How popular is the baby name Wave 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 Wave.

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Popularity of the baby name Wave


Posts that mention the name Wave

Popular and unique baby names in Iowa, 2017 & 2018

Flag of Iowa
Flag of Iowa

I publish a set of name rankings every week, but I don’t post many U.S. state-released rankings anymore. Why? Because the SSA’s yearly dataset always includes a state-by-state breakdown, and the SSA’s data tends to be basically equivalent to what each state releases.

Except for…Iowa! I totally forgot last year to check up on Iowa, the only state I know of to release full sets of baby name data. (Bravo, Iowa!) The last Iowa rankings I posted were for 2016, so, in this post, to catch up, I’ll be covering two years at once.

First up, 2017.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the most popular baby names in the state in 2017 were Emma and Oliver.

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

Girl Names, 2017

  1. Emma, 175 baby girls
  2. Harper, 172
  3. Olivia, 168
  4. Evelyn, 158
  5. Charlotte, 157
  6. Ava, 139
  7. Amelia & Nora, tied, 127 each
  8. Sophia, 94
  9. Scarlett, 92
  10. Elizabeth, 90

Boy Names, 2017

  1. Oliver, 219 baby boys
  2. Henry, 181
  3. Liam, 179
  4. Lincoln, 160
  5. William, 155
  6. Owen & Wyatt, tied, 151 each
  7. Noah, 135
  8. James, 129
  9. Logan, 124
  10. Benjamin, 118

In the girls’ top 10, Scarlett and Elizabeth replaced Addison and Grace. (The SSA’s data for 2017 was similar, but had Harper in first place.)

In the boys’ top 10, James and Logan replaced Jackson.

And here are some of the names bestowed just once in Iowa in 2017:

Unique Girl Names, 2017Unique Boy Names, 2017
Adelheid Brunnhilde, Axsys, Bergamot, Calladee, Dellaveene, Exaucee Nitocris, Focus, Graxceldie, Hawthorne, Iowa, Ixamara, Jeggsley, Kalaivani, Lahpoe, MellowBelle, Nyantut, Onolinne, Prairie, Prynne, Quebella, Rieslyn, Shelter, Tracieux, Vjosa, Wave, Yatzlimar, ZuzuAknowlegde, Bray Ole, Carefree, Dockerty, Dovahkiin, Essolabina, Frantzley, Gamachis, Helgenberger, Igneous, Jake Lasi Flex, Kellz, Lyrics, Mattavion, Novum, Oracle, Pradyumna, Quintelle, Rinidi, Salix, Sundayboy, Thwin, Tritium, Vindrix, Wattney, Yaeger, Zollie

Possible explanations/associations for a few of the above:

Now, on to 2018…

The most popular baby names in the state in 2018 were Evelyn and Oliver. Here are Iowa’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2018:

Girl Names, 2018

  1. Evelyn, 167 baby girls
  2. Harper, 158
  3. Charlotte, 155
  4. Emma, 153
  5. Olivia, 142
  6. Amelia, 126
  7. Ava, 119
  8. Sophia, 113
  9. Nora, 106
  10. Isabella, 103

Boy Names, 2018

  1. Oliver, 183 baby boys
  2. Henry, 176
  3. Liam, 174
  4. William, 170
  5. Owen, 161
  6. Wyatt, 143
  7. Noah, 137
  8. Lincoln, 130
  9. Jackson, 124
  10. Hudson, 120

In the girls’ top 10, Isabella replaced Scarlett and Elizabeth. (Yet again: the SSA’s rankings were similar, but had Harper in first place.)

In the boys’ top 10, Jackson and Hudson replaced James, Logan, and Benjamin.

And here are some of the names bestowed just once in Iowa in 2018:

Unique Girl Names, 2018Unique Boy Names, 2018
Avocent, Brklyn, Callalily, Currence, Dacheline, Emcee, Ever-After, Frisquette, Granuaile, Hallow, Hladini, Izanami, Jariahlexa, Kelaviene, Lotus Lou, Mighty, Neshbly, Opry, Plu, Qori, Rexha, Samadhi, Sinamika, Tamber, Ventica, Wildly, Ylsy, Ziggy-GreyActs Gabriel, Awnry, Braveheart, Corvinus, Drinian, Evenir, Festo, Flynnigan, Gypsum, Him-Henry, Isidore, Jongroor, Kipden, Kladge, Liamko, Mastajabu, Nuke, Ordie, Paddington, Questan, Rolex, Safe Haven, Thrusher, Vhett, Wrecker, Ychiari, Zallard, Zohnti

Possible explanations/associations for some of the above:

Sources: Top Baby Names – Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal, frisquette – Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Iowa (public domain)

Name quotes #62

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Ready for another batch of name-related quotes gathered from all over the place?

Let’s start with Liberian midwife Alice Sumo:

…[S]he was both surprised and delighted when quickly babies were named after her.

“I said ‘oh wow’ because with some of them I didn’t even know that they had named the baby after me! When you go to the market everybody is called Alice of Alex or Ellis. The last time I counted it was 862 Alices but now it has increased to 1,000 plus!

“To me the name Alice is an action name. Alice people are active people, they are caring people, they are loving people. A, the first letter in the alphabet. A for action.”

From an article about names in Israel by Abigail Klein Leichman:

I figured [Forest Rain’s] parents must have been hippies or Native Americans. In mainstream American culture, it is unusual to name children after elements of nature. How many people do you know named Rainbow, Lightning, Juniper Bush, Boulder, Valley, Oak, Prairie, Wellspring, or Wave?

In Israel, such names are extremely commonplace. If Forest Rain translated her name to Ya’ara Tal, no Israeli would think it exotic in the least. The words mentioned above translate to the everyday Hebrew names Keshet, Barak, Rotem, Sela, Guy, Alon, Bar, Ma’ayan, and Gal.

Another difference is that many modern Israeli names are unisex. You often cannot tell by name alone if someone is male or female. Tal, Gal, Sharon, Noam (pleasant), Shachar (Dawn), Inbar (amber), Inbal (bell), Neta (sapling), Ori (my light), Hadar (splendor), Amit (friend), and myriad other common names are used for either gender.

From an Irish newspaper article about the CSO disregarding fadas in Irish baby names:

The CSO recently unveiled its Baby Names of Ireland visualisation tool recently published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) tool allowing users to check the popularity of names officially registered in Ireland. However, it does not allow for names with the síneadh fada or other diacritical marks that denote pronunciation or meaning.

[…]

“Our language, while having a special status afforded it in the Constitution has been progressively marginalised to the fringes of bureaucracy.

“It behoves the Central Statistics Office above all other institutions to be correct in all matters it reports. This is where historians will first go to research,” [author Rossa Ó Snodaigh] said.

For more quotes about names, check out the name quotes category.