How popular is the baby name Carver in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Carver.

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Popularity of the baby name Carver


Posts that mention the name Carver

Arrr! Baby names for “Talk Like a Pirate Day”

Avast! Did you know that today, September 19th, is Talk Like a Pirate Day?

“Arrr” itself doesn’t make a great name — even for pirates — but here’s the next best thing: over 130 names that feature the “arrr” sound.

Girl Names with “Arrr”

  • Araminta
  • Arcadia
  • Arden
  • Aretha
  • Aria
  • Ariana, Arianna
  • Arlene
  • Arlette
  • Arlynne
  • Artemis
  • Barbara
  • Barbie
  • Carla
  • Carlene
  • Carley
  • Carmel
  • Carmella
  • Carmen
  • Charlene
  • Charlotte
  • Charmaine
  • Darcy
  • Daria
  • Darla
  • Darlene
  • Gardenia
  • Harbor
  • Harlow
  • Harmony
  • Hildegarde
  • Karla
  • Katarina
  • Larisa, Larissa
  • Mara
  • Marcella
  • Marcia
  • Margaret
  • Margot, Margaux
  • Maria
  • Mariah
  • Mariana
  • Marie
  • Marina
  • Mariska
  • Marissa
  • Marjorie
  • Marla
  • Marlena
  • Marlene
  • Marley
  • Marnie
  • Marta
  • Martha
  • Marva
  • Martina
  • Narcissa
  • Parthenia (…Parthenope?)
  • Pilar
  • Rosario
  • Scarlett
  • Skylar
  • Starla

Boy Names with “Arrr”

  • Arcadio
  • Archer
  • Archibald
  • Archie
  • Ari
  • Arlo
  • Arnold
  • Arsenio
  • Arthur
  • Balthazar
  • Barnaby
  • Barton
  • Bernard (…Bernarr?)
  • Carl
  • Carlisle
  • Carlton
  • Carson
  • Carter
  • Carver
  • Charles
  • Clark
  • Dario
  • Darius
  • Darwin
  • Edgar
  • Edward
  • Finbar
  • Garfield
  • Gerard
  • Gunnar
  • Hardy
  • Harley
  • Harper
  • Harvey
  • Howard
  • Karl
  • Lars
  • Larson
  • Lazarus
  • Leonard
  • Marcel
  • Marcellus
  • Mario
  • Marius
  • Marc, Mark
  • Marcus, Markus
  • Marlow
  • Marshall
  • Martin, Marty
  • Marvin
  • Nazario
  • Oscar
  • Parker
  • Richard
  • Stewart, Stuart
  • Ward
  • Warner
  • Warren
  • Warrick
  • Willard
  • Yardley

Which of the Arrr-names above do you like best? Did I miss any good ones?

Update, 9/20: A few additions…

Source: How To… – International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Image: Adapted from Flag of Edward England by WarX under CC BY-SA 3.0.

[Latest update: July 2023]

The top girl-name debuts of 2015

lotus bud

The music-inspired name Kehlani was the top debut name for baby girls in 2015.

In order for a rare baby name to debut on the Social Security Administration’s annual baby name list, it has to be given to at least 5 U.S. babies of either one gender or the other within a given year.

Of all the girl names that debuted in 2015, the following were the most popular:

1. Kehlani, 48 baby girls
2. Dayelin, 34
3. Abrish, 29
4. Alahia, 22
5. Hazelgrace, 22
6. Brave, 17
7. Nadyalee, 17
8. Hoorain, 15
9. Aitanna, 14
10. Aithana, 14
11. Aytana, 14
12. Brexley, 14
13. Jeshia, 14
14. Averyrose, 13
15. Absalat, 12
16. Kassiani, 12
17. Ovi, 12
18. Viyona, 12
19. Charlestyn, 11
20. Ditya, 11
21. Kylierae, 11
22. Mansirat, 11

And a handful from the 10-and-under group: Tanvika, Espn (it arrives for girls, finally!), Heavenlyjoy, Wylder, Yemariam, Carver, Edelweiss, Gloricely, Darasimi, Elshaddai, Ezoza, Maggiemae, Zeppelyn, Amitis, Anthem, Moxley, Wellesley, Witten, Gatsby, Skyland, Adorable, Brizleth, Lameese, Ludovica, Maleficent (Maleficent!), Maori, Stellaluna, Vaiga, Vydia.

Where do the names above come from? Here are a few explanations:

  • Kehlani – from Kehlani Parrish (stage name Kehlani), American R&B singer.
  • Hazelgrace – from Hazel Grace Lancaster, a character from The Fault in Our Stars (2014).
  • Nadyalee – from Nadyalee Torres, Puerto Rican model, finalist on Nuestra Belleza Latina 2015.
  • Hoorain – from celebrity baby Hoorain, born in July of 2015 to Pakistani actors Ayeza Khan and Danish Taimoor.
  • Aitanna, Aithana, and Aytana – from celebrity baby Aitana, born in August of 2014 to Mexican actors Alessandra Rosaldo and Eugenio Derbez.

Can you come up with explanations for any of the others?

Here are the boy name debuts, and here are the top girl name debuts of 2014.

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri

The story behind Cheryl Strayed’s surname

From the cover of the book "Wild" (2012) by Cheryl Strayed

Earlier this year, the New York Times published an article about women who created new surnames for themselves after divorce.

Hanging on to your ex’s last name can daily conjure an unhappy past, while going back to a maiden name you’ve outgrown can be difficult to imagine. Divorce can be an opportunity to create an entirely different surname that speaks to the woman you have become.

The article mentioned several women, including writer Cheryl Strayed, who has written in-depth about her surname-choosing experience.

Cheryl, who was “Sugar” of the popular Dear Sugar advice column, got divorced in her mid-20s. She talks about coming up with the surname “Strayed” in chapter 6 of her memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (which I’m in the middle of reading right now):

Cheryl Strayed, Cheryl Strayed, Cheryl Strayed–those two words together still rolled somewhat hesitantly off my tongue. Cheryl had been my name forever, but Strayed was a new addition–only officially my name since April, when Paul and I had filed for divorce.

[…]

[I]n the months that Paul and I hung in marital limbo, unsure of which direct we’d move in, I pondered the question of my last name, mentally scanning words that sounded good with Cheryl and making lists of characters from novels I admired. Nothing fit until one day when the word strayed came into my mind. Immediately, I looked it up in the dictionary and knew it was mine. Its layered definitions spoke directly to my life and also struck a poetic chord: to wander from the proper path, to deviate from the direct course, to be lost, to become wild, to be without a mother or father, to be without a home, to move about aimlessly in search of something, to diverge or digress.

[…]

Cheryl Strayed I wrote down repeatedly down a whole page of my journal, like a girl with a crush on a boy she hopes to marry. Only the boy didn’t exist. I was my own boy, planting a root in the center of my rootlessness. Still, I had my doubts. To pick a word out of the dictionary and proclaim it mine felt a bit fraudulent to me, a bit childish or foolish, not to mention a touch hypocritical. For years I’d privately mocked the peers in my hippy, artsy, lefty circles who’d taken on names they’d invented for themselves. Jennifers and Michelles who became Sequoias and Lunas; Mikes and Jasons who became Oaks and Thistles. I pressed on anyway, confiding in a few friends about my decision, asking them to begin calling me by my new name to help me test it out. I took a road trip and each time I happened across a guest book I signed it Cheryl Strayed, my hand trembling slightly, feeling vaguely guilty, as if I were forging a check.

By the time Paul and I decided to file our divorce papers, I’d broken in my new name enough that I wrote it without hesitation on the blank line.

P.S. Cheryl’s son Carver was named after short story writer Raymond Carver.

Source: Wood, Megan L. “When the New You Carries a Fresh Identity, Too.” New York Times 15 Feb. 2013. (h/t A Mitchell)

Image: Cover of Wild

Baby names with CAR: Carter, Scarlett, Oscar

Are you a car-lover looking for baby names that contain the word CAR?

If so, you’re in luck!

Because below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter sequence “c-a-r.” Most of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data.

  • Aboubacar
  • Alcario
  • Alucard
  • Amilcar
  • Boubacar
  • Cara, Carra, Carah, Carrah, Caragh
  • Carabella
  • Caradoc
  • Caraline, Caralina
  • Caralyn, Caralynn
  • Caramia
  • Carbon
  • Cardale
  • Cardarius
  • Cardea
  • Cardel, Cardell
  • Cardelia
  • Cardella
  • Carden, Cardin, Cardon, Cardyn
  • Carder
  • Cardero
  • Cardi
  • Cardinal
  • Careem
  • Careen, Carreen
  • Carel, Carell, Carrel, Carrell
  • Careli
  • Caren, Carin, Caron, Caryn
  • Carena
  • Caressa, Caresa, Carressa
  • Caresse, Caress
  • Caretha
  • Caretta
  • Carice
  • Caricia
  • Caridad
  • Carilee
  • Carina, Careena
  • Carine, Carinne, Carrine
  • Cario
  • Carisma
  • Carissa, Carisa, Caryssa, Carrisa, Carrissa
  • Carita
  • Carl
  • Carla
  • Carlasia
  • Carlene, Carleen, Carlean
  • Carletha, Carlethia
  • Carlia, Carlea, Carleah, Carliya, Carliyah
  • Carlier
  • Carlin, Carlon
  • Carlina, Carlena, Carleena
  • Carline
  • Carlis, Carliss
  • Carlisa
  • Carlissa
  • Carlisle, Carlyle
  • Carlito
  • Carlitos
  • Carlo
  • Carlos
  • Carlota, Carlotta
  • Carlson
  • Carly, Carlee, Carley, Carleigh, Carlie, Carli, Carlei
  • Carlton, Carleton
  • Carlynn, Carlyn
  • Carma
  • Carmani
  • Carmel
  • Carmela, Carmella
  • Carmelia
  • Carmelo, Carmello
  • Carmen
  • Carmesha, Carmeshia
  • Carmi, Carmie
  • Carmilla
  • Carmin
  • Carmina
  • Carmine
  • Carmisha
  • Carmo
  • Carnation
  • Carnel, Carnell
  • Carnelia
  • Carnella
  • Carnetta
  • Carney, Carnie
  • Carnesha, Carneshia
  • Carnisha
  • Carnita
  • Carol, Carole, Carrol, Carroll, Caryl
  • Carola
  • Carolann, Carolanne
  • Carold
  • Caroldean, Caroldine
  • Carolee, Caralee
  • Caroleen, Carolene
  • Carolen,
  • Caroletta, Carolette
  • Carolina, Caroleena, Carolena
  • Caroline, Carolyne
  • Carolus
  • Carolyn, Carolynn, Carolin
  • Carpenter
  • Carper
  • Carr
  • Carranza
  • Carrera
  • Carrick
  • Carriana, Carrianna, Carianna, Cariana
  • Carrie, Carri, Carey, Cary, Carie, Cari
  • Carrieann, Carrieanne, Carriann, Carrianne, Cariann, Carianne
  • Carrigan
  • Carrington
  • Carshena
  • Carson, Carsen, Carsin, Carsyn, Carsynn
  • Carsten, Carston
  • Cartavious
  • Carter
  • Cartez
  • Cartha
  • Carthel
  • Carti
  • Cartier
  • Cartina
  • Cartisha
  • Cartrell
  • Caruso
  • Carvel, Carvell
  • Carver
  • Carvin
  • Carwyn, Carwin
  • Carys, Caris, Carris
  • Carzell
  • Dacari
  • Decari
  • Encarna
  • Encarnación
  • Escarlett, Escarlet, Escarleth
  • Giancarlo
  • Giscard
  • Hamilcar
  • Icarus
  • Jacari, Jhacari
  • Jocari
  • Licarayén
  • Lucario
  • Macarena
  • Macari
  • Macaria
  • Macario
  • Macarius
  • McArthur, MacArthur
  • McCartney
  • Policarpia
  • Policarpio
  • Ricarda, Riccarda
  • Ricardo, Riccardo
  • Tocara, Tocarra, Toccara, Toccarra
  • Zacarias
  • Zacariah, Zacaria
  • Zacari, Zacary
  • Zaccaria

Some of these names could be considered variants of the more popular CAR names, though it’s hard to tell. For instance, Caralynn — is it a form of Caroline? Is it Cara + Lynn? (Maybe a bit of both?) Others are non-traditional spellings of more common names, such as Karim, Karen, and Cornelia.

Which CAR name do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. I just wanted to note — for all my fellow lefties out there — that both Cara and Carter are typed entirely with the left hand on a standard QWERTY keyboard. :)

Image: Adapted from AvMalecon-LaHabanaCuba by Ezarate under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]