How popular is the baby name Peta 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 Peta.

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Popularity of the baby name Peta


Posts that mention the name Peta

Popular and unique baby names in Alberta (Canada), 2020

Flag of Alberta
Flag of Alberta

Last year, the Canadian province of Alberta welcomed 49,030 babies — 25,160 boys and 23,870 girls.

What were the most popular names among these 2020 babies? Olivia and Noah.

Here are the top-10 lists by gender:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 236 baby girls
  2. Emma, 184
  3. Charlotte, 161
  4. Ava, 159
  5. Sophia, 151
  6. Amelia, 145
  7. Isla, 133
  8. Emily, 127
  9. Lily, 123
  10. Abigail, 114

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 239 baby boys
  2. Oliver, 229
  3. Liam, 206
  4. Benjamin, 182
  5. William, 178
  6. Jack, 169
  7. Lucas, 163
  8. Theodore, 159
  9. Levi, 153
  10. Owen, 152

In the girls’ top 10, Isla and Lily replaced Hannah and Elizabeth. In fact, Lily jumped all the way from 24th (in 2019) to 9th (in 2020).

In the boys’ top 10, Theodore and Levi replaced Ethan and Jacob. Levi, like Lily, saw a big jump from 27th (in 2019) to 9th (in 2020).

Rare baby names that were bestowed just once in Alberta last year include…

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Aztrellina, Bellashae, Chloezel, Dexy, Electrona, Franzene, Goldwyn, Hirtoli, Iskra-Maurize, Jenebith, Kalkidan, Kikasia, Kisik, Larkspur, Lithuli, Magaty, Mirgisee, Nannally, Nomvela, Obsinet, Pkachhouk, Pulcherie, Qaroo, Rhemalie, Rielle, Roanix, Silk-Nightsun, Slyzze, Somadina, Tezlokai, Trixene, Ulita, Vallyn, Wapikwanew, Wicanphi-Peta, Xeene, Yatika, ZintayaArctic, Boajor, Chinook, Cyomoro, Dazzlo, Discern, Edline, Fendt, Greysky, Hananiah, Iforel, Jryxx, Kikisepaw-Kihiw, Kjerrand, Kodiak, Lelouch, Marlgrae, Moyo, Naatósíniipi, Nufuri, Outlaw, Psalmson, Qifan, Rionzed, Running, Sikapiohkitopi, Sîktogeja, Skydancer, StormRyder, Taiga, Tonderai, Ulfbjorn, Valois, Wapikihew, Wembley, Xylatar, Ynno, Zeuxis-Finn

Here are some explanations and/or potential influences for a few of the above:

  • Pkachhouk, or pka chhouk, means “lotus” in Khmer (Cambodian). Pka by itself is the word for “flower.”
  • Wapikwanew means “flower” in Cree.
  • Kikisepaw-Kihiw — kikisepaw means “morning, dawn” and kihiw means “eagle” in Cree.
  • Kjerrand is a Norwegian name ultimately derived from a Germanic name made up of elements meaning “army” and “rim, edge (of a shield).”
  • Lelouch Lamperouge is an anime character.
  • Sîktogeja means “wolf” in Nakoda.
  • The Taiga is the coniferous forest of the subarctic.
  • Valois (pronounced val-wa) was both a historical region and a historical royal house of France.

Finally, here are the 2019 rankings for Alberta, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Alberta’s Top Baby Names (PDFs: Girl Names, Boy Names), Olivia and Noah most popular baby names in 2020, Online Cree Dictionary, Nordic Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Alberta (public domain)

The trio in Rio: Leila, Liina, Lily

Leila and Liina Luik running at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Leila Luik (with Liina behind)

Next Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, 30-year-old identical (and alliterative) triplets Leila, Liina, and Lily Luik of Estonia are expected to run the women’s marathon. This will make the “Trio in Rio,” as they call themselves, the first set of triplets to compete in an Olympics.

In comparison, about 200 sets of twins have competed in the Olympics over the years. Here are some of the Olympic twins with similarly alliterative names:

  • Åke & Arne (Sweden) – not technically alliterative; see JJ’s comment
  • Catarina & Christina (Sweden)
  • Darius & Donatas (Lithuania)
  • Darrin & Dan (USA)
  • Dennis & Duane (USA)
  • Dionísio & Domingos (Portugal)
  • Jean-Jacques & Jean-Marc (France)
  • Jodie & Julie (Canada)
  • Jules & Julian (Belgium)
  • Katalin & Krisztina (Hungary)
  • Katrine & Kristine (Norway)
  • Lívia & Lucia (Slovakia)
  • Madeline & Margaret (Puerto Rico)
  • Marianne & Mildred (Netherlands)
  • Sandy & Sonia (Zimbabwe)
  • Malcolm “Mal” & Melville “Mel” (Jamaica)
  • Mark & Michael (Canada)
  • Maureen & Melanie (Netherlands)
  • McJoe & McWilliams (Puerto Rico)
  • Mikuláš & Miloslav (Slovakia)
  • Pascal & Patrick (France)
  • Paula & Peta (Bermuda)
  • Paulo Miguel & Pedro Miguel (Portugal)
  • Pavol & Peter (Slovakia)
  • Randolph & Robert (USA)
  • Rhoda & Rhona (Canada)
  • Ricardo & Rodrigo (Chile)
  • Sharon & Shirley (Canada)
  • Stanley & Sydney (Great Britain)
  • Tami & Toni (USA)
  • Terry & Tom (USA)
  • Valeriy & Volodymyr (Ukraine)
  • Valj & Vita (Ukraine)
  • Veronika & Viktoriya (Belarus)
  • Vida & Vidette (South Africa)
  • Zlatko & Zoran (Yugoslavia)

You can see a full list of Olympic twins in the OlympStats post Twins at the Olympics.

Have you been tuning in to the Olympics? If so, have you spotted any interesting names so far?

Source: “Racing in Triplicate.” Tampa Bay Times 30 Jun. 2016.
Image: Leila Luik Rio 2016 by Citizen59 under CC BY 3.0.

Lakota names: Wicahpi, Wakinyan, Mahpiya

Lakota chief Touch the Clouds (c.1838-1905)
Touch the Clouds

Wicahpi, Wakinyan, and Mahpiya are a several of eye-catching names I spotted in some of the recent SSA baby name data. They’re all Lakota words:

  • Wicahpi means “star.” So far it has appeared just once, in 2005, as a girl name. Nearly all of the Wicahpis accounted for in that year were born in South Dakota specifically.
  • Wakinyan means “thunder,” though it also has ties to mythology. Another definition is “the cause and source of thunder and lightning, once supposed by the Dakotas to be a great bird” (i.e., a thunderbird). Wakinyan has appeared several times in the data during the 2000s, always as a boy name.
  • Mahpiya means “clouds.” It was also “the word the missionaries chose to translate the Christian concept Heaven and can mean the night sky or the heavens in an astronomical sense.” It has appeared just once in the data, in 2018, as a girl name.

I don’t think they were traditionally used as standalone personal names among the Lakota, but they were certainly used as elements in personal names, such as:

  • Star Face (Wic’ahpi Itet’un)
  • Walks with Stars Woman
  • White Thunder (Wakinyan Ska)
  • Fire Thunder (P’eta Wakinyan)
  • Thunder Horse (Wakinyan T’asunke)
  • Thunder Face (Ite Wakinyan)
  • Big Thunder (Wakinyan T’anka)
  • Little Thunder (Wakinyan Cik’ala)
  • Red Cloud (Mahpiya Luta)
  • Touch the Clouds (Mahpiya Icahtagya)

Which of the three do you like best?

Sources:

  • Buechel, Eugene, and Paul Manhart, eds. Lakota Dictionary: Lakota-English/English-Lakota. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
  • Hollabaugh, Mark. The Spirit and the Sky: Lakota Visions of the Cosmos. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2017
  • Ingham, Bruce. English-Lakota Dictionary. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001.

[Latest update: 7/2022]