Popular and unique baby names in Scotland (UK), 2020

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

According to National Records of Scotland (NRS), the most popular baby names in the country in 2020 were Isla and Jack.

Here are Scotland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Isla, 347 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 334
  3. Emily, 300
  4. Freya, 284
  5. Ava, 276
  6. Sophie, 275
  7. Ella, 267
  8. Grace, 261
  9. Amelia, 254
  10. Lily, 208

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 354 baby boys
  2. Noah, 299
  3. James, 292
  4. Leo, 274 (2-way tie)
  5. Oliver, 274 (2-way tie)
  6. Harris, 268
  7. Rory, 258
  8. Alexander, 252
  9. Finlay, 247
  10. Archie, 244

In the girls’ top 10, Lily replaced Charlotte.

In the boys’ top 10, Alexander, Finlay and Archie replaced Charlie, Lewis and Alfie.

The fastest-rising names in the girls’ top 100 were Maeve and Ayda, and in the boys’ top 100 were Roman and Finley.

Here are some of the baby names that were bestowed just once in Scotland last year:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Antarleena, Binatari, Caoife, Dianka, Elswyth, Evrydiki, Fara, Fayne, Geneza, Honor-Norah, Icasia, Idelette, Jafleen, Kasatria, Lochie, Malmuira, Nashmia, Orlia, Phildah, Rileytilly, Rinrada, Skaiste, Tuscany, Uvika, Valfreya, Weeam, Xiaotong, Yorkubel, ZanzibarAulliver, Burn, Caedmon, Coagh, Dhruvanandan, Ertugrul, Fenwick, Guerau, Hanzal, Istari, Jelvin, Jettison, Kifl, Lhanium, Moncef, Nojus, Opei-Wes, Phalata, Riliklan, Rukudzo, Sawney, Torquhil, Tselot, Uendjipa, Vakaris, Wilsheldro, Xataan, Yigit, Zhaocheng

Istari seems to be taken from Tolkien. The Elves referred to the wizards of Middle-earth (such as Gandalf) as istari, a plural noun meaning “wise ones” in Quenya.

Finally, in 2019, the top names in Scotland were Olivia and Jack.

Sources: Isla topples Olivia as top girl’s name, Babies’ First Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

What turned Cinnamon into a baby name in 1967?

The character Cinnamon Carter from the TV series "Mission: Impossible" (1966-1973)
Cinnamon Carter from “Mission: Impossible“

The spice name Cinnamon debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1967:

  • 1972: 63 baby girls named Cinnamon
  • 1971: 94 baby girls named Cinnamon
  • 1970: 110 baby girls named Cinnamon
  • 1969: 202 baby girls named Cinnamon [rank: 699th]
  • 1968: 91 baby girls named Cinnamon
  • 1967: 41 baby girls named Cinnamon [debut]
  • 1966: unlisted
  • 1965: unlisted

It was the top debut name of the year and, two years later, reached the top 1,000 for the first and only time. It also gave rise to variant forms such as Cinamon, Cynnamon, and Cinnamin.

So what gave the name Cinnamon such a big boost in the late ’60s?

Cinnamon Carter, a character from the spy/action TV show Mission: Impossible (1966-1973).

Cinnamon (played by actress Barbara Bain) was a successful fashion model by day, but she was also a member of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) — a team of secret government agents. (I’m not sure how one can be a both a public figure and a secret agent, but I guess she made it work.)

Though the character was only on the show for the first three seasons, she made a strong impression; Bain won three consecutive Emmy awards for each of those three years.

As soon as the character was off the show, the usage of the name Cinnamon started declining.

What are your thoughts on Cinnamon as a baby name? How high do you think it could have climbed in the rankings had the character remained on the show?

Sources: Mission: Impossible – Wikipedia, Should You Choose To Accept: Mission Impossible’s Barbara Bain, SSA
Image: Screenshot of Mission: Impossible

Baby name story: Guadalupe

In 1956, a near-miracle happened in East Los Angeles.

On September 3rd, in the home Louis Acosta, the glass protecting a framed print of Our Lady of Guadalupe accidentally broke. After Louis and his pregnant wife Celia cleaned up the broken glass, they separated the print from its paper backing, which was white — at first. “Inside of 20 minutes it had turned dark brown and the image of the Virgin had appeared,” Louis said.

Word of the image quickly spread around the predominantly Mexican-American community. (Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico.) Over the next week, hundreds of people flocked to the Acosta house, day and night — “some carrying candles and money offerings” — to pray before the image. Newspapers reported on September 7th that an estimated “2,000 persons had crowded the home in the past two days” and that sheriff’s deputies had been called for help.

Art experts and a local priest soon agreed that there was a natural explanation for the image’s appearance, and so it was not a miracle.

Still, the event was inspirational enough to be commemorated in a name. Celia gave birth to a baby boy on the September 8th, and the Acostas decided to name him Guadalupe, in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Sources:

Baby name story: Louis Francis

The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, which commemorated the Louisiana Purchase, included “anthropological exhibits” — essentially, various groups of indigenous people put on display. These exhibits included Apaches, “Eskimos” (Tlingits), African Pygmies, and the Ainu of Japan.

One particularly popular exhibit was the 47-acre Philippine Exposition, which featured over 1,000 Filipinos from at least 10 different ethnic groups. (The fair was held soon after the Philippines had become an unincorporated territory of the U.S. following the Philippine-American War* (1899-1902), which itself followed the Spanish-American War.)

On July 6, a Filipino baby boy was born at the Philippine Exposition. When he was christened several weeks later, David R. Francis — the president of the fair (and the former governor of Missouri) — acted as godfather.

The boy’s full name? Louis Francis Silva, first and middle names “in honor of St. Louis and President Francis,” respectively.

Sources:

Image: Philippine Exposition pamphlet

*The military governor of the Philippines from from 1901 to 1902 was Adna Romanza Chaffee, Sr. — the father of Adna Romanza Chaffee, Jr., after whom Fort Chaffee was named.