How popular is the baby name Amos 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 Amos.
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The similar names Arbadella and Arbedella both debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1936, and both saw peak usage the following year:
Girls named Arbadella
Girls named Arbedella
1938
12
5
1937
33†
9†
1936
6*
6*
1935
.
.
1934
.
.
*Debut, †Peak usage
What was the influence?
The radio serial Amos & Andy — one of the very first situation comedies. The initial version of the show (1928-1943) aired for 15 minutes, five days per week, and was the most popular radio program in the nation in the late 1920’s and early 30’s. In fact, the show’s “popularity ensured the success of radio broadcasting as a form of mass entertainment.”
The show “was based on the model of minstrel shows, [and] thus based on racial stereotypes.” The main characters — African-American men named Amos Jones and Andy Brown — were played by white radio performers Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.
In an episode that aired during October of 1936, Amos and his wife Ruby welcomed their first child, a baby girl. The baby wasn’t named right away — instead, the show’s sponsor, Pepsodent Tooth Paste, held a baby-naming contest.
The contest was advertised in newspapers nationwide. The ads noted that the judges would consider “originality, uniqueness, and suitability” when making their decision, and also offered some name-choosing prompts, such as:
“…you might think “Amanda” would be a suitable name because it contains so many of the letters of both “Amos” and “Andy.””
“…remember, too, the baby’s maternal grandmother is named Lillian.”
Thousands of prizes were offered, including a $5,000 grand prize. Here’s the full list (and what the prizes would be worth in today’s dollars):
1st: $5,000 in baby bonds (equivalent to $92,183.93 in 2020)
2nd: $1,000 in baby bonds ($18,436.79)
3rd: $100 baby bond to each of 10 winners ($1,843.68)
4th: $50 baby bond to each of 100 winners ($921.84)
5th: $25 baby bond to each of 720 winners ($460.92)
6th: $2 cash to each of 2000 winners ($36.87)
The contest closed in mid-November. The winning name, Arbadella — suggested by Mrs. Joseph L. Smith of Ohio — was announced in mid-December. (The second-place name, Ladicia Ann, was suggested by 12-year-old Indiana boy Urcel D. Miller.)
The late-in-the-year announcement of the winning name accounts for why the baby name Arbadella (and spelling variant Arbedella) debuted in the data in 1936, but saw even higher usage in 1937.
After welcoming Arbadella, Amos and Ruby went on to have two more children: Amos, Jr., and Amosandra. Neither of these fictional babies had a discernible impact on U.S. baby names, though.
What are your thoughts on the name Arbadella? Do you like it?
P.S. Norita was also a contest-winning name of the 1930s…
P.P.S. In the early 1950s, The Amos ‘n Andy Show aired on television. This time around, the characters were played by African-American actors. Despite good ratings, the show was cancelled after two years due to pressure from the NAACP.
When it came to deciding what to call the chain, [Dave Thomas] tried out the names of all five of his children before he settled on the nickname for his daughter, Melinda, which was Wendy.
Before my dad left us [in 2002], we had a long conversation about him naming the restaurant Wendy’s. It was the first time we’d ever had this conversation. He said, “You know what? I’m sorry.” I asked him what he meant. He explained, “I should’ve just named it after myself, because it put a lot of pressure on you.”
From a 2017 LDS Living article about Mormon names:
Jennifer Mansfield, a current graduate student in the Folklore Program at Utah State University, identified six different types of Mormon names: religious (Moroni, Nephi, Brigham), combination (Taylee, Mandylyn), invented (Kaislen), creatively spelled (Kady, Taeler), ancestral (Freestone, Jenkin), and themed (Monson, Hinckley, Kimball).
From CUNY linguist Leonard R. N. Ashley (via Futility Closet):
I once had a student named Usmail, which I at first thought was some Hispanic version of Ishmael. It transpired that he had been named for the only contact his family in a remote Puerto Rican village enjoyed with the outside world, the red-white-and-blue truck that came frequently and had painted on its side US Mail.
There are no automobiles on Pitcairn, and the island’s rocks and cliffs bear names redolent of long-ago tragedies: “Where Dan Fall,” “Where Minnie Off,” “Oh Dear.”
[…]
Besides his daughter Jacqueline, Mr. Christian’s survivors include his wife, the former Betty Christian, whom he married in 1966 (like many Pitcairn couples, they are distant cousins); three other daughters, Raelene Christian, Sherileen Christian and Darlene McIntyre; and six grandchildren.
[S]he is spending the whole week correcting every media report out there on how to spell the baby’s name. Whoops!
The problem started when US Weekly spelled the little girl’s name with two “d”s instead of one, and just spiraled from there. Leah has had to turn to social media to make the correction.
Sounds like the Teen Mom just got a taste of what happens when you decide you need your baby’s name to be insanely “unique.”
I grew up in what I have learned since then, is considered an ALTERNATIVE environment. I went to a hippie school, and my classmates had names that included Andromeda, Boreas, Vitali, Oak, and Rolly (pronounced Role-e) (hi guys!). Considering the roll call, I was kind of the “Jane Smith” of the group. However, regardless of the pillows on the floor, and meetings where we had to discuss our feelings, I still got teased on the playground and called names.
[…]
Then, I moved to the East Coast. East coast people find it a very funny name. This morning, as it would happen, two co-workers discussed my name in front of me, and one said, “I didn’t think it was your real name.” I get that a lot. Maybe it’s because there aren’t any hippies left here. I know the cultural consciousness happened on the east coast, because I’ve met people that had hippies for parents, but it seems that east coast hippies have moved on to academic postings or documentary filmmakers, and they seem to name their kids Amos or Noah, and not after seasons or other natural occurrences.
About 4,250 Alexas are turning five in the U.S. this year. One of them is Amazon’s.
The voice-computing technology that can now control more than 85,000 different devices debuted Nov. 6, 2014.
[…]
In 2015, the year after Amazon Alexa debuted, Alexa was the 32nd most popular female baby name in the U.S., bestowed upon 6,052 newborns that year, according to Social Security Administration data.
Alexa as a baby name has since declined in popularity.
Sydney couple Courtney Cassar, 31, and Laura Sheldon, 29, welcomed daughter Lyla Jill last month, but rather than using a hyphen between their family names, they bestowed the ‘mashed-up’ moniker ‘Casseldon’ on their baby girl instead.
From an Us Weeklypiece about Oprah‘s BFF Gayle King:
I changed my name from Gail to Gayle in seventh grade because I liked to make a loopy y.
I like having an unusual name. The Morven part is not so uncommon in Scotland – most people I meet know another Morven, and I know at least half a dozen. I once ended up in the pub with two other Morvens, which got funnier as the night wore on. Added to the Crumlish, though, my name is, I think, unique. “There can’t be more than one Morven Crumlish!” is something I hear a lot, when the different parts of my life accidentally collide, which makes it difficult to misbehave. In the past my name has become an abstraction. “So this is what a Morven Crumlish looks like,” said the porters who wheeled me down to get my tonsils removed, reducing me to an indefinite object.
Neda Ulaby’s first name means “dew” and is fairly common in Syria. (“It’s also the name of the heroine of an opera called Pagliacci who is literally killed by a clown,” she told me over email.)
[…]
A few years ago, a pair of hardcore NPR listeners invited Neda Ulaby to their wedding, sending along a picture of their car’s license plate, which reads “OOLABEE.” “Apparently they’d developed the creepy habit of referring to each other as ‘my little Ulaby.’ So I became a mating call,” she explained.
…And another quote from the same article:
Robert Smith of Planet Money told me by email that the only reason to change his name “would be so that I could be more famous. You would remember it better if I ended by reports with, ‘I’m Mobius Tutti.'” But at the same time, he says, “I’m in this business to tell other people’s stories, and not to promote myself or my own name. Being a Robert Smith is always a good reminder that you aren’t that different than the people you cover.”
For more quotes about names, check out the name quotes category.
Belvin Maynard, the race-winning pilot we talked about earlier this week, had five brothers and five sisters. All 11 kids were born in North Carolina. Here are their first and middle names:
Morell Battle, b. 1890
Belvin Womble, b. 1892
Anna Bailey, b. 1894
Sherwood Amos, called “Amos,” b. 1896
Vera Claire, b. 1899
Worth Jackson, b. 1901
Elizabeth Liles, b. 1903
Atlas Alan, called “A. A.,” b. 1906
Caralee, b. 1909
Junius Huston Bryan, called “Bryan,” b. 1912
Lalon, b. 1914
Kids #7 and #8 were named directly after the parents. Belvin’s curious middle name, Womble, was the maiden name of his paternal grandmother (first name Kiddy).
If you’re on the hunt for baby names with a numerological value of 3, you’re in luck! Because today’s post features hundreds of 3-names.
Before we get to the names, though — how do we know that they’re “threes” in numerology?
Turning names into numbers
Here’s how to calculate the numerological value of a name.
First, for each letter, come up with a number to represent that letter’s position in the alphabet. (Letter A would be number 1, letter B would be number 2, and so forth.) Then, add all the numbers together. If the sum has two or more digits, add the digits together recursively until the result is a single digit. That single digit is the name’s numerological value.
For instance, the letters in the name Tyson correspond to the numbers 20, 25, 19, 15, and 14. The sum of these numbers is 93. The digits of 93 added together equal 12, and the digits of 12 added together equal 3 — the numerological value of Tyson.
Baby names with a value of 3
Below you’ll find the most popular 3-names per gender, according to the latest U.S. baby name data. I’ve further sub-categorized them by total sums — just in case any of those larger numbers are significant to anyone.
3 via 12
The letters in the following baby names add up to 12, which reduces to three (1+2=3).
Girl names (3 via 12)
Boy names (3 via 12)
Aja, Fae, Bia, Abi, Bee
Gad, Jb, Abed
3 via 21
The letters in the following baby names add up to 21, which reduces to three (2+1=3).
Girl names (3 via 21)
Boy names (3 via 21)
Kai, Asa, Gala, Jaia, Clea
Kai, Kade, Asa, Alec, Ben, Beck, Cale
3 via 30
The letters in the following baby names add up to 30, which reduces to three (3+0=3).
There’s no definitive answer, unfortunately, because various numerological systems exist, and each one has its own interpretation of the number three. That said, if we look at a couple of modern numerology/astrology websites, we see 3 being described as “creative,” “optimistic,” “friendly,” “outgoing,” and “self-expressive.”
We can also look at associations, which are a bit more concrete. Here are some things that are associated with the number 3:
Triple crown (victory in three events)
Hat trick (3 goals scored in one game by a single player)
Circus (3 rings)
Yard (3 feet)
Three-act structure (in narrative)
Rule of thirds (in photography)
Traffic lights
Manx flag (3 legs)
What does the number 3 mean to you? What are your strongest associations with the number?
P.S. To see names with other numerological values, check out the posts for the numbers one, two, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine.
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