How popular is the baby name Rio 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 Rio.
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A few weeks ago we looked at all the “-ia” names that have ever appeared in the SSA data. So today let’s do the same thing for the masculine equivalent, -io.
Here are all the permutations 3-letter -io names, ordered by 2018 popularity levels:
Rio (currently the 1,134th most popular name for baby boys)
Which of the above –io names do you like best? Why?
*Tio, which happens to be the Spanish word for “uncle” (but is also used as a slang term for “guy” or “dude” in Spain) was a relatively high-hitting one-hit wonder in 1983. Any idea what the influence might have been? Commercials for Tio Sancho foods perhaps?
As usual, the disclaimer: Some of the names below were already on the rise. Others may have been influenced by more than just the single pop culture person/event listed. I leave it up to you to judge the degree/nature of pop culture influence in each case.
Where the heck is Usain? Why is Usain not in the data yet? Sure, track and field is relatively unpopular in the United States. Still, I thought Rio might do it — with the help of that viral photo of Usain Bolt cheekily grinning at the competition in the middle of that 100 meter sprint.
Finally, as a former ’80s kid, I did have my fingers crossed for Voltron. Oh well…
How about you? Did any of these rises/falls surprise you?
It’s December 2 — the doubly momentous day on which Britney Spears celebrates her birthday and on which we start another round of the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game.
Which baby names will see significant movement on the charts in 2016 thanks to popular culture (TV, movies, music, sports, politics, products, current events, video games, etc.)? Below are some possibilities. Leave a comment with the names you’d add — and don’t forget to mention the pop culture influence.
Monica – Puerto Rican Olympian Monica Puig (I’m curious about the rankings in Puerto Rico specifically; Monica fell out of the top 100 in PR after 2002.)
Mountain – daughter of actress Jena Malone
Moushumi – TV show The Voice (late suggestion by me)
Zephyr – U.S. House of Rep. (NY) candidate Zephyr Teachout, who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders. (She was born in Washington state, where Zephyr is particularly popular.)
Zobrist – Chicago Cubs winning season/World Series
I’ll post the results next May, when the SSA releases the 2016 baby name data. If you don’t want to miss the results post, please subscribe!
Ready for a March Madness-inspired tournament that involves both names and ’80s music?
We’ll start with 40 songs from the ’80s that prominently feature given names — songs like “Jessie’s Girl,” “Oh Sherrie,” “Who’s Johnny” and “Dirty Diana” — and, over the next few weeks, we’ll whittle them down until we determine which song earns the title of Ultimate ’80s Name-Song.
Here’s the tournament schedule:
March 9-14: Round 1a. Starts with 20 songs. Ends with 4 winners.
March 16-21: Round 1b. Starts with 20 songs. Ends with 4 winners.
March 23-28: Round 2. Starts with 8 songs. Ends with 2 winners.