How popular is the baby name Clark 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 Clark.
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Last month, Michelle Collins of England was shopping at the Clarks factory outlet in Somerset when she went into labor early.
She gave birth to a baby boy in the staff room, with the help of paramedics.
What did she name the baby?
Ethan Clark — middle name “after the shoe shop chain.”
Source: Woman names baby Ethan Clark after giving birth in shoe outlet
The name Kal-El — unlike the name Jor-El — did not debut in the U.S. baby name data following the release of the famous 1978 movie Superman. In fact, the name didn’t make its first appearance in the data until the mid-1990s.
Since then, though, the name has picked up steam. One thing that gave it a boost was Nicolas Cage choosing the name for his son, born in October of 2005. Another was the movie Superman Returns, released in mid-2006. Notice how the usage of Kal-El (rendered “Kalel” in the SSA data) more than doubled from 2005 to 2006:
Here’s Nicolas Cage explaining how he and his wife chose the name:
My wife wanted a unique name and originally I thought of the name Kyle and then she said, ‘No, something more unusual but beautiful.’ Then I remembered the old Superman comics… I wanted a name that stood for something good, was unique and American and that’s all three. I just thought it was a beautiful name and it had kind of a magical ring to it.
So far, peak usage of the name Kal-El was in 2014:
The peak can be attributed to yet another Superman film: Man of Steel (2013), which focused on the character’s origin story. Here’s dialogue from the scene in which Clark Kent “meets” his father, Jor-El:
Jor-El: “To see you standing there having grown into an adult…if only Lara could have witnessed this.”
Clark: “Who are you?”
Jor-El: “I am your father, Kal, or at least a shadow of him. His consciousness. My name is Jor-El.”
Clark: “Kal? That’s my name?”
Jor-El: “Kal-El, it is.”
What are your thoughts on the name Kal-El? Would you use it?
Sources: Nicolas Cage Explains His Baby’s Name, Man of Steel (film) – Wikiquote
Did you know that there have been Miss Americas named Venus (1944), BeBe (1948), Jacque (1949), Vonda (1965) and Leanza (1993)?
Miss America 1926, Norma Smallwood, had the middle name Des Cygne (French for “swans”), which she then passed along to her daughter as a first name (paired with the middle name L’Amour, French for “love”).
In 2000, the Miss America pageant included delegates named Brandee (from New Hampshire), Brandi (from New York) and Brandy (from Arkansas).
Other interesting names I spotted skimming over lists of delegates include…
Which of the above do you like best?
Sources: Titleholders – Miss America Organization, Norma Smallwood – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Lois Delander Miss America 1927
[Latest update: Aug. 2024]
Looking for a girl name that’s short and to-the-point? Something that might work particularly well as a middle name?
Check out this list of several hundred one-syllable girl names:
Please note that I did include names in the gray area between one syllable and two syllables. The deciding factor on these particular names will be your own interpretation/accent, so be sure to test the names out loud before making any final decisions. (“Hayle,” for instance — would you say it like Hale, or like Hailey? Or “Rise” — is it rize, or ree-sah?)
Many of these names also happen to be unisex, so they appear on the one-syllable boy names list as well.
What’s your favorite one-syllable girl name?
Image: Adapted from 1 Drvo 06241 by Olja Simovic under CC BY-SA 4.0.
[Latest update: July 2023]
