How popular is the baby name Anne 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 Anne.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Anne


Posts that mention the name Anne

Baby born at Toosey Hospital, named Toosey

In June of 1954, a new maternity ward opened at Toosey Memorial Hospital in the town of Longford, Tasmania (which is part of Australia).

Early the following month, the new ward welcomed its first baby.

It was a girl — the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Maher.

Her name? Sonia Anne Marian Toosey Maher — fourth given name in honor of the hospital.

The Toosey Memorial Hospital was established in the 1920s with money donated by the son of a successful local farmer, James Denton Toosey. Today, the facility is a nursing home.

[Here’s another baby named for the hospital he was born in.]

Sources:

The Inskipp family of England

View of Whitehall from Trafalgar Square (London, 1839)
London in 1839

In 1835, Charles Inskipp, a portrait painter who lived in southeast England, married Sarah Anne Baker. The couple went on to welcome at least six children:

  1. Emily, b. 1836
  2. Harold, b. 1837
  3. Napoleon Tristram Shandy, b. 1839
  4. Corregio Quinton, b. 1841
  5. Rembrandt Claude, b. 1844
  6. Boadicea Mary, b. 1848

Their last four children were evidently named after…

  • French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte & the English novel Tristram Shandy,
  • Italian painter Correggio (in full: Antonio Allegri da Correggio),
  • Dutch painter Rembrandt (in full: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn), and
  • British queen Boudicca (who led a rebellion against the Romans circa 60 A.D.).

I’m not sure why Charles and Sarah switched to conspicuously famous names after their second baby, but, given Charles’ occupation, I’m not surprised that two of those names refer to painters.

What are your thoughts on this sibset?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from View of Whitehall from Trafalgar Square (London, 1839)

Where did the baby name Carrieanne come from in 1968?

The Hollies single "Carrie Anne" (1967)
The Hollies single

The song “Carrie Anne” by the British band The Hollies came out in May of 1967. It had been written by band member Graham Nash about singer Marianne Faithfull, but Graham was too shy to use Marianne’s real name in the lyrics, so “Carrie Anne” was substituted. The song peaked at #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart a few months later, in August.

The same year, various versions of the name debuted in the U.S. baby name data. It wasn’t until the next year, though, that the spelling Carrie Anne finally showed up:

Name1966196719681969
Carrieann.20*2718
Kariann.171720
Carianne.11*89
Karianne.6*1917
Cariann.5*1316
Carriann.5*8.
Carrianne..10*5
Carrieanne..7*6
Totals:.6410991
*Debut

Here’s the band performing the song in 1969. (Graham Nash had moved on to Crosby, Stills & Nash by this point, so he’s not part of the performance.)

Similar names featuring “Kerry,” like Kerrianne, also saw higher usage in the late ’60s. Three of these Kerry-variants (Kerryanne, Kerianne, & Keriann) debuted in ’68.

One non-U.S baby who was named Carrie Anne in 1967 was Canadian actress Carrie-Anne Moss, who went on to star in The Matrix as Trinity — the character that popularized the baby name Trinity impressively during the early 2000s.

The song was also one of the factors behind the swift rise of the name Carrie during the 1970s:

  • 1972: 5422 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1971: 5976 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1970: 4976 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1969: 3887 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1968: 3978 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1967: 3196 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1966: 2475 baby girls named Carrie

“Carrie Anne” kicked things off, but the rise was later fueled by actress Caroline “Carrie” Snodgress of the film Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), the Stephen King book Carrie (1974), and the book-based movie Carrie (1976) — which featured Piper Laurie and a young John Travolta.

The baby name Carrie saw peak usage in 1976 and 1977, reaching 28th place in the rankings both years.

Do you like the name Carrie? How about the combo Carrie Anne?

Sources: The Hollies, Carrie-Anne, Chart History | Billboard, Carrie Anne – Wikipedia, Who’s that girl? Meet the muses who inspired some of our most iconic pop songs – Daily Mail

Baby name story: Poppet

Portrait of Poppet (cropped), painted circa 1935 by Augustus John.
Poppet John

Welsh painter Augustus John and his second wife, Dorothy (called “Dorelia”), welcomed a daughter in 1912.

They’d planned to name the baby Elizabeth Anne, but they ended up calling her Poppet. (The British English term poppet is used to refer to “a person, especially a child, that you like or love.”)

Here’s how Poppet’s older bother Romilly (b. 1906) recalled the naming process:

I remember a grand discussion in the walled-in summer-house about what she should be called — a discussion which has been going on ever since. Elizabeth Anne was the provisional choice on that occasion, but it satisfied nobody, and the baby was finally registered as ‘one female child’, pending the discovery of the ideal name. Meanwhile [half-brother] Caspar, contemplating her one day, chanced to remark: ‘What a little poppet it is!’ — and Poppet she was called from that day forward. A real name was still intended to be found for her, but we had not reckoned with the force of habit, and, in spite of intermittent consultation, and at least one attempt to revert to the original suggestion, Anne, she has continued [to be called] Poppet to this day.

I can’t find Poppet’s birth registration online, but “Poppet” is indeed the name used legally in the Marriage Registration Index (three times: 1931, 1940, and 1952) and the the Death Registration Index (1997).

Poppet’s third and final marriage was to dutch artist Willem Pol, making fashion model Talitha Pol her step-daughter. After Talitha’s death in 1971, Poppet and Willem raised Talita’s son Tara at their home in the south of France.

Sources:

P.S. Caspar John (b. 1903) ended up becoming the head of the Royal Navy in the early 1960s.