How popular is the baby name Alan 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 Alan.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Alan


Posts that Mention the Name Alan

What popularized the baby name Arsenio in the late 1980s?

Arsenio Hall hosting "The Arsenio Hall Show" (1989-1994)
Arsenio Hall

The name Arsenio, which has been appearing in the U.S. baby name data since the 1910s, shot into the top 1,000 in 1989 and and stayed there for three years in a row:

  • 1992: 47 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1991: 45 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1990: 188 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 743rd]
  • 1989: 397 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 479th]
  • 1988: 124 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 854th]
  • 1987: 83 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1986: 21 baby boys named Arsenio

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Arsenio in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Arsenio

The variant forms Aresenio, Arsenial, Arseno, and Marsenio also popped up for the first and only time in 1989.

What caused this sudden interest in the name Arsenio?

Comedian and actor Arsenio Hall.

In 1987, he became the first African-American to host a late-night talk show with his 13-week stint on The Late Show. (It was originally called The Late Show with Joan Rivers, but, after Rivers was fired, the show was re-titled and featured a series of guest hosts.)

Audiences would have noticed him next in the hit movie Coming to America (1988), which starred Hall’s longtime friend Eddie Murphy.

Several months later, in January of 1989, he kicked off The Arsenio Hall Show — a hip, energetic alternative (“woof, woof, woof!”) to the other late-night talk shows of the era.

Notably, Hall’s show was one of the few on mainstream television to showcase hip-hop culture. Musical guests included N.W.A, Ice-T, Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, Bell Biv DeVoe, Heavy D, Black Sheep, Kwamé, Tone Loc, A Tribe Called Quest, and Leaders of the New School. He also spotlighted R&B acts like Bobby Brown, En Vogue, New Edition, Troop, Jodeci, and Mariah Carey.

The Arsenio Hall Show was a breakout success. It was particularly popular with young urban audiences. Despite this, ratings began to slip in late 1993 (largely due to scheduling issues) and the show was cancelled in May of 1994.

So where does the name Arsenio come from? It’s a form of the ancient Greek name Arsenios, which is based on the ancient Greek word arsen, meaning “masculine, virile.”

What are your thoughts on the name Arsenio?

P.S. The name’s slight rise in 1983 and 1984 was likely due to Arsenio Hall’s time as a sidekick on an earlier late-night show, Thicke of the Night (1983-1984), which was hosted by Alan Thicke.

Sources:

Popular baby names in Puerto Rico, 2022

Puerto Rico

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is located in the Caribbean Sea, about 1,000 miles southeast of Miami, and has about 3.2 million residents.

What were the most popular baby names in Puerto Rico last year? Valentina and Liam.

Here are Puerto Rico’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Valentina, 202 baby girls
  2. Emma, 138
  3. Victoria, 121
  4. Luna, 117
  5. Aurora, 116
  6. Amaia, 104
  7. Catalina, 101
  8. Mia, 99
  9. Milena, 95
  10. Gianna, 89
  11. Isabella, 88
  12. Mikaela, 82
  13. Camila, 77
  14. Sofia, 67
  15. Amalia, 66
  16. Amanda, 59
  17. Amelia, 58
  18. Sophia, 57
  19. Amira, 55
  20. Alaia, 52 (3-way tie)
  21. Leah, 52 (3-way tie)
  22. Paula, 52 (3-way tie)
  23. Ainhoa, 49 (tie)
  24. Elena, 49 (tie)
  25. Ainara, 45 (tie)
  26. Antonella, 45 (tie)
  27. Gia, 44
  28. Alanna, 43
  29. Valeria, 41
  30. Kamila, 39 (tie)
  31. Stella, 39 (tie)
  32. Alana, 36
  33. Gabriela, 35
  34. Andrea, 34 (tie)
  35. Brianna, 34 (tie)
  36. Nahiara, 33
  37. Mariana, 32
  38. Ana, 29 (tie)
  39. Lia, 29 (tie)
  40. Marina, 28 (3-way tie)
  41. Mila, 28 (3-way tie)
  42. Paulette, 28 (3-way tie)
  43. Kailani, 27
  44. Adriana, 25 (tie)
  45. Amahia, 25 (tie)
  46. Anahia, 24
  47. Amaya, 23 (3-way tie)
  48. Cataleya, 23 (3-way tie)
  49. Katalina, 23 (3-way tie)
  50. Ariana, 22 (7-way tie)
  51. Chloe, 22 (7-way tie)
  52. Liah, 22 (7-way tie)
  53. Nahia, 22 (7-way tie)
  54. Nayla, 22 (7-way tie)
  55. Paulina, 22 (7-way tie)
  56. Samara, 22 (7-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. Liam, 269 baby boys
  2. Thiago, 254
  3. Noah, 253
  4. Mateo, 186
  5. Sebastian, 184
  6. Lucas, 152
  7. Dylan, 145
  8. Ian, 128
  9. Nicolas, 103
  10. Ethan, 98
  11. Jayden, 94
  12. Adrian, 91
  13. Jacob, 82 (tie)
  14. Matias, 82 (tie)
  15. Angel, 77
  16. Fabian, 69
  17. Elias, 68
  18. Diego, 65
  19. Gael, 64
  20. Matteo, 63
  21. Eithan, 62 (tie)
  22. Elian, 62 (tie)
  23. Mauro, 57 (tie)
  24. Milan, 57 (tie)
  25. Isaac, 56 (tie)
  26. Luis, 56 (tie)
  27. Aaron, 53
  28. Gian, 48
  29. Daniel, 47
  30. Alan, 45 (tie)
  31. Julian, 45 (tie)
  32. Damian, 43
  33. Gabriel, 41 (tie)
  34. Jose, 41 (tie)
  35. Isaias, 40
  36. Matthew, 40
  37. Leonardo, 39
  38. Alejandro, 38 (3-way tie)
  39. Carlos, 38 (3-way tie)
  40. Evan, 38 (3-way tie)
  41. Caleb, 37
  42. Eliam, 36 (tie)
  43. Nathan, 36 (tie)
  44. Enzo, 33 (3-way tie)
  45. Keyden, 33 (3-way tie)
  46. Zabdiel, 33 (3-way tie)
  47. Juan, 32 (3-way tie)
  48. Kaleb, 32 (3-way tie)
  49. Ryan, 32 (3-way tie)
  50. Andres, 30 (tie)
  51. Kayden, 30 (tie)

In 2021, the top names in Puerto Rico were also Valentina and Liam.

And what were the most popular baby names in all the other U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands) combined last year? Luna and Jayden.

Sources: Popular Names by Territory – SSA, Puerto Rico – Wikipedia

Image by PatrickSweeney from Pixabay

What gave the baby name Valentina a boost in 1963?

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Valentina saw an uptick in usage in 1963:

  • 1965: 87 baby girls named Valentina
  • 1964: 86 baby girls named Valentina
  • 1963: 95 baby girls named Valentina
  • 1962: 63 baby girls named Valentina
  • 1961: 62 baby girls named Valentina

That was the year 26-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel into space.

In 1963, from June 16 to 19, Tereshkova spent more than 70 hours in space. She orbited the Earth 48 times in her Vostok 6 capsule before returning.

Her successful flight made headlines worldwide. U.S. newspapers described Valentina Tereshkova as “a tomboyish blonde with a winning smile,” and dubbed her a “cosmonette.”

The Vostok program (1960-1963) was the USSR’s answer to the Mercury program (1958-1963) in that both programs were created to put humans in space. Russia’s first cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin; America’s first astronaut was Alan Shepard.

The U.S. didn’t send a woman into space until June of 1983, when Sally Ride flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger. (This event may have given a slight boost to the baby name Sally, though it’s hard to tell.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Valentina?

Sources:

Popular baby names in Poland, 2022

Poland

The country of Poland is located in Central Europe and shares a border with seven other countries (including Russia, Germany, and Slovakia).

Last year, Poland welcomed approximately 305,000 babies — 290,000 of which were born to Polish parents and 15,000 of which were born to non-Polish parents (many of them Ukrainian refugees).

What were the most popular names among all these babies? Zofia and Antoni.

Here are Poland’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Zofia, 5,714 baby girls
  2. Zuzanna, 5,558
  3. Hanna, 5,261
  4. Laura, 5,095
  5. Maja, 4,979
  6. Julia, 4,936
  7. Oliwia, 4,440
  8. Alicja, 4,261
  9. Pola, 4,087
  10. Lena, 3,811
  11. Maria, 3,732
  12. Emilia, 3,188
  13. Amelia, 3,143
  14. Antonina,3,133
  15. Wiktoria, 3,037
  16. Liliana, 2,860
  17. Iga, 2,847 – a diminutive of either Jadwiga or Ignacja
  18. Michalina, 2,749
  19. Marcelina, 2,720
  20. Helena, 2,680
  21. Klara, 2,523
  22. Aleksandra, 2,370
  23. Gabriela, 2,220
  24. Anna, 1,965
  25. Kornelia, 1,927
  26. Lucja, 1,862
  27. Blanka, 1,853
  28. Nela, 1,840
  29. Nadia, 1,792
  30. Natalia, 1,734
  31. Jagoda, 1,554
  32. Lilianna, 1,472
  33. Milena, 1,467
  34. Anastazja, 1,297
  35. Mia, 1,217
  36. Kaja, 1,213
  37. Nikola, 1,109
  38. Nina, 1,102
  39. Weronika, 1,081
  40. Róza, 1,074
  41. Rozalia, 1,072
  42. Aniela, 1,039
  43. Sara, 998
  44. Barbara, 993
  45. Matylda, 968
  46. Karolina, 887
  47. Martyna, 840
  48. Liwia, 821
  49. Agata, 811
  50. Eliza, 756

Boy Names

  1. Antoni, 6,670 baby boys
  2. Jan, 6,341
  3. Aleksander, 6,201
  4. Nikodem, 6,155
  5. Franciszek, 5,696
  6. Jakub, 5,535
  7. Leon, 5,091
  8. Mikolaj, 4,499
  9. Stanislaw, 4,265
  10. Filip, 4,107
  11. Ignacy, 4,086
  12. Szymon, 4,069
  13. Wojciech, 3,539
  14. Adam, 3,348
  15. Kacper, 3,251
  16. Tymon, 3,164
  17. Marcel, 3,081
  18. Maksymilian, 3,055
  19. Michal, 2,758
  20. Wiktor, 2,709
  21. Oliwier, 2,551
  22. Tymoteusz, 2,278
  23. Milosz, 2,234
  24. Igor, 2,226
  25. Julian, 2,040
  26. Piotr, 1,987
  27. Oskar, 1,932
  28. Gabriel, 1,712
  29. Dawid, 1,489
  30. Krzysztof, 1,352
  31. Bartosz, 1,315
  32. Dominik, 1,271
  33. Natan, 1,222
  34. Bruno, 1,214
  35. Mateusz, 1,209
  36. Hubert, 1,152
  37. Karol, 1,141
  38. Alan, 1,058
  39. Fabian, 1,014
  40. Tomasz, 977
  41. Maciej, 975
  42. Henryk, 948
  43. Cezary, 892 (tie)
  44. Tadeusz, 892 (tie)
  45. Artur, 858
  46. Ksawery, 849 – a form of Xavier
  47. Pawel, 753
  48. Milan, 727
  49. Daniel, 717
  50. Kazimierz, 674 (tie)
  51. Kuba, 674 (tie)

(Because L‘s with a stroke don’t render properly on my site, you’ll have to imagine they exist in several of the above: the girl name Lucja and the boy names Mikolaj, Stanislaw, Michal, Milosz, and Pawel.)

Poland’s data goes all the way down to names with just two instances of usage, so here’s a sampling of the rare baby names at the opposite end of the spectrum:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Aglaja, Beyza, Celestyna, Dasza, Esenia, Freyja, Harper, Illia, Jaga, Koralia, Lilibet, Melanija, Nurana, Oktavia, Penelope, Radochna, Sviatoslava, Tekla, Ustina, Vasylisa, Yeseniya, ZytaAffan, Bronislav, Caspian, Demjan, Elisey, Florin, Gajusz, Henrik, Igo, Jarogniew, Klimek, Lian, Matwej, Neo, Przemek, Rishi, Salwador, Timo, Vadzim, Witosz, Yuri, Zorian

The two Lilibets were likely named with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter Lilibet Diana (b. 2021) in mind.

Finally, here are Poland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Imiona nadawane dzieciom w Polsce – Otwarte Dane, Poland’s birth rate in decline shows study – The First News, Behind the Name