Earlier this month, a Mississippi newspaper ran a short item about a young girl named Poplar:
Precious little Poplar Murphy spent Christmas on Poplar Avenue with her grandparents, Steve and Jenny Lynn Wilkerson, in their Philadelphia [Mississippi] home. She was named after the street where her mother, Lacie Wilkerson Murphy, grew up.
I’ve come across the names Peuplier (“poplar” in French) and Mîtos (“poplar” in Cree) before, but I believe this is the first time I’ve spotted the name Poplar itself.
Interestingly, the word poplar refers not just to poplar trees, but also to aspens and cottonwoods. All three are part of the genus Populus.
What are your thoughts on the name Poplar? Considering the current trendiness of names like Aspen and Poppy, do you think Poplar could start seeing more usage soon?
Sources:
- Enochs, Marianne. “Just Among Friends.” Neshoba Democrat 8 Jan. 2025.
- Poplar – Britannica
Image: Adapted from Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) by Jay Sturner under CC BY 2.0.
I like nature names, but Poplar doesn’t do anything for me. It’s too close to popular, and that’s a fraught concept (particularly for adolescent girls) that I wouldn’t want associated with my name. I don’t like Poppy either, for humans, because I know too many people whose grandfathers were called Poppy. My decades of talking about names online with other name nerds have alerted me that in the UK, where Poppy is #11 on the most recently published baby name chart, grandfathers are never called Pop or Poppy, so it’s different there. (It’s #289 on the corresponding U.S. chart.)
That said, just a personal preference, and I like little Poppy’s connection to a family home. That’s sweet.
I can think of more “conventional” tree names — Willow, Oak, Maple, Tulip, Magnolia, Birch, Ash, Acacia, Linden, Aspen, Hazel, Juniper, Cedar, Spruce — before I would choose Poplar. That said, I realize the child was named after a street, not a tree. She should be thankful her mother didn’t grow up on Railroad Ave.
I agree with Sharky that Poplar is uncomfortably close to popular, but, if this child lives in the South, it’s likely her name will be accepted with little comment.