But we can’t stop at boy names. That wouldn’t be fair. So here are the top 20 girl names reordered according to relative femininity. (For this post, “strongest” refers to how strongly feminine a name is, just as in the last post it referred to how strongly masculine a name was.)

The degree of femininity was determined by comparing the number of girls with each name to the total number of babies (male + female) with each name. The more boys with the name, the less feminine I considered it.

Most of the names on the reordered side were used by girls over 99% of the time, so they’re all about equally feminine. (Any difference between them is probably due to coding errors.)

The two exceptions are Addison and Alexis:

So if you’re looking for a girl name that won’t be mistaken for a boy name, most of the names in the top 20 are safe bets–but you may want to stay away from Addison, and you’ll definitely want to avoid Alexis.

On 13 October 1993, almost a decade later, Donald Trump and Marla Maples had a baby girl they named Tiffany. Here’s what Trump had to say about Tiffany’s name:

Everything involved with Trump Tower has been successful. And Trump Tower was built with Tiffany’s air rights. But I’ve also always loved the name.

Tiffany was originally an English surname belonging to Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812-1902), co-founder of Tiffany & Co. It was based on the medieval female personal name Tiffania, which can be traced back to the Greek name Theophania, comprised of the elements theos, “God,” and phainein, “to appear.”

The name became popular in the U.S. following the release of the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). It was one of the top 100 girl names in the nation from 1970 until 1999.

Journalist Walter Shapiro wasn’t too keen on Trump’s choice back in 1993. “How much more tasteful had the parents simply explained that Tiffany rhymes with epiphany,” he wrote. He also gave us these prophetic lines:

Picture a kindergarten of the future as the teacher calls the alphabetical roll: “Armani, Burberry, Cartier, Fendi, Gucci, Hermes…” all the way down to “…Valentino, Vuitton and Zabar.” Instead of superhero lunch boxes, these kids will tote personalized shopping bags.

That future is getting closer, Walt. In 2009, hundreds of babies were named Armani and Valentino. Dozens were named Cartier and Hermes. Many more were named Alize, Chanel, Hennessy, Lexus, Sephora…

Sources:

• Boyle, Robert H. “The USFL’s Trump Card.” Sports Illustrated 13 Feb. 1984: 53-63.
• Brozan, Nadine. “Chronicle.” New York Times 14 Oct. 1993.
• “Donald and Marla have a baby Tiffany.” Reading Eagle 13 Oct. 1993: A10.
• Shapiro, Walter. “The Importance of Being Tiffany.” TIME 15 Nov. 1993.
• “Tiffany.” Dictionary of American Family Names. Vol. 3. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Photo: love janine

How many U.S. babies have been named Sephora in the last couple of decades? Let’s check it out:

• 1990: fewer than 5 baby girls named Sephora
• 1991: 5 baby girls named Sephora
• 1992: 7 baby girls named Sephora
• 1993: 7 baby girls named Sephora
• 1994: 5 baby girls named Sephora
• 1995: 8 baby girls named Sephora
• 1996: fewer than 5 baby girls named Sephora
• 1997: 14 baby girls named Sephora
• 1998: 7 baby girls named Sephora
• 1999: 11 baby girls named Sephora
• 2000: 11 baby girls named Sephora
• 2001: 20 baby girls named Sephora
• 2002: 18 baby girls named Sephora
• 2003: 17 baby girls named Sephora
• 2004: 15 baby girls named Sephora
• 2005: 17 baby girls named Sephora
• 2006: 30 baby girls named Sephora
• 2007: 24 baby girls named Sephora
• 2008: 37 baby girls named Sephora
• 2009: 37 baby girls named Sephora

Nearly 250 baby Sephoras since 1998. That’s almost a baby per store. (Makes me wonder if any of these Sephoras have brothers named MAC.)

According to the company, its name is a blend of Zipporah and sephos, an ancient Greek term for “pretty.” I’m not so sure about that second part, though. I know of sophos, “clever,” and psephos, “pebble,” but I’ve never come across sephos before. I’d be curious to know if the word even exists…

Sources: About Sephora, Looks Matter

Toowoomba is a city in Queensland, Australia. The name of the city is based on an aboriginal word (though no one’s quite sure which one). According to a recent article, these are the top baby names in Toowoomba right now:

I have no idea why the article included 10 boy names and 11 girl names. I also don’t know if this list is entirely trustworthy. (The article went on to claim that the top names in Queensland are William and Ruby, but the top names in Queensland are actually William and Chloe. The author could be using statistics from early 2010, but who knows–she didn’t reveal her source.)

I found this statement intriguing, but who knows if it’s accurate:

There has been a growing trend of leaving it up to our children to distinguish themselves in life, rather than selecting a name that stands out.

I think it would be nice if it were true, though.

Update: Another article, Chloe and William top baby names, also claims the top names in Queensland are now William and Chloe. This one mentions that the information comes from “statistics recorded by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Register in Queensland for 2009/10.” How’s that for a meaningless time period?

Source: Parents put an end to name game

“I know someone who named their kid, Genghis.”

“Why? Was Mussolini taken?”

“And another couple who named their kids after two different ski runs in Colorado,” she continued. “One is named Zaugg and the other is called Hyrup.”

“Those sound like names for Hobbits or evil emperors of the Galactic Alliance,” I said.

“Ironically, they then got a dog and named it Bill,” she continued.

Funny stuff. Read the whole thing here. Or here. Or here.

By the way, over 100 babies (86 boys, 28 girls) were named Seven last year. George Costanza would be proud.

The name of the band had been inspired by the doodlings of band member Dawn Richard:

During a June 2006 appearance on MTV’s TRL, it was announced the group would be called Danity Kane, a reference to a superhero Dawn had created and sketched in the studio during downtime.

Danity wasn’t used much (if at all) as a baby name in the U.S. until 2007, when it popped up on the SSA’s baby name list for the first time:

• 2007 – 25 baby girls named Danity
• 2008 – 27 baby girls named Danity
• 2009 – 30 baby girls named Danity

Will there be any more baby girls named Danity now that Danity Kane is kaput, do you think?

Source: Danity Kane @ MTV

I thought I’d look at this issue from a different angle today. Instead of giving you another list of strong boy names, here’s a list of weak boy names. What makes them weak? Again, proportion. Each of these was given to at least 100 baby boys last year, but given to many more baby girls. So if you’re looking for a strongly masculine name, these are some names you’ll want to avoid.

Let’s start with names that were given to boys less than 25% of the time. (Over 75% of the babies who got these names were girls, in other words.)

These names were given to boys less than 20% of the time:

These were given to boys less than 15% of the time:

Finally, the weakest of the weak. These names were given to baby boys less than 10% of the time last year. (To put it another way, over 90% of the babies who got these names were girls.)

Keep in mind that this analysis is spelling-specific. Other variants of these names tended to be used relatively more often for baby boys. Here are a few examples:

• Peyton, 34%
• Tegan, 38%
• Emory, 40%
• Riley, 40%
• Skyler, 64%
• Reece, 70%
• Jordan, 80%
• Cameron, 89%
• Kameron, 91%
• Rhys, 95%

Spelling makes a big difference in some cases, doesn’t it?

I mean, the band has been around for decades. And it’s an American band, after all. Surely a few American babies have been named Jovi over the years.

According to SSA data, there wasn’t much interest in the name Jovi in the early 1980s. Not too surprising, as Bon Jovi’s breakthrough album Slippery When Wet wasn’t released until August of 1986.

Right on cue, babies named Jovi began popping up in 1987:

• 1987: 29 babies named Jovi (9 girls, 20 boys)
• 1988: 25 babies named Jovi (11 girls, 14 boys)
• 1989: 19 babies named Jovi (6 girls, 13 boys)
• 1990: 18 babies named Jovi (5 girls, 13 boys)
• 1991: 22 babies named Jovi (5 girls, 17 boys)
• 1992: 12 babies named Jovi (5 girls, 7 boys)
• 1993: 8 babies named Jovi, at least (<5 girls, 8 boys)
• 1994: 7 babies named Jovi, at least (7 girls, <5 boys)
• 1995: 8 babies named Jovi, at least (<5 girls, 8 boys)
• 1996: 6 babies named Jovi, at least (6 girls, <5 boys)

Usage began to wane in the mid-1990s, even though Bon Jovi had some big hits during these years.

• 1997: 8 babies named Jovi, at least (<5 girls, 8 boys)
• 1998: 5 babies named Jovi, at least (5 girls, <5 boys)
• 1999: ? babies named Jovi (<5 girls, <5 boys)
• 2001: 10 babies named Jovi, at least (<5 girls, 10 boys)
• 2002: 5 babies named Jovi, at least (5 girls, <5 boys)
• 2003: 14 babies named Jovi (7 girls, 7 boys)
• 2004: 11 babies named Jovi, at least (11 girls, <5 boys)

In the mid-2000s, the name Jovi started picking up steam again.

• 2005: 26 babies named Jovi (17 girls, 9 boys)
• 2006: 44 babies named Jovi (33 girls, 11 boys)
• 2007: 51 babies named Jovi (38 girls, 13 boys)
• 2008: 60 babies named Jovi (46 girls, 14 boys)
• 2009: 71 babies named Jovi (58 girls, 13 boys)

Why is it more popular now than ever before? Here are some possible explanations.

First, Bon Jovi started releasing country-tinged material in 2006. They put out an entire country rock album, Lost Highway, in 2007. So perhaps country music fans had a lot to do with this increase.

Second, the kids and teens who listened to Bon Jovi in the 1980s would have started having kids of their own in the 1990s and 2000s. Maybe these lifelong fans are using the name now as a belated tribute.

Third, Jovi could be piggybacking on any of several baby-naming trends:

• The unique name trend
• The symbolic surname trend (Jagger, Emerson, Kennedy)
• The ethnic name trend (Giovanni, which is related to Jovi/Giovi, is currently at an all-time high)

These trends may make Jovi sound appealing even to those who aren’t big Bon Jovi fans. (If those people even exist! I doubt it.)

Would you ever consider using the name Jovi for a baby? If so, would you use it as a boy name, a girl name, or would gender not matter?

And in case you were interested in seeing the raw numbers:

*The actual total is somewhere above 4,000,000. My sample is a bit smaller.

How long are the baby names you’ve been considering? Are they in that popular 5-7 letter range?

(Wondering about popular first letters?)

A total of 4,143 babies were born in Malta in 2009. (In 2006, the number was 3,885.) These were the most popular baby names last year:

Boy Names

1. Luke/Luca (92 babies)
2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo (84)
3. Jake (59)
4. Aiden (53)
5. Jaden/Jayden (51)
6. John/Giovanni/Jean (48)
7. Kaiden/Kayden (47)
8. Michael/Miguel/Mikele (46)
9. Nicholas/Nick (42)
10. Isaac/Izaak (39)
11. Nathan (38)
12. • Liam/William (36)
    • Gabriel (36)
13. Benjamin/Ben (35)
14. • Alexander/Alessandro/Alejandro (34)
    • Zachary/Zak (34)
15. • James (33)
    • Daniel (33)
16. Denzel/Danzil (31)
17. Keiran (29)
18. • Andre/Andrew/Andrea (26)
    • Sven (26)
19. Julian (25)
20. • Kyle (24)
    • Joseph/Giuseppe/Beppe (24)

Girl Names

1. Maria/Mariah/Marie (82 babies)
2. Elena/Ylenia/Ella (79)
3. Christina/Kristina/Krista (63)
4. Eliza/Elizabeth/Lisa (52)
5. Amy/Aimee (49)
6. Julia/Gulia (45)
7. • Maya/Maia (39)
   • Emma (39)
8. Martina (33)
9. Rihanna/Rhiana (32)
10. Jasmine/Yasmine (31)
11. Keira (29)
12. Mikela/Michaela (28)
13. Jade (27)
14. Hannah/Anna/Ann (26)
15. • Nicole (25)
    • Mireille (25)
    • Hailey/Hayley (25)
16. Sarah/Sara (24)
17. • Emilia (22)
    • Lea (22)
18. Thea (20)
19. • Shania (18)
    • Katrina/Kate (18)
    • Amber (18)
    • Kailey/Kayleigh (18)
20. • Faith (17)
    • Laura (17)

You’ll notice that Malta still lumps variants together. (They even lump non-variants like Elena and Ella together.) I’m not a big fan of this method because when groupings change from year to year, comparisons become impossible.

Malta also seems to have some issues with spelling. Aidan and Kieran became Aiden and Keiran between 2006 and 2009, for instance. And I’m sure “Gulia” was meant to be Giulia. (Though I do like the fact that there’s a “Julia/Gulia” grouping. Very Wedding Singer-esque.)

But it’s interesting stuff nonetheless. I’m especially intrigued by all the -ayden names on the boys’ list. (Worldwide phenomenon, anyone?)

If you want to see more from Malta, the top baby names of 2008, 2007, 2004/2005, 2003 and 2002 are available for download.

Source: National Statistics Office – Malta