keevah
Kate
Jillian
Rosalie
Thea (I know we can’t use this because of Theo but I love it!)
Jasmine
Family Names: (we would use these as middle names)
Drummey
Patrick
Marie
Jeremy
Brian
Patricia
Bryanna
Pearl
Thank you! Any help is appreciated! :)
First of all, congratulations!
I think Holden and Theo have great names. Of the options listed, the five I like best with Holden and Theo are Benjamin, Christian, Maxwell, Kate and Cecilia, though I like many of the others as well.
I’d be wary about using names like Tadgh and Caoimhe because, where I am, names like these require explanation. Things will probably be tricky enough with quints…why add extra complication? :) But perhaps Allison and her family live in a place where Irish names are common and this isn’t an issue.
Here are some other ideas:
Conor
Cormac
Henry
Hugh
Kevin
Lucas
Neil
Nolan
Owen
Ronan
Ryan
Sean
Sebastian
Thomas
William
Abigail
Adele
Charlotte
Clara
Dorothy
Hannah
Lucy
Michelle
Molly
Nicole
Nola
Nora
Orla
Una/Oona
Willa
It’s hard to talk about middles before the first names are in place. I’d probably use short middles with long firsts and vice versa (e.g. Cecilia Pearl, Kate Patricia), just for balance. And I’d avoid the combo Jasmine Pearl, as that’s a type of tea. It’s delicious, but still.
Which of the above (3 boy names, 2 girl names) do you like best with Holden and Theo? What other names would you suggest to Allison?
UPDATE – Allison has just learned that there will actually be 3 girls and 2 boys!