How popular is the baby name Abraham in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Abraham.
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Mexico, the 10th-most-populated country in the world, is located in the southern part of North America.
In 2021, Mexico welcomed 1,912,178 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Santiago.
Here are Mexico’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
Sofia, 6,552 baby girls
Maria Jose, 6,019
Valentina, 5,671
Regina, 5,556
Camila, 5,255
Valeria, 3,890
Ximena, 3,794
Maria Fernanda, 3,779
Victoria, 3,622
Renata, 3,495
Romina, 3,447
Isabella, 3,199
Natalia, 3,036
Daniela, 3,012
Ana Sofia, 2,790
Alexa, 2,528
Fernanda, 2,515
Maria Guadalupe, 2,468
Samantha, 2,322
Andrea, 2,275
Aitana, 2,208
Emily, 2,133
Melissa, 2,107
Guadalupe, 2,030
Elizabeth, 2,002
Mariana, 1,828
Yamileth, 1,730 – a Latin American variant of the Arabic name Jamila
Danna Sofia, 1,696
Ana Victoria, 1,644
Ana Paula, 1,620
Alejandra, 1,581
Fatima, 1,565
Abigail, 1,560
Julieta, 1,543
Evelyn, 1,540
Esmeralda, 1,407
Luciana, 1,395
Lucia, 1,299
Estefania, 1,260
Maria, 1,244
Jimena, 1,227
Vanessa, 1,215
Ivanna, 1,201
Dayana, 1,197
Kimberly, 1,142
Angela, 1,122
Samara, 1,113
Carolina, 1,102
Emma, 1,098
Miranda, 1,096
Boy Names
Santiago, 9,963 baby boys
Mateo, 8,209
Sebastian, 6,381
Leonardo, 5,784
Matias, 4,708
Emiliano, 4,541
Daniel, 4,133
Gael, 4,024
Miguel Angel, 4,019
Diego, 4,014
Alexander, 3,644
Alejandro, 3,640
Jesus, 3,179
Angel, 2,928
David, 2,866
Tadeo, 2,795 – the Spanish form of Thaddeus
Fernando, 2,676
Luis Angel, 2,632
Rodrigo, 2,533
Jose Angel, 2,442
Maximiliano, 2,411
Jose Luis, 2,374
Gabriel, 2,365
Eduardo, 2,357
Emmanuel, 2,344
Dylan, 2,325
Rafael, 2,142
Juan Pablo, 2,080
Samuel, 2,066
Juan Carlos, 2,052
Jose Manuel, 2,046
Nicolas, 1,989
Isaac, 1,972
Leonel, 1,966
Elias, 1,940
Damian, 1,899
Liam, 1,880
Axel, 1,850
Emilio, 1,822
Ricardo, 1,778
Adrian, 1,770
Jose Miguel, 1,739
Jonathan, 1,710
Carlos, 1,689
Antonio, 1,680
Francisco, 1,678
Javier, 1,675
Alexis, 1,672
Alan, 1,657
Miguel, 1,636
The girls’ top 100 included Dulce Maria (51st), Aylin (58th), Itzayana (67th), and Lucero (93rd).
The boys’ top 100 included Juan (56th), Abraham (66th), Erick (83rd), and Brayan (87th).
Compound first names tend to be shortened for everyday use (e.g, “Juan Carlos” into “Juanca”), but few of these shortened forms have evolved into popular legal names, which I find surprising. I didn’t spot any examples on the boys’ side of the rankings, and only a handful — such as Mayte/Maite, short for María Teresa, and Maribel, short for María Isabel — on the girls’ side.
The baby name Esty (a diminutive of Esther) is primarily used in the state of New York, thanks to the large Jewish community in New York City.
But the name was also featured in the Emmy-winning Netflix series Unorthodox a couple of years ago. So, last year, I checked the Esty data (both the national data and the New York data) to see if the show had influenced the name’s usage.
It may have — Esty did indeed see its highest-ever usage both nationally and in New York in 2020. Even more intriguingly, though, I noticed what seemed to be gaps in the recent NY data. Specifically, New York had no data on the name Esty for the years 2016, 2018, and 2019.
Check it out:
Esty usage in the U.S.
Esty usage in New York
2021
63
57
2020
68
60
2019
59
…
2018
41
…
2017
36
36
2016
43
…
2015
39
37
2014
37
35
I mean, It’s possible that the New York usage of Esty simply dropped below the 5-baby minimum during those particular years. As per the SSA:
To safeguard privacy, we exclude from our tabulated lists of names those that would indicate, or would allow the ability to determine, names with fewer than 5 occurrences in any geographic area.
If that were the case, though, you’d expect to see corresponding dips in the national usage. And we don’t see that here.
It seems more likely to me that some of the New York data is simply…missing.
So the next question is: Are there gaps in the NY data for other names as well?
The boy name Cheskel (a form of Chatzkel, which is based on Ezekiel) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 5 years straight:
Cheskel usage in the U.S.
Cheskel usage in New York
2021
29
29
2020
18
…
2019
27
…
2018
30
…
2017
23
…
2016
27
…
2015
22
21
2014
25
23
The girl name Chany (a diminutive of Channah) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 4 years straight:
Chany usage in the U.S.
Chany usage in New York
2021
65
58
2020
56
…
2019
60
…
2018
55
…
2017
56
…
2016
55
55
2015
44
43
2014
42
41
The boy name Naftuli (based on the Biblical name Naphtali) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 4 years straight:
Naftuli usage in the U.S.
Naftuli usage in New York
2021
29
29
2020
33
…
2019
33
…
2018
27
…
2017
24
…
2016
33
33
2015
24
22
2014
29
25
The girl name Idy didn’t appear in the New York state data for 4 years:
Idy usage in the U.S.
Idy usage in New York
2021
46
…
2020
47
47
2019
31
26
2018
29
…
2017
26
…
2016
25
…
2015
17
16
2014
15
13
The boy name Shmiel (a form of Shmuel, which is based on Samuel) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 4 years:
Shmiel usage in the U.S.
Shmiel usage in New York
2021
40
40
2020
45
…
2019
38
38
2018
31
…
2017
35
…
2016
44
…
2015
44
44
2014
38
37
The girl name Yides (a diminutive of Yehudit, which is a form of Judith) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 4 years:
Yides usage in the U.S.
Yides usage in New York
2021
39
…
2020
34
34
2019
51
…
2018
32
32
2017
39
…
2016
35
…
2015
42
42
2014
38
38
The boy name Berl didn’t appear in the New York state data for 4 years:
Berl usage in the U.S.
Berl usage in New York
2021
19
…
2020
17
17
2019
23
23
2018
18
…
2017
16
…
2016
22
…
2015
21
21
2014
19
18
The girl name Frady (a diminutive of Freyde) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 3 years straight:
Frady usage in the U.S.
Frady usage in New York
2021
25
25
2020
22
…
2019
23
…
2018
21
…
2017
21
21
2016
20
20
2015
17
14
2014
19
19
The girl name Pessy (a diminutive of Batya, which is a form of the Biblical name Bithiah) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 3 years:
Pessy usage in the U.S.
Pessy usage in New York
2021
63
51
2020
62
…
2019
41
…
2018
54
46
2017
41
33
2016
34
…
2015
46
45
2014
42
40
The boy name Lipa (a short form of Lipman, which is based on the name Liberman) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 3 years:
Lipa usage in the U.S.
Lipa usage in New York
2021
50
44
2020
48
43
2019
53
…
2018
44
38
2017
37
…
2016
42
…
2015
43
40
2014
50
50
The boy name Usher (a form of Asher) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 3 years:
Usher usage in the U.S.
Usher usage in New York
2021
41
36
2020
37
…
2019
58
…
2018
36
29
2017
34
…
2016
41
35
2015
45
40
2014
31
28
The boy name Avrum (a form of Abraham) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 3 years:
Avrum usage in the U.S.
Avrum usage in New York
2021
42
34
2020
37
28
2019
24
…
2018
29
24
2017
27
…
2016
25
…
2015
17
16
2014
23
22
The boy name Lazer (a form of Eliezer) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 3 years:
Lazer usage in the U.S.
Lazer usage in New York
2021
40
…
2020
37
31
2019
45
39
2018
29
…
2017
28
…
2016
43
35
2015
29
28
2014
33
31
The boy name Yossi (a diminutive of Yosef) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 3 years:
Yossi usage in the U.S.
Yossi usage in New York
2021
35
29
2020
30
…
2019
23
18
2018
30
24
2017
21
…
2016
29
…
2015
20
19
2014
25
19
The girl name Goldy (a diminutive of Golda) didn’t appear in the New York state data for 2 years:
Goldy usage in the U.S.
Goldy usage in New York
2021
69
57
2020
63
53
2019
51
44
2018
62
54
2017
56
…
2016
46
…
2015
48
42
2014
28
22
And, finally, the boy name Nachman didn’t appear in the New York state data for 2 years:
Nachman usage in the U.S.
Nachman usage in New York
2021
27
18
2020
23
17
2019
18
…
2018
20
12
2017
21
…
2016
21
16
2015
28
24
2014
27
20
If the gap years matched up more closely with one another — as with the glitch of 1989, for instance — I could chalk it up to a few incomplete batches of data.
But they don’t, so…I don’t know what to make of this.
Do you guys have any thoughts, or theories?
(If you’d like to examine the New York data for yourself, download the “State-specific data” file from the SSA website.)
George Brinton McClellan, born in Philadelphia in 1826, served as a general during the initial years of the American Civil War. For several of those months — from November 1861 to March 1862 — he was the commander of the entire Union Army.
In 1864, he unsuccessfully ran for president against Abraham Lincoln. Years later, he was elected governor of New Jersey (1878-1881).
Hundreds of U.S. baby boys were named after George B. McClellan, particularly during the first half of the 1860s. Some examples…
A high percentage of McClellan’s namesakes were born in his home state of Pennsylvania. In fact, the name Brinton (which was McClellan’s mother’s maiden name) still sees its highest usage in Pennsylvania, according to the SSA’s state-by-state baby name data.
If you know Major League Baseball history, no doubt you’re familiar with Kenesaw Mountain “Ken” Landis, who served as professional baseball’s first commissioner from 1921 to 1944.
But…do you know how he got that unusual name?
In 1862 — in the middle of the Civil War — Ken’s father, Dr. Abraham Landis, left his family behind in Ohio to serve as a surgeon in the Union Army. (His family, at that time, consisted of wife Mary and five young children.)
Abraham was severely wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia on June 27, 1864. He spent many weeks in the hospital recovering before he was finally able to return home.
His sixth child, a son, arrived on November 20, 1866 — long after the war was over.
[I]t took Dr. and Mrs. Landis some time to decide on his name. In fact, the delay in providing a name prompted both family and community members to suggest a deluge of different names. Mary Landis did not like the name Abraham, so when Dr. Landis suggested calling their son “Kenesaw,” the name and alternate spelling stuck. Clearly, the site of the doctor’s personal tragedy remained in his thoughts.
The name of the mountain is an Anglicized form of the Cherokee name Gahneesah, which means “burial ground” or “place of the dead.”
(All of Ken’s eventual six siblings had more ordinary names: Katherine, Frances, Walter, Charles, John, and Frederick.)
Ken went on to pass the bar exam and attend law school (in that order) and, by the early 1890s, was practicing law in Chicago. Within a couple of years, he was offered (and accepted) a job in the federal government:
In the Union Army, Abraham Landis was under the command of Lt. Col. Walter Quinton Gresham during Sherman’s advance through Tennessee and Georgia. […] In 1893 Gresham was appointed secretary of state by President Grover Cleveland. He needed a personal secretary and he chose a 26-year-old Chicago attorney with no knowledge of foreign affairs, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
When Gresham unexpectedly died in 1895, Grover Cleveland offered Ken the post of minister to Venezuela. Ken declined this offer to return to private practice in Chicago and to get married to his fiancée, Winifred Reed.
A year later, Kenesaw and Winifred welcomed their first child, a son named Reed Gresham Landis — middle name in honor of Ken’s late boss (and his father’s former commander).
I have more to say about Kenesaw Mountain Landis, but I’ll save the rest for tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here’s a post about Malvern Hill — another unusual baby name inspired by a Civil War battle/location.
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