How popular is the baby name Beauty 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 Beauty.

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Popularity of the baby name Beauty


Posts that mention the name Beauty

Babies named for the Great Depression

In the U.S., the Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930s.

What was it like to live during the Depression?

Massive unemployment had a profound social and emotional impact upon American workers and their families. […] The great population movement of the thirties was transiency the worker adrift in a sea of unemployment. People, especially the young, girls as well as boys, took to the road because they could no longer bear to stay home. In the middle of the decade when the dust blew in the Great Plains, wiping out their farms, whole families of Okies, Arkies, and Mizoos migrated west, especially to California. The migrants often made their way to the junk-pile Hoovervilles with their Prosperity Roads, Hard Times Avenues, and Easy Streets. The destitute often lost their homes or farms because they were unable to make payments on mortgages.

One fascinating fact I discovered not long ago is that a small number of babies born during the Great Depression were actually named Depression.

At least three of these babies made the news:

  • In the New York Times: Norma Depression Jacobs, a baby girl born in New York to parents Joseph and Sally Jacobs in early 1932.
  • In the Reading Eagle: Viola Depression Davis, a baby girl born in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in 1932.
  • In the New York Times: Franklin Depression Pasquale, a baby boy born in New York in 1933. (Franklin was for President Roosevelt, whose presidency began in March of 1933 — “the worst month for joblessness in the history of the United States.”)

And here are more baby Depressions I tracked down using other sources:

  • Robert Depression Cann, born in Oklahoma on October 22, 1931.
  • Joyce Depression Bradford, born in Texas on December 5, 1931.
  • Robert Depression Arnold, born in California on February 2, 1932.
  • Helen Depression Carr, born in Indiana on February 29, 1932.
  • Hoover Depression Norman, born in Texas on June 14, 1932. (Hoover was in office from 1929 to 1933.)
  • Depression Heaton, born Ohio on June 24, 1932. (Born and died the same day, sadly.)
  • William Depression Ellerby, born in North Carolina on August 5, 1932.
  • Depression Brockington, born on October 21, 1932.
  • Depression Ivy, born in Texas on May 28, 1934.
  • Percy Depression Giles, born in West Virginia circa 1934.
  • Depression Austin, born in North Carolina circa 1934.
  • Depression Red, born in Georgia circa 1934. (The sister born right after her was named “Beauty.” Quite the disparity.)
  • Depression Bennett, born in Alabama on February 10, 1938.

I also found two baby Depressions born in the 1870s, during an earlier period of economic recession now called the Long Depression.

Sources:

  • “Baby Will Know of Depression; In Fact, It’s Her Middle Name.” New York Times 19 Jan. 1932.
  • Bernstein, Irving. “Americans in Depression and War.” The U.S. Department of Labor Bicentennial History of The American Worker, Ed. Richard B. Morris. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.
  • “Child, Named for President, Called Franklin Depression.” New York Times 3 May 1933.
  • “Parents Name Baby Viola Depression.” Reading Eagle 26 Oct. 1932: 9.

Image: Migrant agricultural worker’s family (1936) by Dorothea Lange

Baby names in Zimbabwe

About a month ago, Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald published Sekai Nzenza’s essay Behind the Names. It’s a fascinating look at how babies are named in Zimbabwe.

I can’t post the entire essay here, but I can give you a few quotes.

The author’s full first name is Sekesayi, which means “laugh/mock as much as you like” in Shona. Here’s why:

This was in reference to my mother’s inability to provide me with a proper baby blanket when I was born. I was child number six and all the hand-me-down baby clothes were worn out. She improvised by cutting pieces of cream cloths from her petticoat, mudhongi and sewed them together with sackcloth. People laughed. But my mother, said you can laugh as much as you like, sekesayi.

And here’s why Nzenza used a different name while attending school:

My name was linked to a period of poverty. How could such a name enter a civilised place like the Methodist mission? To avoid embarrassment, I was not going to tell that story to anyone at school. Already, I carried the stigma of having grown up in a big village compound while some of the girls at the school were daughters of business men, hospital orderlies and fathers who worked in Salisbury.

[…]

I was Christened Irene and that seemed to fit in well with others on this road to “civilisation”.

Some of the other Shona names mentioned in the essay include:

  • Muchademba: “you shall regret”
  • Chandisaita: “what did I not do for you?”
  • Muchaneta: “you will tire of what you are doing”
  • Tichapondwa: “we shall be murdered”
  • Ndakaziva: “I wish I had known”
  • Chaipachii: “what is the matter now?”

Baby names like these aren’t as common anymore, though.

Gone are the names with strong messages of spite or anger like Muchademba, Marwei, Muzvondiwa or Muchaneta. After independence, we captured the joy of freedom and named our children positive names like Tatenda meaning we are grateful, Tafadzwa, we are pleased and Mufaro, happiness. There are many like Tapiwa, Tarumbidzwa, Tanyaradzwa, Tadiwa, Mudiwa, Tasimba and others. We have also included the religious Shona names and added Rutendo, Grace and Blessing.

This tradition of having a name with a conspicuous meaning/message helps explain the attraction to English words as names:

Those who stayed in the village and did not go to war or boarding school, also wanted English names that meant something. Out came more names like Beauty, Happy, and Gladness, Clever, Tears, Polite and others.

I’ve left quite a bit out, so if you have a minute, go read the rest of Sekai Nzenza’s essay on baby names in Zimbabwe.

Popular and unique baby names in Alberta (Canada), 2009

Flag of Alberta
Flag of Alberta

According to Service Alberta, the top baby names the Canadian province of Alberta last year were Olivia and Ethan.

Here are Alberta’s top 5 girl names and top 5 boy names of 2009:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia
  2. Isabella
  3. Ava
  4. Emma
  5. Hailey

Boy Names

  1. Ethan
  2. Liam
  3. Jacob
  4. Logan
  5. Noah

Rare baby names that were bestowed just once in Alberta last year include…

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Albertarose, Beauty, Cred, Dessarhey, Eloquence, Fury, Gallary, Heart, Ibiza, Joy-Joviale, Kwynn, Lashes, Manhattan, Noof, Ortal, Poetic, Qhloe, RoyLe, Society, Temprance, Uniqua, Veditha, Weency, Xanet, Yejee, ZimmelAlias, Bison, Crazyhorse, Dat, Edgerrin, Ericlindross, Folly-Noah, Guch, Hawkar, Iex, Jhazriel, Kduss, Lightning, Maxxwel, Neptune, Owies, Philopateer, Qron, Rayon, Seige, Thunder, Uyohoini, Voltaire, Wrath, Xayden, Yak, Zenry

Edgerrin was probably named for American football player Edgerrin James, while Ericlindross was definitely named for Canadian hockey player Eric Lindros.

Fingers crossed that Thunder and Lightning have a playdate together one day. :)

Here’s last year’s post on baby names in Alberta.

Source: Service Alberta

Image: Adapted from Flag of Alberta (public domain)