The rare name Milian first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2004:
- 2006: unlisted
- 2005: unlisted
- 2004: 6 baby girls named Milian [debut]
- 2003: unlisted
- 2002: unlisted
What put it there?
Cuban-American singer Christina Milian (pronounced mih-lee-AHN).
She’d released several successful singles earlier in the 2000s, but 2004 was the year her biggest hit, “Dip It Low,” was released. The song peaked at #5 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in August of 2004. It was nominated for a Grammy the following year.
Christina’s birth name was Christine Marie Flores; “Milian” is her mother’s maiden name. She told BuzzFeed that the surname change gave her career a boost:
[I]t actually worked out better for my career to have the last name Milian, because Flores kept me in a little box, and no one really associated me with the last name Flores. So Milian really opened things up for me. It’s weird what a last name will do. I changed it to Milian and next thing you know I was working, and getting auditions and stuff, and it was crazy.
The Spanish surname Milián can be traced back to the Latin personal name Aemilianus, which — like the modern names Emily, Emil, Emilio, and Emilia — ultimately comes from the Latin word aemulus, meaning “rival.”
What are your thoughts on the baby name Milian?
Sources:
- Christina Milian – Billboard
- Christina Milian – Wikipedia
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Yapalater, Lauren. “Christina Milian Answers 22 Random Questions About Herself.” BuzzFeed 16 Jan. 2015.
[Latest update: June 2022]