How popular is the baby name Alicia 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 Alicia.
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Canadian singer Paul Anka (b. 1941) — whose first hit was the 1957 song “Diana” — married his first wife, Anne de Zogheb, in 1963.
Together, they had five baby girls. Each of their daughters got an A-name:
Which of these names do you like best? Why?
Image: Adapted from Paul Anka 1961 (public domain)
The most popular baby names in Sweden were announced a couple of days ago.
According to Statistics Sweden, the country’s top names are William for boys and Alice for girls.
Here are the top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2012:
| Girl Names | Boy Names |
|---|---|
| 1. Alice 2. Elsa 3. Julia 4. Ella 5. Maja 6. Ebba 7. Emma 8. Linnea 9. Molly 10. Alva 11. Wilma 12. Agnes 13. Klara [tie] 13. Nellie [tie] 15. Isabelle 16. Olivia 17. Alicia 18. Ellen 19. Lily 20. Stella | 1. William 2. Oscar 3. Lucas 4. Hugo 5. Elias 6. Alexander 7. Liam 8. Charlie 9. Oliver 10. Filip 11. Leo 12. Viktor 13. Vincent 14. Emil 15. Axel 16. Anton 17. Erik 18. Olle 19. Theo 20. Ludvig |
Did you know that, back in 1888, Ebba was the top newbie baby name in the U.S.?
But let’s get back to Sweden.
Which Swedish names saw the biggest popularity boosts from 2011 to 2012?
Going up:
| Rising Girl Names | Rising Boy Names |
|---|---|
| 1. Sigrid 2. Majken 3. Elise 4. Alicia 5. Lykke 6. Ronja 7. Juni 8. Svea 9. Siri [tie] 9. Melissa [tie] | 1. Ebbe 2. Henry 3. Elvin 4. Charlie 5. Julian 6. Valter [tie] 6. Matteo [tie] 8. Elton 9. Edward 10. Mohamed |
And which names decreased the most in popularity?
Going down:
| Falling Girl Names | Falling Boy Names |
|---|---|
| 1. Minna 2. Tove 3. Elin 4. Evelina 5. Thea 6. Tindra 7. Filippa 8. Linnea 9. Tilde 10. Amanda | 1. Ville 2. Linus 3. Neo 4. Rasmus 5. Carl 6. Jonathan 7. Simon 8. Viggo [tie] 8. Tim [tie] 10. Joel |
Finally, here are the top baby names in Sweden from a couple of years ago.
Sources: Name Statistics – Statistics Sweden, William, Alice top Swedish baby names
Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)
Hilda was a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Louisiana in early October, 1964.
While the storm was raging, “a baby girl was born in a Morgan City school being used as a refugee center. She was promptly named Hilda.”
The name Hilda comes from the Germanic word hild, meaning “battle.” It was originally a short form of names containing hild, like Hildegard and Brunhilde.
Other hurricane baby names: Alicia, Andrew, Dorian, Elena, Gloria, Iniki, Isabel, Barbara & Florence, Charlie & Gilbert
Source: “Hurricane-born twisters rip Gulf Coast; many dead.” Press-Courier 3 Oct. 1964: 1+.
Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)
Ireland recently released baby name data for 2010. Here are the top ten boy names and top ten girl names of last year (plus parenthetical comparisons to 2009 rankings).
| Boy Names | Girl Names |
|---|---|
| 1. Jack (same) 2. Sean (same) 3. Daniel (same) 4. James (up from 5th) 5. Conor (down from 4th) 6. Ryan (same) 7. Adam (same) 8. Alex (up from 9th) 9. Luke (up from 10th) 10. Dylan (up from 11th) | 1. Sophie (same) 2. Emily (up from 6th) 3. Emma (same) 4. Sarah (same) 5. Lucy (up from 8th) 6. Ava (down from 2nd) 7. Grace (down from 5th) 8. Chloe (up from 10th) 9. Katie (down from 7th) 10. Aoife (down from 9th) |
The one name that fell out of the boys’ top ten is Michael (now 12th).
The top 100 lists have seven new entries overall — four boy names (Tyler, Sebastian, Daithí, Alfie) and three girl names (Lilly, Sofia, Lena).
The boy names that saw the greatest popularity increases from 2009 to 2010 in terms of rank were Tyler, Sebastian, Jacob, Daithí* and Shay, and in terms of number were Noah, Ethan, Charlie, Harry and Jake.
The girl names that saw the greatest popularity increases from 2009 to 2010 in terms of rank were Alicia, Sofia, Lena, Lilly and Daisy, and in terms of number were Emily, Saoirse, Olivia, Sophia and Lucy.
*Daithí, pronounced DAH-hee, is a form of Dáithí, which is thought to mean “swift” in Irish Gaelic. The sudden interest in the name may have been sparked by the TV appearances of young Irish fiddler Daithí Ó Drónaí, who was on The All Ireland Talent Show in 2009 and Must Be The Music in 2010.
Sources: CSO, Jack, Sophie top baby names in 2010, Jack and Sophie, you’re top of the roll-call
Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
