We’ve talked about flipping surnames into forenames before. What about flipping other words into forenames? Here are four real-life examples:
Alucard = Dracula, backwards. If you like the vampire associations of Lestat and Renesmee, Alucard might be right up your alley. At least 25 US baby boys have been named Alucard:
- 2012: 6 baby boys named Alucard
- 2011: unlisted
- 2010: unlisted
- 2009: 5 baby boys named Alucard
- 2008: unlisted
- 2007: 7 baby boys named Alucard
- 2006: 7 baby boys named Alucard
Nacirema = American, backwards. At least 5 U.S. baby girls have been named Nacirema:
- 2009: 5 baby girls named Nacirema
Nevaeh = Heaven, backwards. From a mere 5 baby girls in 1997 to the massive numbers below, at least at least 55,677 US baby girls (and 357 boys!) have been named Nevaeh. Here are the recent numbers and rankings for baby girls specifically:
- 2011: 5,402 baby girls named Nevaeh [rank: 39th]
- 2011: 6,112 baby girls named Nevaeh [rank: 33rd]
- 2010: 6,429 baby girls named Nevaeh [rank: 25th]
- 2009: 6,118 baby girls named Nevaeh [rank: 34th]
- 2008: 6,109 baby girls named Nevaeh [rank: 34th]
- 2007: 6,812 baby girls named Nevaeh [rank: 31st]
- 2006: 5,951 baby girls named Nevaeh [rank: 43rd]
And don’t forget all the variant forms: Nevaeha, Anevaeh, Nevaehlee, Nevaehly, Nevaehia, Neveah, Neveaha, Nevayah, Neviah, Nevaya, Neveyah, Nevea, Nevae, Neviyah, Nevaha, Neveya, Navaeh, Naveah, Naveyah, Navayah, Navea, Naviyah, Naveya, Naviya, Navaeha, Niveah, Nivaeh, etc. Speaking of variant forms, how about…
Nevaehtnes = Sent Heaven, backwards. Though I’m sure these parents had “Heaven-sent” in mind. At least 5 U.S. baby girls have been named Nevaehtnes:
- 2010: 5 baby girls named Nevaehtnes
Know of any other word-flip baby names? Or, can you invent one off the top of your head?
I can only think of Semaj right now, which is James backwards
Alucard – interesting. Sounds like one of those medieval names repurposed for the 21st century.
The first flipped name I remember hearing about is Senga (Agnes flipped)– I’ve heard it’s common Scotland. There’s also Nomar (Ramon flipped) in as in Nomar Garciaparra.
Senga sounds like strawberries to me, Senga Sengana is a very popular cultivar, and there are other ones beginning with Senga. They were all grown by Reinhold von Sengbusch.
Alucard also was used as the name of a vampire character in a popular manga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alucard_%28Hellsing%29_), so I suspect it’s also appealing to the kind of parents who use Rinoa and Tidus from Final Fantasy.
… which aren’t too far off from the Renesmee people, actually.