Babies named for Ambrose Burnside

Soldier and politician Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881).
Ambrose Burnside

Ambrose Everett Burnside was general in the Union Army throughout the American Civil War.

After the war, he served as the governor of Rhode Island for three single-year terms (1866-1869) and as a U.S. Senator from 1875 until his death in 1881.

Several hundred baby boys — most born during the war — were named in Burnside’s honor. Some examples…

A handful of boys conveniently born into Burnside families were simply named “Ambrose” or “Ambrose E.” (like Ambrose Everett Burnside, b. 1860).

Here’s how one newspaper summed up Ambrose Burnside’s life a few days after he died:

He was not remarkably brilliant as a statesman, but he was eminently successful as a leader of fashion, and the style of whiskers to which his name has been given will probably exist among the dandies long after his breech-loading rifle [the Burnside carbine] and record as a Senator are forgotten.

His distinctive facial hair — bushy side-whiskers with a clean-shaven chin — was initially known as “burnsides.” At some point, the syllables switched places and the term morphed into “sideburns.”

Sources:

Where did the baby name Daren come from in 1922?

The book "The Day of the Beast" (1922) by Zane Grey.
“The Day of the Beast”

We already know that a character from the TV show Bewitched popularized the baby name Darrin (and similar names like Darren, Daren, and Darin) in the 1960s.

But that wasn’t the first time one of these names was influenced by pop culture.

The first of the group to appear in the SSA’s baby name data was Daren, which was the top debut name of 1922:

  • 1924: unlisted
  • 1923: 14 baby boys named Daren
  • 1922: 35 baby boys named Daren [debut]
  • 1921: unlisted
  • 1920: unlisted

Here’s the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) data for same the time period, for a different perspective:

  • 1924: 5 people named Daren
  • 1923: 12 people named Daren
  • 1922: 30 people named Daren
  • 1921: 2 people named Daren
  • 1920: 1 person named Daren

What caused that spike in the usage?

A book called The Day of the Beast (1922) by writer Zane Grey.

Although Grey was well-known for his Westerns, this one wasn’t a Western. Instead it was a morality-heavy drama about a wounded World War I veteran named Daren Lane* who, upon returning to his hometown, began crusading against the declining morals of 1920s America.

The modern reviews I’ve read have been mixed or negative, and even contemporary reviewers did not seem impressed. One writer from the 1920s noted that the book was “mighty good reading as a denunciation, but not so much as a novel.”

So The Day of the Beast wasn’t a high point in Grey’s career, but it made enough of an impression upon readers to influence American baby names.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Daren? Which spelling do you prefer?

*Several of the 1920s babies named Daren — like Daren Lane Biggers, and Daren Lane Cantrall — did indeed get “Lane” as a middle name.

Source: “Book Reviews and Literary Notes.” Oakland Tribune 12 Nov. 1922: 42.

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2021

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

According to data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in the country last year were Fiadh and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Fiadh, 424 baby girls
  2. Grace, 412
  3. Emily, 388
  4. Sophie, 336
  5. Éabha, 288
  6. Lucy, 287
  7. Mia, 279
  8. Ava, 272
  9. Lily, 271
  10. Ella, 268
  11. Amelia, 265
  12. Chloe, 243
  13. Hannah, 238
  14. Sophia, 234
  15. Emma, 233
  16. Ellie, 228
  17. Isla, 226
  18. Molly, 219 (3-way tie)
  19. Olivia, 219 (3-way tie)
  20. Sadie, 219 (3-way tie)
  21. Anna, 209
  22. Freya, 208
  23. Evie, 190 (tie)
  24. Saoirse, 190 (tie)
  25. Caoimhe, 183
  26. Ruby, 180
  27. Robyn, 175
  28. Kate, 172
  29. Willow, 166
  30. Sofia, 162
  31. Holly, 160
  32. Aoife, 159
  33. Cara, 155
  34. Róisín, 152
  35. Katie, 150 (tie)
  36. Sadhbh, 150 (tie)
  37. Leah, 148 (tie)
  38. Millie, 148 (tie)
  39. Isabelle, 147
  40. Alice, 138 (tie)
  41. Clodagh, 138 (tie)
  42. Zoe, 136
  43. Sarah, 134
  44. Erin, 132
  45. Ada, 131
  46. Annie, 129
  47. Bonnie, 128
  48. Charlotte, 122 (tie)
  49. Layla, 122 (tie)
  50. Rosie, 118

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 667 baby boys
  2. Noah, 475
  3. James, 442
  4. Conor, 360
  5. Rían, 357
  6. Liam, 353
  7. Charlie, 345
  8. Daniel, 325
  9. Cillian, 322
  10. Tadhg, 318
  11. Michael, 310
  12. Oisín, 302
  13. Finn, 299
  14. Fionn, 289
  15. Thomas, 288
  16. Seán, 274
  17. Darragh, 273
  18. Luke, 268
  19. Patrick, 266
  20. Harry, 264
  21. Alex, 253
  22. Adam, 237
  23. Cian, 217
  24. Theo, 210
  25. Oliver, 208
  26. Dylan, 205
  27. Jamie, 203
  28. John, 198
  29. Leo, 192
  30. Oscar, 189
  31. Ollie, 187
  32. Ben, 185
  33. Tom, 181
  34. Bobby, 179
  35. Ryan, 172
  36. Tommy, 171
  37. Matthew, 170 (tie)
  38. Max, 170 (tie)
  39. Callum, 162
  40. Sam, 161
  41. Danny, 158
  42. Aaron, 151
  43. Alexander, 150
  44. Alfie, 147 (tie)
  45. Jake, 147 (tie)
  46. Mason, 143
  47. David, 141
  48. Joseph, 139
  49. Jacob, 137
  50. Ethan, 135

In the girls’ top 10, Éabha and Lily replaced Amelia and Hannah. (In both 2019 and 2020, Éabha was the fastest-rising girl name in Ireland.)

In the boys’ top 10, Rían, Cillian, and Tadhg replaced Finn, Fionn, and Harry.

Newbies to the girls’ top 100 were Indie, Ayla and Lottie; newbies to the boys’ top 100 were Teddy, Daithí, Páidí, Jaxon, Brody, Ted, Hunter, Tadgh, Tiernan, and Arlo.

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Croía (+60 baby girls), Emily (+59), Fiadh (+58), Éabha (+54), Isla (+52)
  • Rían (+72 baby boys), Jack (+70), Danny (+57), Theo (+53), Ollie (+51)

The fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:

  • Croía (+43 spots), Indie (+28), Ayla (+28), Fíadh (+24), Daisy (+21)
  • Ted (+49 spots), Hunter (+38), Hugo (+35), Brody (+35), Teddy (+31)

Rían (which was already on the rise) and Croía have both given a boost recently by Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor, who welcomed a daughter named Croía Mairéad at the start of 2019 and a son named Rían in May of 2021.

Here’s what writer and Irish language activist Darach Ó Séaghdha’s had to say about the rise of Rían (and Éabha):

Given that the first name Ryan started to decline in popularity in the 2010s around the time Rian and Rían began to ascend it is reasonable to see Rían as an update or replacement to Ryan, much as Éabha has climbed in popularity as Eve, Ava and Aoibhe have wavered.

He also noted that “Rían and Rian would be the [most popular] Gaeilge-origin boy name if counted together, edging ahead of Conor.”

P.S. To follow up on Friday’s post about the free lighthouse tour…the name Patrick is currently ranked 19th in Ireland, but none of the other three names (Paddy, Pat, or Patricia) rank anywhere near the top 100. That said, one of the names new to the boys’ top 100 last year was Páidí (pronounced paw-dee) — a pet form of Pádraig, which is an Irish form of Patrick.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names, Irish Babies’ Names 2021, The Irish For: The rise of Rían – the latest baby names in Ireland

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Where did the baby name Sayward come from in 1978?

The character Sayward from the TV miniseries "The Awakening Land" (1978).
Sayward from “The Awakening Land“

In 1978, the interesting name Sayward debuted as a girl name in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1980: 26 baby girls named Sayward
  • 1979: 12 baby girls named Sayward
  • 1978: 22 baby girls named Sayward [debut]
  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A three-part TV miniseries called The Awakening Land, which aired on NBC in February of 1978. The miniseries chronicled the struggles of pioneer woman Sayward Luckett, who moved with her family to the unsettled Ohio Valley in the last years of the 1700s.

Sayward was played by played by Elizabeth Montgomery (who was playing Samantha on Bewitched a decade earlier). Montgomery was nominated for the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series” for her portrayal of Sayward.

And Sayward wasn’t the only character with an interesting name. Her parents were Worth and Jary; her younger sisters were Genny, Achsa, and Sulie; her husband was Portius; her children included sons Resolve, Kinzie, and Chancey and daughters Huldah, Sulie, and Dezia.

The name Sulie, used for two different characters, also debuted in the data in 1978:

  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: 5 baby girls named Sulie
  • 1978: 5 baby girls named Sulie [debut]
  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: unlisted

And the name Chancey, used for Sayward’s youngest son, saw peak usage the same year:

  • 1980: 37 baby boys named Chancey
  • 1979: 24 baby boys named Chancey
  • 1978: 53 baby boys named Chancey [peak]
  • 1977: 17 baby boys named Chancey
  • 1976: 22 baby boys named Chancey

The story was originally a trilogy of books published in the 1940s and ’50s by Conrad Richter. The third book, called The Town, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1951.

In the books, the Luckett family had one more child, a boy named Wyitt, and Sayward and Portius had a total of ten children (sons Resolve, Guerdon, Kinzie, and Chancey; daughters Sulie, Huldah, Libby, Sooth, Dezia, and Massey).

What are your thoughts on the baby name Sayward? (Or on any of the other names in the series?)

Source: The Awakening Land – IMDb