How popular is the baby name Banyan 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 Banyan.

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Popularity of the baby name Banyan


Posts that mention the name Banyan

Popular and unique baby names in Sonoma County (California), 2020

Flag of California
Flag of California

According to the government of Sonoma, California, the most popular baby names in the county last year were Isabella and Liam.

Here are Sonoma’s top 5 girl names and top 5 boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Isabella, 29 baby girls
  2. Evelyn/Camila/Sofia, 22 each (3-way tie)
  3. Olivia/Charlotte, 21 each (tie)
  4. Gianna, 20
  5. Sophia, 19

Boy Names

  1. Liam, 27 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 22
  3. Gael/Sebastian, 21 each (tie)
  4. Logan/Lucas/Mason/Santiago, 19 each (4-way tie)
  5. Luca, 18

And what about the names bestowed just once in Sonoma in 2020? Here are some of the unique baby names from the other end of the list:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Ariathna, Avenue, Blix, Clementine, Daphna, Dianara, Elencia, Florence, Galexia, Ginger, Helena, Itzalia, Ixzeliana, Jadaline, Kitiara, Lindiso, Metzli, Nebiat, Ocelia, Peri, Rumneya, Sisiana, Taytu, Uriela, Wrenley, Yolotzin, ZeruiahAscari, Athanasius, Banyan, Bniel, Conrad, Drako, Epeli, Figaro, Gustavo, Hobbs, Inzo, Izandro, Jersain, Kekoa, Kitai, Llyr, Mobius, Narodom, Ostreicher, Phaelan, Raziel, Solemn, Taumaloto, Ullr, Wylen, Yojan, Zadkiel

In 2019, the top names in Sonoma were Camila and Mateo.

Source: Sonoma County Baby Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of California (public domain)

Popular baby names in Sonoma County (California), 2015

Flag of California
Flag of California

According to Sonoma County’s data site SoCo Data, the most popular baby names in 2015 were Ava and Olivia (tie) and Mateo and Daniel (tie).

Here are the county’s top 5 girl names and top 5 boy names of 2015:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Ava and Olivia (tie), 28 baby girls
2. Camila, 25
3. Isabella, Mia and Emma (3-way tie), 23
4. Charlotte and Sophia (tie), 21
5. Alexa, 20
1. Mateo and Daniel (tie), 28 baby boys
2. Jackson, 27
3. Sebastian, 25
4. Benjamin, 24
5. Julian, Jayden and Noah (3-way tie), 22

In 2014, the top names in the county were Emma and Logan.

Of the 1,204 girl names bestowed last year, 811 (67%) were used just once. A smaller proportion of the 919 boy names — 549 (60%) — were bestowed once. Here are a few of those single-use names:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Amarilla, Antimony, Edelweiss, Ember, Fanny, Lluvia, Lovely Estrella, Mae Pearl, Magnolia, Nkirote, Reminisce, Rosalene, Rurapenthe*, SummitAttimus, Banyan, Cypress, Cyprus, Destry, Ernestor, Fogatia, Iknav, Montgomery, Mercury, Orion, Quintil, Thornhill, Zinley

*Looks like Rurapenthe is based on “Rura Penthe,” the name of a planetoid used as a Klingon penal colony (!) in the Star Trek universe. Its name is a nod to Rorapandi, a penal colony island in the Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). Rorapandi was invented by Disney; it did not appear in the Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).

Source: SoCo Data

Image: Adapted from Flag of California (public domain)

Names collected on Hawaii’s Big Island

Earlier this month, my husband and I spent a week camping on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Kilauea Iki pit crater, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Kilauea Iki pit crater, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

It’s not easy to find names to blog about while you’re traversing the still-steaming surface of a pit crater, but I did manage to spot a few names here and there. :)

We spent the first half of the trip in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Our campsite was located off Hilina Pali Road. Here’s the view:

Hilina Pali Lookout, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Hilina Pali Lookout, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Hilina, which immediately reminded me of Helena, seemed like it might be a name…but turns out it’s just a vocabulary word. In Hawaiian it means “struck (as by wind)” — which is appropriate, as the campsite was extremely windy. But hilina did help me discover Hilina’i on the SSA’s baby name list:

  • 2013: unlisted
  • 2012: 6 baby girls named Hilina’i (all born in Hawaii)
  • 2011: 11 baby girls named Hilina’i (9 born in Hawaii)
  • 2010: unlisted
  • 2009: 5 baby girls named Hilina’i (all born in Hawaii)
  • 2008: 7 baby girls named Hilina’i (all born in Hawaii) [debut]
  • 2007: unlisted

Hilina’i means “to believe, trust; to lean on, rely on; trust, confidence” in Hawaiian.

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is also where the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum is located. It’s named after geologist Thomas Augustus Jaggar (1871-1953), founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO).

One of the museum’s exhibits included three posters that were blown-up copies of pages taken from the old Volcano House hotel register. Each included at least one Hawaiian name. The longest list of names on display came from May, 1891:

Volcano House register, 1891
Volcano House register page from 1891

These are the Hawaiian forenames I think I can make out:

  • Liliuokalani (Queen Lili’uokalani, perhaps?)
  • Kaniu
  • Kahae
  • Wakeki
  • Kaonowai
  • Kawahalama
  • Kele (the Hawaiian form of Jerry)

The Hawaiian names on the other two posters were Mihana, I Kaia, and Pele-liilii. (Liilii isn’t part of the name, but means “small; little; diminutive; young.”)

Another exhibit included a short bio of Thomas Jaggar, and it mentioned that he’d invented an amphibious vehicle in the 1920s “for offshore lava flow observations.”

Ohiki amphibious vehicle
‘Ohiki, the amphibious vehicle invented by Dr. Jaggar

The vehicle’s name? ‘Ohiki, Hawaiian for “sand crab.”

We also did a lot of sightseeing outside the park. One of the places we visited was Rainbow Falls in Hilo, on the east side of the island. One of the plants there had graffiti all over the leaves. We weren’t able to see every name, but here are shots of “Silas + Sarah F.” and “Rachel + Jackson.”

leaf names - leaves

The plant seemed healthy despite the vandalism, thankfully.

leaf names - plant

Something even cooler growing by the falls was this fantastic banyan tree. (That’s me hanging off the tree. Behind me is someone’s bicycle.)

Banyan tree at Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Hawaii
Banyan tree at Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Hawaii

Did you know that Banyan has been on the national baby name list for more than a decade now?

  • 2013: 22 baby boys named Banyan [6 in Hawaii]
  • 2012: 19 baby boys named Banyan [6 in California, 5 in Florida]
  • 2011: 26 baby boys named Banyan [5 in California]
  • 2010: 18 baby boys named Banyan [6 in California]
  • 2009: 21 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2008: 14 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2007: 13 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2006: 15 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2005: 7 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2004: 16 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2003: 7 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2002: 8 baby boys named Banyan
  • 1996: 5 baby boys named Banyan [debut]

Banyan trees grow best in warm climates, so it doesn’t surprise me that usage of the name is highest in warmer states.

…And that’s it! So I’ll wrap up with this gratuitous shot of the black sand beach in Pololu Valley:

Beach at Pololu Valley, Kohala, Hawaii
Pololu Valley, Kohala, Hawaii

Have you ever been to the Big Island? Do you remember seeing/hearing any interesting names while there?

Sources: