How popular is the baby name Andrew 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 Andrew.

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Popularity of the baby name Andrew


Posts that mention the name Andrew

Multiple middle names in the British upper class

Many babies born into the British upper class are bestowed with a string of given names.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Centuries ago, multiple middles were unheard of. They began creeping in only when “two names had ceased to be a distinction.” The trend started at the very top:

The court again set the example, and in 1738, George III was baptized by the names George William Frederic. But for many years this fashion was regarded as too absurd for Englishmen to follow.

This explains why, when John Dawnay, 4th Viscount Downe, gave his firstborn two middles in 1764 he was ridiculed by fellow society member George “Gilly” Williams:

Downe’s child is to be christened this evening. The sponsors I know not, but his three names made me laugh not a little, John Christopher Burton. I wish to God, when he arrives at the years of puberty, he may marry Mary Josephina Antonietta Bentley.

Oliver Goldsmith mocked the fad as well with the character Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia Skeggs in his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).

But, as we all know, the fad stuck. Despite the detractors.

A number of British WWI officers, for instance, had two middle names. Examples include Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee (b. 1859) and Berkeley George Andrew Moynihan (b. 1865).

And Prince William, married just the other day, has three middle names: Arthur, Philip and Louis. So does his brother, Prince Harry: Charles, Albert and David.

Do you know anyone with more than one middle name? (No problem if the person isn’t British and/or a member of the upper class.)

Sources:

  • Bardsley, Charles Wareing Endell. Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature. London: Chatto & Windus, 1897.
  • Jesse, John Heneage. George Selwyn and His Contemporaries. Vol. 1. London: John C. Nimmo, 1901.

How did Princess Beatrice get her name?

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in June, 2013
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie

While they were married, Prince Andrew and Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson had two daughters. The first was named Beatrice (b. 1988). The second was named Eugenie (b. 1990).

Beatrice would have been Annabel if her grandmother hadn’t objected. “Her parents’ desire to name her Annabel was vetoed by Queen Elizabeth, aware that this was also the name of a night club favored by the Fergie Set.”

Annabel’s is a members-only restaurant/nightclub in London. A recent review at View London notes that “[i]t’s not as Sloaney as it used to be.”

And Eugenie’s name? You’re not pronouncing it correctly. It’s YOO-genny, said the princess in an interview several years ago. She explained, “Whenever we used to meet foreign people who were struggling with it, my mum and I would help them by saying, ‘It’s like Use Your Knees.’ But whatever. I am now used to every pronunciation.”

Probably doesn’t help that, right after Eugenie was born, Buckingham Palace “requested the name be pronounced “U-jay-nay,” with a French inflection.”

Which name do you prefer, Beatrice or Eugenie?

Sources:

  • Farrell, Mary H.J., Jonathan Cooper, Terry Smith, Rosemary Thorpe-Tracey. “Bringing Baby Home.” People 16 Apr. 1990: 55-57.
  • “Fergie is returning home to baby-oh, dear! Now what will press say?” Chicago Tribune 26 Oct. 1988: 6.
  • Greig, Geordie. “Princess Eugenie: Little Princess Sunshine.” Telegraph 4 Mar. 2008.

Image: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie by Carfax2 under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Edgar Allan Poe names: Lenore, Ligeia, Prospero

Writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe

The godfather of Gothic fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, was born 202 years ago today.

He may have been master of the macabre, but he wrote widely — far beyond horror. His other works fall into genres such as humor/satire, science fiction, detective fiction, and adventure fiction.

To celebrate Poe’s birthday, let’s check out some of the character names he used in his short stories, poetry, and longer works:

Girl Names

  • Ada, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Alessandra, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Annabel Lee, from the poem “Annabel Lee” (1849)
  • Annie, from the poem “For Annie” (1849) and the short story “Landor’s Cottage” (1849)
  • Arabella, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Berenice, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Camille, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Eleonora, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Ermengarde, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Estelle, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Eugenie, from the short stories “The Spectacles” (1844) and “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” (1845)
  • Eulalie, from the poem “Eulalie – A Song” (1845)
  • Evangeline, from the poem “Evangeline” (1848)
  • Fanny, from the poem “Fanny” (1833)
  • Grettel, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Helen, from the poems “To Helen” (1831) and “To Helen” (1849)
  • Ianthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Isabel, from the poem “Fairy-Land” (1829)
  • Jacinta, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Jane, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Kate, from the short story “Three Sundays in a Week” (1841)
  • Kathleen, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Lalage, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Lenore, from the poems “Lenore” (1843) and “The Raven” (1845)
  • Ligeia, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829) and the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Madeline, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Marian, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Marie, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Miranda, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Morella, from the short story “Morella” (1835)
  • Pauline, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Psyche, from the short story “A Predicament” (1838)
  • Rowena, from the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Stephanie, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Tabitha, from the piece “How to Write a Blackwood Article” (1838) and the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Ulalume (rhymes with tomb), from the poem “Ulalume” (1847)
  • Una, from the short story “The Colloquy of Monos and Una” (1841)
  • Zanthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
"The Cask of Amontillado" illustration by Harry Clarke
“The Cask of Amontillado”

Boy names

  • Adolphe, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Adolphus, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Alberto, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alexander, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Alexandre, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alfonzo, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Andrew, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Angelo, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Arthur, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “Some Words with a Mummy” (1845)
  • Auguste, from the short stories “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842), and “The Purloined Letter” (1844)
  • Augustus, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” (1844)
  • Baldazzar, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Barnabas, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Benito, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Charles, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Cornelius, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Dirk, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Egaeus, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Emmet, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Ernest, from the short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845)
  • Ethelred, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Fortunato, from the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846)
  • Frank, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Frederick, from the short story “Metzengerstein” (1832)
  • Gordon, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Hans, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Henri, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Isidore, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Israfel, from the poem “Israfel” (1831)
  • Jacques, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • James, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • John, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jules, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Julius, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jupiter, from the short story “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Meredith, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Napoleon, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Paul, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Pedro, from the short story “The Oval Portrait” (1842)
  • Peter, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “The Business Man” (1840)
  • Pierre, from the short story “Bon-Bon” (1832), the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840), and the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Poindexter, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Politian, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Prospero, from the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842)
  • Richard, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Robert, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Roderick, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Rupert, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Tamerlane, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Theodore, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Toby, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840) and the short story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” (1841)
  • Ugo, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Victor, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • William, from the short stories “William Wilson” (1839), “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), and “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Zoilus, from the short story “Shadow – A Parable” (1835)

Though they aren’t character names, Raven and Poe could be added to this list as well, as both are closely associated with Edgar Allan Poe. And both are bird-related, incidentally: the surname Poe can be traced back to the Middle English word for “peacock.”

Which of the above names do you like best? Which would you considering using in real life?

Sources:

[Latest update: Oct. 2022]

Where did the baby name Iniki come from in 1992?

hurricane

In September of 1992, Hurricane Iniki struck the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Iniki was the costliest and most powerful hurricane to hit the state of Hawaii in recorded history.

Like hurricanes Alicia, Andrew, Elena, Gloria and Isabel, Iniki ended up inspiring a few baby names. Unlike those other storms, though, Iniki’s name wasn’t a human name to begin with. It came from the Hawaiian word ‘iniki, which the National Weather Service defines as “sharp and piercing wind.” The Hawaiian dictionary I consulted was a bit more specific:

‘iniki. vi. To punch, nip; sharp and piercing, as wind or pangs of love.

In 1992, the name Iniki popped up in the U.S. baby name data for the very first time:

  • 1994: unlisted
  • 1993: 17 baby girls named Iniki
  • 1992: 28 baby girls and 7 baby boys named Iniki [dual-debut]
  • 1991: unlisted
  • 1990: unlisted

According to news reports, one of the baby boys, Iniki Thor Faamausili, was born in Hawaii to mom Saipisa Faamausili at 2:53 p.m. — not long before Hurricane Iniki made landfall.

In 1993, at least 17 more babies were named Iniki. After that, though, so few babies were named Iniki that the name stopped appearing on the SSA’s annual list.

P.S. Iniki Faamausil’s older brother, Iran, was named after the Persian Gulf War.

Sources:

  • The 1992 Central Pacific Tropical Cyclone Season (Central Pacific Hurricane Center)
  • Pukui, Mary Kawena and Samuel H. Elbert. Hawaiian Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
  • Sanchez, Sandra, Anita Manning and Mary Smaragdis. “What’s in a Name.” USA Today 14 Sept. 1992: 3A.
  • SSA

Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)