How popular is the baby name Chelsea 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 Chelsea.

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Popularity of the baby name Chelsea


Posts that mention the name Chelsea

Which “CrossFit workout” name do you like best?

Kettlebells
Kettlebells

I’m not part of CrossFit (which is a fitness club that’s become trendy in the last few years) but I do know that many CrossFit workouts have human names.

The first set of named workouts — Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane, Elizabeth, and Fran — were introduced by CrossFit founder Greg Glassman in September 2003. Next came Grace and Helen. In late 2004, Isabel, Jackie, Karen, Linda, Mary, and Nancy were added to the lineup.

Here are the workouts that correspond to each name:

  • Angie: 100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 air squats
  • Barbara: 5 rounds of 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups and 50 air squats
  • Chelsea: 30 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats
  • Diane: 3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps of deadlifts (225 lb.) and handstand push-ups
  • Elizabeth: 3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps of cleans (135 lb.) and ring dips
  • Fran: 3 rounds of 21-15-9 reps of thrusters (95 lb.) and pull-ups
  • Grace: 30 reps of clean and jerks (135 lb.)
  • Helen: 3 rounds of a 400 meter run, 21 kettlebell swings (52 lb.) and 12 pull-ups
  • Isabel: 30 snatches (135 lb.)
  • Jackie: a 1,000-meter row, 50 thrusters (45 lb.) and 30 pull-ups
  • Karen: 150 wall ball shots (20 lb.)
  • Linda: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of deadlifts (1.5x body weight), bench presses (1x bw) and cleans (.75x bw)
  • Mary: as many rounds as possible of 5 handstand push-ups, 10 pistols and 15 pull-ups (for 20 minutes)
  • Nancy: 5 rounds of a 500-meter run and 15 overhead squats (95 lb.)

Man, I’m exhausted just typing that.

Many more named workouts have since been introduced, but these 14 “girls” were the first.

What inspired Glassman to give his workouts female names? Hurricanes, actually. (Here’s more on the history of hurricane names.) Glassman was born in the mid-1950s, so it doesn’t surprise me that many of the names he chose (including my own!) sound a bit dated.

Now for the question of the day: Which is your favorite CrossFit workout name? Why?

And, if you’re a CrossFitter, which workout do you like best?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from DSC_0014 by Gregor under CC BY 2.0.

What happened to the baby names Hillary and Chelsea in 1993?

Hillary Clinton (in 1992)
Hillary Clinton

A blog post about the 14 most “poisoned” baby names by data scientist Hilary Parker reminded me that I haven’t yet written about the demise of the baby name Hillary.

So let’s travel back to 1992 for a minute.

In mid-July, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton was selected as the Democratic candidate for the presidency. His wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea were now in the national spotlight.

In early November, Bill managed to beat Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush to become the 42nd president of the United States. Hillary and Chelsea would now stay in the national spotlight.

And in late November, a few weeks after the election, the Miami Herald printed this:

Now that the Clinton women are set to move into the White House, both names are becoming more popular among new parents.

For the first time, Chelsea has cracked the top 10 list of the most popular girl names in Florida. Name expert Leonard R. N. Ashley, a Brooklyn College professor, said he expects Hillary to also catch on.

[…]

The popularity of Chelsea, on the rise long before the presidential pre-teen made her Democratic convention appearance, is likely to get a boost from the first family pedigree, Ashley said.

The “name expert” got it wrong, of course.

Hillary did not catch on. Nor did Chelsea. Both names had been on the rise, but usage declined significantly after 1992. Here’s the data…

Hillary (and Hilary)

The name Hillary saw a 58% drop in usage from 1992 to 1993:

  • 1995: 310 baby girls named Hillary [rank: 686th]
  • 1994: 408 baby girls named Hillary [rank: 566th]
  • 1993: 1,064 baby girls named Hillary [rank: 261st]
  • 1992: 2,521 baby girls named Hillary [rank: 132nd] (peak usage)
  • 1991: 1,789 baby girls named Hillary [rank: 166th]
  • 1990: 1,524 baby girls named Hillary [rank: 192nd]
Graph of the usage of the baby name Hillary in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Hillary

The spelling Hilary saw an even steeper drop of 71% of from 1992 to 1993:

  • 1995: 125 baby girls named Hilary [rank: 1,326th]
  • 1994: 145 baby girls named Hilary [rank: 1,210th]
  • 1993: 343 baby girls named Hilary [rank: 651st]
  • 1992: 1,170 baby girls named Hilary [rank: 234th]
  • 1991: 1,149 baby girls named Hilary [rank: 242nd]
  • 1990: 1,216 baby girls named Hilary [rank: 232nd]

Hilary Parker noted that her own name was “clearly the most poisoned.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Hilary in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Hilary

Chelsea

The popular name Chelsea — which had been on track to reach the top ten — saw a 30% drop in usage from 1992 to 1993:

  • 1995: 6,760 baby girls named Chelsea [rank: 47th]
  • 1994: 7,717 baby girls named Chelsea [rank: 38th]
  • 1993: 11,288 baby girls named Chelsea [rank: 25th]
  • 1992: 16,174 baby girls named Chelsea [rank: 15th] (peak usage)
  • 1991: 13,511 baby girls named Chelsea [rank: 18th]
  • 1990: 12,782 baby girls named Chelsea [rank: 24th]

It was out of the top 100 by the end of the decade.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Chelsea in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Chelsea

Why?

Why did the name Hillary slip after Hillary Clinton became a fixture in the White House?

Because she violated gender norms — that’s my guess.

Hillary Clinton was a new kind of First Lady. She was a lawyer, a businesswoman, a scholar and an activist. She was the first First Lady with an earned (vs. honorary) post-graduate degree, and the first to have her own professional career.

But, instead of being praised for her intelligence and ambition, she was criticized for it.

Just two months after the inauguration, Anna Quindlen of the New York Times made note of the double standard:

Maybe some of our daughters took notice of how Hillary Clinton was seen as abrasive, power-hungry and unfeminine when to some of us she seemed merely smart, outspoken and hard-working. Maybe they saw the masquerade and recognized intuitively the age-old message about how much more attractive women are when they are domestic, soft, contented, the message aimed over the years at Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, Eleanor Roosevelt and many, many others.

To expectant parents, it didn’t matter that Hillary Clinton was smart and successful. They began avoiding the name Hillary in 1993 because the First Lady — the most high-profile Hillary in the nation — was making her name seem “unfeminine.”

Do you agree? Disagree?

P.S. What were the 13 other “poisoned” names in Parker’s analysis? The 9 to drop since the 1960s are Ashanti, Catina, Deneen, Farrah, Iesha, Infant, Katina, Khadijah, and Renata. The other four — Celestine, Clementine, Dewey, and Minna — are from the 1800s, a time when SSA data wasn’t very reliable.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Hillary Clinton in 1992 (public domain)

[Latest update: Jun. 2024]

Baby named after English soccer players

soccer game

Diane Bowe and Stephen Coathup of Prenton, England, welcomed a baby boy in June of 2004 — just as the UEFA Euro 2004 was getting underway.

What did they name their newborn?

Michael Wayne Rooney Coathup, after two of England’s star soccer players: Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney.

Diane said:

We are all big Everton fans and it was my son Stephen who persuaded me to include Wayne Rooney in the name.

And with England really going for it in Euro 2004 I thought about the name Michael going with Wayne and decided it sounded good.

Diane and Stephen’s older children, in order, are Darren (13), Stephen Jr. (11), Jemma (10), twins Chelsea and Jessica (5), and Amy (3).

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Portugal 2-3 Denmark, Football by José Goulão under CC BY-SA 2.0.