How popular is the baby name Toruk 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 Toruk.

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Popularity of the baby name Toruk


Posts that mention the name Toruk

Popular and unique baby names in Uruguay, 2021

Flag of Uruguay
Flag of Uruguay

The country of Uruguay, located in the southern region of South America, shares land borders with Argentina and Brazil.

According to Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC), the most popular baby names in the country in 2021 were María and Juan.

Uruguay’s baby name rankings consist of girl and boy names mixed together on a single list. The data mostly represents first-name usage, but does include some second-name usage as well. (This is because the rankings are created from Uruguayan identity card data, and Uruguayans are permitted to add up to two given names to their ID cards.)

That said, here are Uruguay’s top 100+ baby names of 2021:

  1. María, 1,260 babies
    • María was used 858 times as a first name and 402 times as a second name.
  2. Juan, 1,023
    • Juan was used 980 times as a first name and 43 times as a second name.
  3. Benjamín, 925
  4. Maria, 889
  5. Isabella, 798
  6. Mateo, 778
  7. Valentina, 725
  8. Emma, 722
  9. Martina, 706
  10. Catalina, 658
  11. Julieta, 644
  12. Felipe, 631
  13. Sofía, 624
  14. Valentín, 615
  15. Ezequiel, 561
  16. Nicolás, 541
  17. Lorenzo, 535
  18. Emilia, 513
  19. Agustín, 487 (tie)
  20. Bautista, 487 (tie)
  21. Belén, 477
  22. Daniel, 459
  23. Manuel, 450
  24. Alejandro, 433
  25. Santiago, 429
  26. Francisco, 426
  27. Delfina, 422
  28. Lautaro, 421 (tie)
  29. Agustina, 421 (tie)
  30. Santino, 419
  31. Carlos, 417
  32. Lucas, 413
  33. Valentino, 411
  34. Dante, 407
  35. Josefina, 393
  36. Luis, 392
  37. Ignacio, 389 (tie)
  38. Gabriel, 389 (tie)
  39. Joaquín, 385
  40. Olivia, 380
  41. José, 374
  42. Thiago, 359
  43. Emiliano, 352
  44. Gael, 343
  45. Victoria, 341
  46. Francesca, 325
  47. Alberto, 324
  48. Tomás, 318
  49. Sebastián, 315
  50. Renata, 312
  51. David, 308
  52. Jose, 302
  53. Martín, 301
  54. Zoe, 296
  55. Bastian, 290
  56. Samuel, 288
  57. Milagros, 286
  58. Eduardo, 284
  59. Pilar, 280 (tie)
  60. Paulina, 280 (tie)
  61. Bruno, 278
  62. Alexander, 275 (tie)
  63. Ana, 275 (tie)
  64. Clara, 271
  65. Facundo, 267
  66. Emily, 261 (tie)
  67. Pedro, 261 (tie)
  68. Benjamin, 259
  69. Antonio, 257 (tie)
  70. Alfonsina, 257 (tie)
  71. Guadalupe, 255
  72. Sofia, 254 (tie)
  73. Vicente, 254 (tie)
  74. Pablo, 254 (tie)
  75. Federico, 253
  76. Emanuel, 251
  77. Diego, 249
  78. Jorge, 240
  79. Javier, 239
  80. Salvador, 235
  81. Rafael, 230
  82. Fernando, 229
  83. Nahuel, 228
  84. Jazmín, 226
  85. Luciano, 223
  86. Liam, 222
  87. Paz, 218
  88. Camila, 217
  89. Maite, 216
  90. Andrés, 207
  91. Ismael, 206 (tie)
  92. Miguel, 206 (tie)
  93. Alma, 205
  94. Noah, 204
  95. Mía, 203
  96. Lucía, 202 (tie)
  97. Benicio, 202 (tie)
  98. Mia, 201
  99. Franco, 198
  100. Nicolas, 195
  101. Bianca, 194
  102. Isabel, 193
  103. Juana, 191
  104. Camilo, 190
  105. Tadeo, 188
  106. Enzo, 187
  107. Guillermo, 186
  108. Cataleya, 183
  109. Alejandra, 181 (tie)
  110. Sebastian, 181 (tie)
  111. Florencia, 179
  112. Carolina, 175
  113. Enrique, 172
  114. Ramiro, 171
  115. Alfonso, 167
  116. Faustino, 166
  117. Ámbar, 164 (4-way tie)
  118. Beatriz, 164 (4-way tie)
  119. Logan, 164 (4-way tie)
  120. Marcelo, 164 (4-way tie)
  121. Matías, 161 (tie)
  122. Ciro, 161 (tie)
  123. Aitana, 160 (tie)
  124. Antonella, 160 (tie)
  125. Angel, 159 (tie)
  126. Nahitan, 159 (tie)
  127. Nicole, 158
  128. Andrea, 156 (tie)
  129. Elena, 156 (tie)

(I went down this far to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included.)

Here are a few names from lower down on the list:

  • 16 babies were named Tabaré, which was the name of former Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez (who died in December of 2020).
    • Tabaré was given to just 2 babies the year before.
  • 6 were named Atahualpa, which was the name of the last emperor of the Inca.
    • Atahualpa was given to just one baby the year before.
  • 2 were named Cono, perhaps after St. Cono of Italy.
  • 2 were named Giorgian, which is the first name of Uruguayan soccer player Giorgian de Arrascaeta.
  • 2 were named Pampa, which may refer to the Pampas — the grasslands of South America.
    • The Spanish word pampa comes directly from the Quechua word pampa, meaning “plain, field.”

And, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can also check out the unique names at the other end of the spectrum. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2021:

Aitziber, Berzaline, Carbonell, Danisel, Evtimova, Fradixon, Gilbeth, Hinayana, Itanu, Joxibel, Kundlik, Lothar, Mactominei, Neybis, Orientina, Pandugula, Quimey, Rillary, Sizzle, Tilottama, Toruk, Unelma, Venexia, Wilfreddy, Xunmira, Yulipza, Zombul

Some possible explanations/associations:

  • Lothar – German soccer player Lothar Matthäus
  • Mactominei – English soccer player Scott McTominay
  • Orientina – the word orientales (“easterners”) is sometimes used to refer to Uruguayans
    • The country’s official name is La República Oriental del Uruguay.
  • Tilottama – an apsara in Hindu mythology
  • Toruk – a flying creature in the movie Avatar

In 2020, the top names in Uruguay were Emma and Juan. (Emma managed to beat María/Maria only because Uruguay counts the accented and unaccented forms of names separately in the rankings.)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Uruguay (public domain)

Pop culture baby name game, 2010

Britney Spears album

Know what today is? It’s Britney Spears’ birthday! (Come on, you didn’t already know that?)

So today is the perfect day to start playing the Pop Culture Baby Name Game.

What’s that? It’s a game in which we try to predict which pop culture-inspired baby names will appear on the SSA’s official baby name list for the first time in 2010. Danity and Daughtry made it for the first time in 2007, Obama and Palin in 2008, the infamous Renesmee in 2009…which pop culture baby names will make their debut in 2010?

Think back to notable occurrences of 2010 and late 2009. Think about movies, music, books, video games, sports, politics, products, and whatever else made headlines and/or caught your attention. What brand-new baby names might these things have inspired?

Here are some possibilities I’ve already blogged about:

Another that has since come to mind is Etsy, which looks and sounds like Betsy with the B chopped off.

What other potential names can you think of? (Remember — oddball names like Chachi and Darth have made the SSA’s list in years past, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box on this!)

Will “Avatar” influence baby names?

The character Neytiri from the movie "Avatar" (2009).
Neytiri from “Avatar

Avatar is doing very well at the box office right now. And whenever a sci-fi/fantasy film (or book, or TV show) hits big like this, I can’t help but wonder: What baby names could it inspire/popularize?

What about…

  • Neytiri (pronounced nay-TEE-ree), the pretty Na’vi warrior-princess
  • Eywa (pronounced AY-wah), the Na’vi deity
  • Toruk (“last shadow”), the massive flying creature
  • Toruk Makto (“rider of the last shadow”), any Na’vi who manages to tame/ride a Toruk
  • Na’vi (“the people,” pronounced nah-vee), the sentient, blue humanoids of Pandora

I wouldn’t be shocked to see any of these pop up in my local birth announcements.

Have you watched the film? If so, which Avatar name (or word) do you think stands the best chance of catching on as a baby name?

Update, 2021: It’s been over a decade since Avatar came out. So…what happened? Neither Eywa nor Toruk ended up in the U.S. baby name data. But the name Neytiri debuted in 2010, and the name Navi saw higher usage post-Avatar. (Though the rise of Navi could be due to the influence of Navy.)

The character Tsireya from the movie "Avatar: The Way of Water" (2022).
Tsireya from “Avatar: The Way of Water

Update, Dec. 27, 2022: The long-awaited Avatar sequel — Avatar: The Way of Water — was released earlier this month. It features a slew of new characters, with names like…

  • Neteyam
  • Lo’ak
  • Tuktirey (nickname “Tuk”)
  • Kiri
  • Tsireya (nickname “Reya”)
  • Aonung
  • Rotxo
  • Ronal
  • Tonowari
  • Payakan

Which of these new Avatar names will turn into baby names, do you think?

Will Kiri and Reya, which are already baby names, see significantly higher usage in 2023?

Finally, could “Avatar” itself ever pop up in the U.S. baby name data?

(At least five U.S. babies have to be given a particular name within a single calendar year for that name to be included in the publicly available dataset.)

Sources: Avatar Wiki | Fandom, Avatar: The Way of Water – Wikipedia, SSA
Images: © 2009 20th Century Studios, © 2022 20th Century Studios