How popular is the baby name Dax 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 Dax.
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Olivia Emma Charlotte Amelia Sophia Isabella Ava Mia Evelyn Luna Harper Camila Sofia Scarlett Elizabeth Eleanor Emily Chloe Mila Violet Penelope Gianna Aria Abigail Ella Avery Hazel Nora Layla Lily Aurora Nova Ellie Madison Grace Isla Willow Zoe Riley Stella Eliana Ivy Victoria Emilia Zoey Naomi Hannah Lucy Elena Lillian Maya Leah Paisley Addison Natalie Valentina Everly Delilah Leilani Madelyn Kinsley Ruby Sophie Alice Genesis Claire Audrey Sadie Aaliyah Josephine Autumn Brooklyn Quinn Kennedy Cora Savannah Caroline Athena Natalia Hailey Aubrey Emery Anna Iris Bella Eloise Skylar Jade Gabriella Ariana Maria Adeline Lydia Sarah Nevaeh Serenity Liliana Ayla Everleigh Raelynn Allison Madeline Vivian Maeve Lyla Samantha Rylee Eva Melody Clara Hadley Julia Piper Juniper Parker Brielle Eden Remi Josie Rose Arya Eliza Charlie Peyton Daisy Lucia Millie Margaret Freya Melanie Elliana Adalynn Alina Emersyn Sienna Mary Isabelle Alaia Esther Sloane Mackenzie Amara Ximena Sage Cecilia Valeria Reagan Valerie Catalina River Magnolia Kehlani Summer Ashley Andrea Isabel Oakley Olive Oaklynn Ember Kaylee Georgia Juliette Anastasia Genevieve Katherine Blakely Reese Amaya Emerson Brianna June Alani Lainey Arianna Rosalie Sara Jasmine Ruth Adalyn Ada Bailey Ariella Wren Myla Khloe Callie Elsie Alexandra Ryleigh Faith Norah Margot Zuri Journee Aspen Gemma Kylie Molly Blake Zara Alaina Alana Brynlee Amy Annie Saylor Ana Amira Kimberly Noelle Kamila Morgan Phoebe Harmony Sutton Taylor Finley Lilah Juliana Lila Londyn Kailani Vera Kaia Angela Hallie Diana Lennon Presley Arabella Aliyah Lilly Milani Jordyn Camille Ariel Aubree Selena Sawyer Nyla Delaney Mariana Rachel Adaline Leila Collins Lia Octavia Kali Lena Kiara Kaylani Elaina Daniela Leia Gracie Dakota Elise Hope Harlow Lola Stevie Malia Miriam Alora Gia Evangeline Brooke Lilith Sydney Ophelia Alayna Tatum Evie Rowan Marley Daphne Kayla Dahlia Lucille Blair Adelaide Wrenley Haven Teagan Adelyn Alyssa Payton Jane Mckenna Celeste Juliet Palmer Maggie Rebecca London Noa Samara Thea Kendall Mya Talia Winter Angelina Vivienne Esme Laila Nina Trinity Vanessa Mabel Camilla Jocelyn Journey Paige Phoenix Amina Alivia Amari Joanna Nicole Annabelle Raegan Aitana Julianna Lauren Catherine Adriana Madilyn Harley Tessa Evelynn Elianna Rory Dream Nayeli Poppy Gabriela Jayla Cataleya Celine Hayden Shiloh Mariah Charlee Maisie Regina Adelynn Briella Giselle Fatima Danna Alessia Mckenzie Wynter Fiona Brooklynn Gracelynn Luciana Alexis Everlee Laura Selah Reign Alayah Rosemary Lilliana Ariyah Heidi Esmeralda Logan Amora Kalani Leighton Cali Melissa Aniyah Izabella Michelle Raelyn Alessandra Viviana Madeleine Arielle Serena Francesca Brynn Gwendolyn Kira Destiny Elle Makayla Alaya Malani Willa Saige Makenna Remington Demi Adelina Raya Astrid Azalea Veronica Meadow Anaya Elisa Raven Alexandria Hattie Alicia Sabrina Gracelyn Matilda Skye Annalise Frances Miracle Maia Helen Lana Daleyza Rosie Charli Bianca Royalty Sarai Amiyah Nylah Aylin Maryam Scarlet Antonella Sylvia Sylvie Nadia Ari Lexi Mylah Julieta Lorelei Avianna Armani Camryn Emely Rylie Colette Daniella Liana Brinley Kate Salem Marlee Alison Carmen Felicity Fernanda Holly Ariah Aisha Kora Amanda Ailani Elaine Emory Joy Oaklee Lyric Madelynn Haisley Allie Helena Danielle Katalina Carolina Zariah Navy Cassidy Lorelai Stephanie Alma Mira Legacy Jolene Anya Dorothy Paris Yaretzi Aurelia Maddison Renata Jimena Xiomara Itzel Heaven Lyra Estella Gabrielle Maren
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Actress Amandla Stenberg was named after a 1989 Miles Davis album — a lush, African-tinged funk fusion that takes its name from the Zulu and Xhosa word for “power.”
In South Africa under apartheid, “amandla” was — and still is — a rallying cry against oppression. It’s a lot for Stenberg to live up to.
“You think?” she asks, laughing and thanking her mother for the heavy responsibility. Then she turns more serious. “It’s something I keep very close to my heart.”
Q: I’ve got to say, “Blake Lively” sounds almost too cool to not be a stage name…
A: People are always like, “Blake Lively! Okay, what’s your real name?” It’s kind of embarrassing to tell people, because it sounds like a really cheesy stage name.
Q: Is there a story behind the first part?
A: Actually, my grandma’s brother’s name was Blake, and my sister wrote it down when she was reading a family tree. And they said, “If it’s a boy, we’ll name him Blake, and if it’s a girl, we’ll name her Blakely.” And everybody thought I was going to be a boy, and then I came out and I was a girl. And they had already been calling me Blake for months because they were positive I was going to be a boy. And they had been calling me Blake for so long, they just [kept it].
[The surname “Lively” came from Blake’s mother’s first husband. Blake’s mother kept it after the divorce, and Blake’s father — her mother’s second husband — liked it enough to take as his own when they married.]
Actress Camila Mendes [vid] talking about her name on The Late Late Show With James Corden in 2017:
So my name is Camila Mendes, and there’s a singer called Camila Cabello, and a singer called Shawn Mendes. And people seem to think my Twitter is a fan account for that relationship.
In a 2013 interview with OK! magazine, actress Charisma Carpenter was asked whether or not she was named after an Avon fragrance:
That is absolutely true! I don’t know if you’ve smelled it, it’s awful. I was born in an era where Avon was very much the thing. My grandmother brought my mother, as a gift, this perfume. The story is I went without a name for about a week and then my grandmother brought this perfume (named Charisma) and my mom and my dad settled on that name. They had met me, they had heard the name of the perfume and I guess it just clicked.
From a 2012 interview with actor Crispin Glover, who goes by his full name, Crispin Hellion Glover, as a filmmaker:
SP: When did you begin using ‘Hellion’ as part of your name? Why the addition?
CHG: I began using “Hellion” as my middle name at birth. I was born in New York. Not too long before I was born, my parents went to see an off-Broadway production of Henry V, by Shakespeare and liked the production very much, and liked the name [Crispin, from the St. Crispin’s Day Speech] so [they] gave it to me. My father’s middle name is Herbert. He never liked his middle name Herbert. So as a young struggling actor in New York he would say to himself, “I am Bruce H. Glover, Bruce Hellion Glover. I am a hellion, a troublemaker.” And that would make him feel good. He told my mother this was his real middle name. When they were married she saw him writing on the marriage certificate Bruce Herbert Glover and she thought, “Who am I marrying?” They gave Hellion to me as my real middle name. I had always written and drawn as a child and I would always sign my drawing and writing with my whole name Crispin Hellion Glover. When I started acting professionally at 13, which was something I had decided on my own I could do as a profession at a relatively young age, it became apparent that I had to choose a professional acting name for SAG. I thought my whole name was too long for acting and just used my first and last name. When I started publishing my books I simply continued using the name I had always used for writing and drawing and had put in my books. This is also why I use my whole name for my own films.
From a Pitchfork interview with The Good Place actress D’Arcy Carden:
I put an apostrophe in my name that wasn’t there before, like Smashing Pumpkins bassist D’Arcy Wretzky, because of how influential this band was to me. D’Arcy was just the epitome of cool to me. In 1993, I was really into alternative and grunge music, and whereas the Nirvanas and the Pearl Jams felt so masculine, there was something sweeter and lighter about Smashing Pumpkins. The fact that they had a girl in their band was huge for me and my friends. I learned the guitar part to “Today,” and it made me feel like such a badass. It was like, “Wow, I can play guitar!” But, of course, anybody can play the beginning of “Today.”
From a 2012 interview with Dax Shepard in Elle magazine:
There was a best-selling book in the late ’60s and ’70s called The Adventurers by Harold Robbins. The lead character’s name was Dax. Anyone that’s roughly my age that’s named Dax is named from that book. I’ve met probably five other [men named] Dax.
(The character’s full name is Diogenes Alejandro Xenos. His nickname was derived from his initials, D.A.X.)
From a write-up of Demi Moore‘s 2017 Tonight Show appearance:
“[Demi Lovato is] from Texas and I’m from New Mexico, so our families say our names the same but we each individually pronounce it differently,” Moore said, noting she pronounces it “Deh-mee” while Lovato says “Dem-ee.”
So what are the origins of Moore’s name?
“In my case, my mother just found it on a cosmetic carton,” she told Fallon. “It means ‘half,’ and she didn’t know that, but she just liked it.”
From a biography of English actress Ellen Terry (1847-1928):
“Ellen Terry is the most beautiful name in the world; it rings like a chime through the last quarter of the nineteenth century,” George Bernard Shaw wrote of the Dame when she was at the height of her career.
Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot. I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life.
Actor Emilio Estevez — who pronounces his surname ESS-teh-vez, instead of the Spanish way, ess-TEH-vez — discussing his name [vid] on Talk Stoop with Nessa in 2019:
So I was born on 203rd Street in South Bronx. And, at the time, my father had this very Hispanic-sounding last name. […] A lot people, a lot of these agents, and folks said, if you wanna work in this business, you gotta have a more Anglo-sounding name. Of course times have changed, but there was that moment where he was finally on Broadway — 1965, ’66 — and his father came from Dayton (he was from Spain, of course) and looked up on the marquee, and saw the three names that were starring in the play, and one of them was “Martin Sheen” and not his real name, Ramón Estévez. And my grandfather just looked up, and he just shook his head, and he was so disappointed. And my father saw that. And so when I began to get into this business, we had that conversation. And he said, don’t make the same mistake I did.
…A few sentences later, Estevez added:
I can’t tell you how many people have stopped me on the street and said, you know, just seeing your name on a poster, just seeing your name on screen, meant so much to me, you have no idea.
(Martin Sheen’s stage name was created from the names of CBS casting director Robert Dale Martin and televangelist archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.)
“Pip pip” is “bye-bye.” […] Like, for instance, when I was born, yonks ago [in 1959], on the BBC, on the world service, there would be the pip, pip, pip. So that’s the “pips.” And you say pip, pip. And I was known as “pip Emma” because I was born as the pips were sounding.
[The pips were used to mark the start of each hour. “Pip Emma” is also the way to say “p.m.” in RFC WWI signalese.]
From a short item about Halle Berry in a March 1995 issue of Jet:
“My mother was shopping in Halle Brothers in Cleveland,” she recently revealed in the New York Daily News. “She saw the bags and thought, ‘That’s what I’m going to name my child.’ I thought it was the coolest name until I got into this business. No one ever says it right, it’s Halle, like Sally.”
From the 2005 Seattle Times obituary of Hildegarde:
Hildegarde, the “incomparable” cabaret singer whose career spanned almost seven decades and who was credited with starting the single-name vogue among entertainers, has died. She was 99.
From a 2013 article about actress Honeysuckle Weeks in the Independent:
With the names Honeysuckle Weeks and Charity Wakefield starring in the UK premiere production of These Shining Lives directed by Loveday Ingram, you can only imagine what rehearsals are like. It sounds as if they should all be in a Jilly Cooper novel – not a hard-hitting play about employees’ rights in the workplace.
From a 1997 article in Jet magazine about how Jamie Foxx (born Eric Bishop) found success in comedy after changing his name:
Foxx, who was determined to make it as a stand-up comedian, went to Santa Monica “where nobody really knew who I was,” he reveals, “and changed my name to Jamie Foxx.” He remembers, “Three girls would show up and 22 guys would show up [at Amateur Night]. They had to put all the girls on who were on the list to break up the monotony. So when they look up and they see Tracey Green, Tracey Brown, and these unisex names I had written on the list, they picked Jamie Foxx. ‘Is she here?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Brother, right over here man,'” Foxx said in a deep, macho voice. “I’d go up and do my thing with the Cosby and Tyson (impersonations), and they were like ‘Who is this Jamie Foxx kid?'”
Keira also revealed that she was never intended to be called Keira.
‘I was meant to be named “Kiera”, after a Russian ice skater who was on the TV one day. My dad fancied her and nicked her name for me. But it was my mum who went to register my birth, and she accidentally spelled “ei” instead of “ie” because my mum’s crap at spelling.
‘Apparently, when she came back he said: “WHAT THE F*CK? You’ve spelt her name wrong!” What were they going to do, though? Once it’s on the piece of paper, it’s on the piece of paper. And that’s me. A spelling error.’
[The skater was likely Kira Ivanova, who won a bronze medal for the USSR at the 1984 Winter Olympics.]
From a 2012 interview with Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington, who didn’t learn that his real name was Christopher until he was 11:
It was very strange, I went to school, and I remember that you had to do these tests to find out what set you’re in — how clever you are. I put down “Kit Harington,” and they looked at me like I was completely stupid, and they said, “No, you’re Christopher Harington, I’m afraid.” It was only then I learnt my actual name. That was kind of a bizarre existential crisis for an 11-year-old to have, but in the end I always stuck with Kit, because I felt that’s who I was. I’m not really a “Chris.”
From the 1970 obituary of actress Lenore Ulric in the New York Times:
Born in the little town of New Ulm, Minn., in 1892, the daughter of Franz Xavier Ulrich, an Army hospital steward, Miss Ulric (she dropped the H from her last name) used to say that she was predestined for the stage. Her father gave her the name of Lenore because of his fondness for Poe‘s poem, “The Raven,” and her childhood was devoted to theatrical yearnings.
My father tells me that they were on their honeymoon at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, I believe. They were looking at a da Vinci painting, and allegedly I started kicking furiously while my mother was pregnant. And my father took that as a sign, and I suppose DiCaprio wasn’t that far from da Vinci. And so, my dad, being the artist that he is, said, “That’s our boy’s name.”
From a 2016 interview with actor and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda (creator of Hamilton) on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron:
You know, unconsciously, you go, “No, just call me Lin,” cause I can’t deal with manual. […] I learned at a very young age how to just make people comfortable, and I learned to adapt at such a young age, that I didn’t realize the power of bringing all of myself into a room until much later.
(Manual, MAN-yoo-ul, is a common mispronunciation of the Spanish name Manuel, man-WEHL. Lin-Manuel’s name, by the way, was inspired by the poem “Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel” by José Manuel Torres Santiago.)
From an obituary of actress Lina Basquette (formerly Lena Baskette) in The Independent:
In 1923, she and her mother went to New York, where Lena danced for John Murray Anderson – it was he who altered her name to Basquette, and the producer Charles Dillingham who changed Lena to Lina (‘Lena is a cook’, he explained, ‘Lina is an artiste’).
The story of his own life began on the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines, where he was born Louis Diamond Upchurch in 1962. His interesting name has an interesting back story: His father, Gerald, named him after U.S. Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Leland “Lou” Diamond (known as “Mr. Leatherneck,” he is considered one of the finest Marines of all time); after his dad died, Phillips took his stepfather, George’s last name.
(Phillips’ co-star in the movie La Bamba was Esai Morales.)
From an interview with Mexican-Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o (pronounced loo-PEE-ta NYONG-oh) on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
Jimmy: I love that they gave you a traditional Mexican name even though they were just there for a short time.
Lupita: Well, in our tradition, it’s custom to name your child after the events of the day. So, I was born in Mexico, so they thought it would be fit to give me a Mexican name.
From an Us Magazine article about Matthew McConaughey‘s 2020 book Greenlights:
The Texas native also revealed that when he was born his father wasn’t there. Instead, he explained that James “called my mom and said, ‘Only thing I have to say is if it’s a boy, don’t name him Kelly.’”
Maurice Micklewhite is dead; long live Michael Caine. The legendary British actor has officially adopted the name you know and impersonate him by after getting fed up with increased airport security checks. “I changed my name when all the stuff started with ISIS and all that,” Caine told The Sun, going on to describe his experiences with security guards thusly: “He would say, ‘Hi Michael Caine,’ and suddenly I’d be giving him a passport with a different name on it. I could stand there for an hour. So I changed my name.”
From an interview with Saturday Night Live comedian Michael Che:
I was named after Che Guevara. My name is Michael Che Campbell. My dad is a huge history buff, and he named me after Che Guevara cause he loved Che Guevera for whatever reason. Which is a very polarizing figure, because when I tell people I was named after Che, they’re either like, “Oh, wow that’s cool,” or they’re like, “You know, Che killed people.” I’m like, I didn’t pick my name.
From a 2011 interview with former child actor Meeno Peluce:
My parents split the country when I was conceived. They traveled across Europe looking for the perfect place to have their perfect child. It was 1969, a voice had spoken to my mom. It said, “Go to India.” Then a short time later it said, “You’re pregnant.” They had been married 10 years and my mom was not supposed to be able to have kids. But the voice spoke and so they left America behind and headed for the world. They made great friends in Yugoslavia, one had the perfect name. Miroslav, Man of Peace. So I was named after him, but not in Yugoslavia.
[…]
My folks pulled into Amsterdam on a snowy night with all the lights glistening and my mom knew it was the perfect place and that’s where I was born, their little man of peace, Miro.
A couple years later we were in Katmandu at the foot of Swayambhunath where Buddha had come to make his last speeches. A monk came over, picked me up, and asked my name. “Miro,” my mother told him. “No,” I corrected her. “No more Miro, only Meeno, only Meeno.” And I wouldn’t answer to anything else.
(Meeno, the half-brother of Soleil Moon Frye, co-starred with Jon-Erik Hexum in the early ’80s sci-fi TV show Voyagers!)
From a 2001 article about actress O-Lan Jones in the Los Angeles Times:
Jones’ mother, Scarlett Dark, named her after the character O-lan in Pearl S. Buck’s 1931 novel, “The Good Earth.” The “O” part, Jones said, means “profound,” and the “lan” means “wildflower.” Her mother, ever an original, chose to celebrate the wildflower part with a capital L.
From Piper Laurie‘s 2011 memoir Learning to Live Out Loud:
It never occurred to me that I didn’t have to change my name. For the last twenty or thirty years, I’ve admired and envied all the performers who have proudly used their real names. The longer and harder to pronounce, the better.
(Was Mädchen Amick one of the performers she had in mind? They worked together on Twin Peaks in the early 1990s…)
From an 2005 interview with Portia de Rossi in The Advocate:
Advocate: When did you become Portia?
Portia: When I was 15, I changed it legally. In retrospect, I think it was largely due to my struggle about being gay. Everything just didn’t fit, and I was trying to find things I could identify myself with, and it started with my name.
I picked Portia because I was a Shakespeare fan [Portia is the character in The Merchant of Venice who famously declaims, “The quality of mercy is not strain’d / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.”]. De Rossi because I was Australian and I thought that an exotic Italian name would somehow suit me more than Amanda Rogers. When you live in Australia, Europe is so far away and so fascinating, so stylish and cultured and sophisticated.
In a way, however, both of Quvenzhané’s parents are with her every time someone speaks her unusual first name (pronounced Kwe-VAWN-zhan-ay). The first part combines elements of her teacher mother’s first name, Qulyndreia, and her truck driver father’s first name, Venjie. Her mother says that Zhané is the Swahili word for “fairy,” although no direct translation can be found on an Internet search. Qulyndreia Wallis says her own name means “to you with love.” The rest of the kids include Venjie Jr., 15; brother Vejon, 13; and sister Qunyquekya, 19.
(According to several sources, the Swahili word for “fairy” is jini — reasonably close to Zhané, actually.)
From a 2015 Indian Express article in which actress and comedian Rebel Wilson talks about her name:
A little girl named Rebel sang at my parents’ wedding. My mum is really big on theme names like that – my sisters are called Liberty and Annachi, and my brother is Ryot. I did pretty well in comparison. I love it.
You can’t be a shrinking violet if you have a name like Rebel. It gives me an edge and helps me not give in to my fears. I try to live that way.
Contrary to what one might think, Rex Reason was his birth name, not one dreamed up by a Hollywood executive. Universal Pictures, in fact, had billed him as “Bart Roberts” in a couple of films before he insisted on being credited with his real name.
River Phoenix, as quoted in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1995:
When I was in first grade everyone made fun of my name, of course. I think it’s kind of a big name to hold up when you’re nine years old. It seemed goofy.
From a 2009 interview with Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Weaver) in Esquire magazine:
I changed my name when I was about twelve because I didn’t like being called Sue or Susie. I felt I needed a longer name because I was so tall. So what happened? Now everyone calls me Sig or Siggy.
(In another interview, Sigourney mentioned that she was nearly named Flavia.)
From a mid-2022 episode [vid] of The Kelly Clarkson Show in which actor Taylor Lautner talks about his fiancée Taylor Dome, who was planning to legally change her last name to Lautner:
We already share one name. So it’s going to be extra complicated. […] We’re literally going to be the same person. Ridiculous.
(The Taylors — who do indeed share the same first and last name now — married in November.)
From an interview with Thandiwe Newton (formerly called Thandie Newton) in Vogue (UK):
Meanwhile Thandiwe and her younger brother attended a Catholic primary school run by joyless nuns […] where the W of her name drifted inward, out of sight and earshot, in a futile hope to make her feel less different.
[…]
No longer is Newton afraid of the red carpet because of how much it reminded her of her invisibility, and she looks forward to a future where the illusion of race will no longer narrow who we are. […] All her future films will be credited with Thandiwe Newton, after the W was carelessly missed out from her first credit. Now she’s in control. Many lives lived and she’s come out triumphant, preserved in the magic of the mist and sun that made her, and wanted her to shine. “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.”
Tiger Andrews was born on March 19, 1920, in Brooklyn; he was named after a strong animal to ensure good health, following a Syrian custom.
(He was one of the stars of The Mod Squad, which started airing on TV in 1968. His nickname, Tige, was one of the top debut names of 1969.)
From an amNewYork article about Broadway actress Tovah Feldshuh (born Terri Sue Feldshuh in 1952):
What ever happened to Terri Sue Feldshuh?
“I fell in love with a Christian boy, Michael Fairchild, who didn’t want to kiss a Terri Sue. He said: ‘Terri Sue doesn’t fit you at all. What’s that other name of yours? Tovah? Now that’s a name!'”
(Her stage name was initially “Terri Fairchild,” according to Wikipedia.)
From “The Eyes Have It,” an interview with Orange Is the New Black actress Uzoamaka “Uzo” Aduba, who was asked whether she ever considered changing her name:
When I started as an actor? No, and I’ll tell you why. I had already gone through that. My family is from Nigeria, and my full name is Uzoamaka, which means “The road is good.” Quick lesson: My tribe is Igbo, and you name your kid something that tells your history and hopefully predicts your future. So anyway, in grade school, because my last name started with an A, I was the first in roll call, and nobody ever knew how to pronounce it. So I went home and asked my mother if I could be called Zoe. I remember she was cooking, and in her Nigerian accent she said, “Why?” I said, “Nobody can pronounce it.” Without missing a beat, she said, “If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.”
From a 2011 interview with Val Kilmer in Interview Magazine:
I don’t think of my life as a cliché, but I’m a cliché eccentric. Complete with a strange name — I mean, who’s named Val? How many Vals do you know? I mean, really?
From the book The Making of Cabaret (1999) by Keith Garebian, regarding the name of English actress Valerie Jill Haworth, who was born on Victory over Japan Day (Aug. 15, 1945):
The initials of her baptismal names (Valerie Jill) were in honor of her birth on VJ Day.
[Related: American actress Robin Vee Strasser was born on Victory in Europe (“VE”) Day.]
From a 1936 article about movie actress Veda Ann Borg in the Wilkes-Barre Record:
Miss Borg was given a new tag almost the minute she stepped into the studio. It was “Ann Noble.” […] Miss Borg contended that her own name is more descriptive of her personality than Ann Noble. The former model’s argument was convincing. She will be billed as Veda Ann Borg.
Viggo Mortensen, as quoted in TIME Magazine in 2005:
I met someone last night who showed me a picture of a baby, and they had named the kid Viggo. You know, Viggo is a pretty dorky name in Denmark. It’s like Oswald or something. It’s a very old Scandinavian name, at least 1,000 years old.
From a 2008 interview with actor Vince Vaughn in Parade magazine:
My dad’s name is Vernon and my mom liked the initials, VV. My sisters and I got named Victoria, Valeri and Vincent so we’d be VV’s, too. But, then when you start getting pets’ names that start with a ‘v,’ it’s a little embarrassing. When you are Vince Vaughn, and you go out to scream for ‘Viking’ the dog to come home, that’s a little much. Then, Mom started looking in a dictionary for names and we ended up with a female Chihuahua, named Vanadis after some mythological goddess. So Victoria, Valeri and Vince were out playing with Vanadis. When I finally got a dog, I named him Rowdy. I had to break the chain.
[Vaughn’s first daughter, like Rowdy, was given a non-V name: Locklyn.]
From a 2014 interview with actress Winona Ryder in The Telegraph:
Ryder’s unconventional childhood has been exhaustively documented and occasionally used to explain the more disturbing events in her life, but the actress — christened Winona Laura Horowitz and named after the Minnesota city in which she was born — speaks fondly of the four years she spent in a commune in Elk, Northern California, from the age of seven.
[Winona’s younger brother Uri, born in the 1970s, was named after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.]
From a 2017 Teen Vogue interview with Zendaya, who explains how her name is pronounced:
Zendaya decided to break it down for viewers with a simple step-by-step guide: “Zen is the first syllable, then day, and then a.”
“I think a lot of people see my name and think it’s more fancy than it is,” she explained. “They think Zendaya like papaya. It’s just day.“
From a Life article (Jan. 18, 1943) about actor and comedian Zero Mostel:
Back in 1941 Zero was a struggling New York painter who specialized in portraits of strong-muscled workmen. He went by the name of Sam, which was his own (“Zero” is a press agent’s inspiration). […] On Feb. 16, 1942, the day that news of the fall of Singapore reached the U.S., “Zero” Mostel made his professional debut as a night-club funny man.
(When Zero appeared on Dick Cavett‘s talk show in early 1971, Dick told the audience: “I’ve tried shows with three guests and with two guests and with one guest, but never with Zero.”)
Elder always went by the name Lynn, but she adopted the stage name “Bonnie” — a shortened version of her real first name — at the suggestion of the show’s producers because there was already a cast member, a boy, with the first name Lynn, her cousin said.
(That said, Bonnie’s obituary in the Los Angeles Times told a different story: “Fields’ given name was Bonita, but soon after joining the cast Disney himself asked her to change it because a two-syllable name harmonized better with those of the other Mouseketeers.”)
Images: Screenshots of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Talk Stoop with Nessa Diab, and The Kelly Clarkson Show
From a 2015 Today show interview during which actress Zooey Deschanel explains why she named her daughter Elsie Otter:
Well, we just really liked the name Elsie, and then we both love otters — they’re very sweet, and they’re also smart. They use tools, they keep their favorite tools, they hold hands while they sleep. There are so many amazing things about otters. They’re wonderful animals.
From a 2019 Us Weekly article about the weirdly common celebrity baby name combo “Charlie Wolf“:
Celebrity moms and dads are going wild for the animal-inspired baby name Charlie Wolf.
Zooey Deschanel and her estranged husband, Jacob Pechenik, kicked off the trendy moniker when they welcomed their baby boy in 2017.
[…]
Lauren Conrad and William Tell welcomed their second little one in October 2019 — and named him Charlie Wolf as well.
[…]
The following month, another Charlie Wolf arrived — or rather, Charles Wolfe.
(The third one was born to former Bachelor in Paradise contestants Evan Bass and Carly Waddell.)
From a 2017 Rap Radar interview during which rapper Jay-Z spoke about the names of his twins, Rumi and Sir:
Rumi is our favorite poet, so it was for our daughter. And then Sir was just like, man, like, come out the gate. […] He carries himself like that. He just came out, like, Sir.
My daughter Dani with the guy she was named after, Dan Marino.
From a 2013 People interview with singer Dido, whose son Stanley was born in 2011:
Dido’s duet with Eminem […] “Stan,” [was] a collaboration which she never imagined fans would connect to her son’s moniker.
“Stanley was actually our favorite name, coincidentally both of our favorite names. He could never have been called anything else to be honest,” Dido shares. “I’m so stupid, I didn’t think anyone would make the connection.”
From the 2006 article about actress Sandra Bernhard in the weekly NYC newspaper The Villager:
Bernhard […] appropriate[d] from Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” the name Cicely that graces Bernhard’s daughter born July 4, 1998, nine or so months after the flamethrowing actress/singer/faghag/friend of the famous said to herself one fine day: “Enough! Get real.”
From a 2012 People interview with actress Drew Barrymore:
Asked why she and her husband Will Kopelman chose Olive, the actress says it came from a book — though not one of baby-names.
“I was reading a book with my husband. I was three months pregnant, and they said, ‘Your baby is the size of an olive.’ And that was it. We never looked back,” Barrymore, 37, says in an interview airing Thursday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
From a 2018 Vice interview with actor Jeff Goldblum:
Vice: Amazing. That’s Charlie Ocean right?
Jeff: Yeah that’s Charlie Ocean! And then our other son [with wife Emilie Livingston, a Canadian aerialist, actress, and former Olympian] who’s now 11 months old is River Joe.
Vice: Any musical streaks in either of them yet?
Jeff: I’ve always sat at the piano these last couple years with Charlie Ocean and he kinda bangs around. But I must say, River Joe, when I play or we put on music, boy he’s just standing up at this point, but he rocks to the music and bounces up and down. He seems to really like it so maybe he’s musical. I’d like to play with them.
From a 2021 New York Times interview with actress Kate Winslet:
[Ms. Winslet] has a son, Bear, 7, with her current husband, who has gone back to his original name, Edward Abel Smith, from his playful pseudonym, Ned Rocknroll.
“He added ‘Winslet’ as one of his middle names, just simply because the children have Winslet,” the actress said. “When we’re all traveling together, to all have that name on the passports makes life easier.” (Bear’s middle name is Blaze, after the fire that Kate and Ned escaped that burned down the British Virgin Islands home of Richard Branson, her husband’s uncle.)
(The article also mentioned that a Delco sandwich shop now sells a hoagie called “The Mare” in honor of Kate’s Mare of Easttown character, Mare Sheehan.)
From a 2015 Yahoo Parenting interview during which TV personality Holly Madison defends her decision to name her daughter Rainbow:
People love to say, “That’s a stripper name.” But I’ve spent a lot of time in Vegas and strippers aren’t named Rainbow. They’re named Amber, Crystal and Jessica.
From a 2007 People interview with film director Robert Rodriguez (whose kids are named Rocket, Racer, Rebel, Rogue, and Rhiannon):
Asked about his children’s unusual names, Robert attributes them to side effects he sustained from his college years when he subjected himself to medical tests to make extra money.
“Rocket is the first one. And once you name your first kid Rocket, you can’t name your next kid Marty. Racer, Rebel, Rogue…I’m just gonna blame this on the medical experiments. But they do have regular middle names in case they don’t want to start their own wrestling team.”
From a 2013 Maxim interview with film director Ron Howard:
Q: Is it true that your kids’ middle names come from the locations where they were conceived?
A: David Letterman got that out of me, and my kids will never let me forget it. My daughter, Bryce [Dallas Howard], was conceived in Dallas, and our twins [Jocelyn Carlyle Howard and Paige Carlyle Howard] were conceived while we were doing a publicity tour at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. For the last one [Reed Cross Howard], we were on Lower Cross Road, so we decided to go with Cross. “Volvo” wouldn’t be such a good middle name.
From an early 2018 E! Online article about singer Justin Timberlake:
Timberlake’s interview comes weeks before the release of his new album Man of the Woods, which is set to hit stores on February 2. He said his son inspired the name of the record and its title track.
“I literally just went on Google like, ‘meaning of the name Silas,’ and it sent me to this to this site and it said, ‘of Latin origin, meaning ‘Man of the woods,'” he said. “I was like, ‘How serendipitous that my last is Timberlake, like what does that mean?'”
On the origin of the name of George Harrison’s son, Dhani, from The Beatles Encyclopedia (2014) by Kenneth Womack:
Born on August 1, 1978, in Windsor, England, Dhani Harrison is the only son of Harrison and his second wife Olivia Trinidad Arias. His unusual name is a composite of the sixth and seventh notes of the Indian music scale — “dha” and “ni.”
From actress Cloris Leachman‘s autobiography Cloris (2009), a scene set in early 1966, soon after the birth of her daughter Dinah:
Sometime the following week — I think it was five days later — we gave a dinner party, and Dinah Shore was among the guests. She wanted to see the new baby, so we brought her to the crib, and she oohed and aahed about how beautiful she was.
“What’s her name?” she asked as she leaned over the baby.
“Dinah,” I said. Then I thought, Oh, oh.
Dinah Shore turned to us, emotion visible on her face. “You named her after me?” There was a tremble in her voice.
The truth was, we hadn’t thought of Dinah Shore or anybody else while we cruised around for a name. Some very fast footwork was called for.
“Yes,” I said, my eyes mirroring the emotion in hers. “George and I thought you were the perfect role model for our baby.”
I mean, what could I do? She was having something close to a religious experience. I couldn’t slap my forehead and say, “Can you believe it? We never once thought of you when we picked the name.”
From an Instagram post by actor Josh Brolin, whose daughter Chapel Grace was born in 2020:
Everywhere we have traveled the one place Kathryn and I always found a great solace in were chapels. Not being particularly religious, but a God feeling heavily inundating our lives, chapels have always been the sanctuaries where we felt most connectedly free to give thanks. Chapel Grace is, to us, a manifestation of that celestial feeling that was always felt as we meandered and knelt.
From a 2020 People interview with actress Mindy Kaling, whose two children are named Katherine Swati and Spencer Avu:
“I don’t trust my own judgment with those kinds of names,” she admits. “If I name my son River, that connotes a certain kind of person who is very go with the flow, artsy. But what if he’s not like that at all? Will he be furious with me?”
“I just tried to pick classic names that felt like they would have to work really hard to get mad at me about later,” Kaling says, with a laugh.
From a 2016 Tampa Bay Times interview with musician Robin Zander (of Cheap Trick):
In the early ’90s, he and wife, Pam, who grew up in Pinellas County, settled down in the Sunshine State, drawn by family ties and the promise of a nice, safe community in which to raise their son, Robin Taylor, now 23, and daughter, Robin-Sailor, 15. (Zander’s go-to line about his kids’ quirky names: “My wife just calls us Robin, and we all come running.”)
From a 1998 BBC article about English singer Melanie Blatt (of All Saints):
Melanie and her boyfriend, musician Stuart Zender [of Jamiroquai], revealed in a magazine interview that they intend to name their daughter Lily Ella: Lily after the first flowers he bought her during their courtship and Ella after the music legend Ella Fitzgerald.
(Their daughter Lilyella was born in November.)
From a 2020 Entertainment Weekly article about comedian Amy Schumer, who legally changed her son’s name:
The I Feel Pretty star revealed her decision to change her 11-month-old son’s name on the newest episode of her podcast 3 Girls, 1 Keith on Tuesday. Schumer and her husband Chris Fischer named their first child Gene Attell Fischer, born May 5, with his middle name serving as a tribute to their good friend comic Dave Attell.
“Do you guys know that Gene, our baby’s name, is officially changed? It’s now Gene David Fischer. It was Gene Attell Fischer, but we realized that we, by accident, named our son ‘genital.'”
From a 2016 Elle interview during which comedian Alexandra “Ali” Wong spoke about her baby:
Q: What’s her name?
A: Mari, inspired by my hero Marie Kondo, who wrote The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
…And, as confirmation, from Ali‘s New York Times interview one month later:
Q: Is it true that you named your daughter after the home-organizing expert Marie Kondo?
A: I don’t expect her to be the magical tidying baby, but yeah.
From a 2022 article in People, talk show host Kelly Ripa tells the story behind the name of her daughter Lola (b. 2001):
“Lola was supposed to be Sophia, but on the way to the hospital in the taxi cab, the driver was listening to the radio — the 70s station — and ‘Copacabana’ by Barry Manilow was playing,” the mom of three recalled.
“I heard that [lyric], when he said, ‘Her name was Lola,’ and I said to Mark, ‘Lola Consuelos would be a really cool name.’ And he said, ‘If she’s a girl, let’s name her Lola.’ And that was it,” she shared.
From the book Indiana’s 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State (2016) by James E. St. Clair:
Amid much publicity in the early 1950s, [Herb Shriner and his wife] had given their children names that reflected his Hoosier heritage: They had a daughter named Indiana (known as “Indy”) and a son, Kin, named in honor of Abe Martin creator Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard. Kin Shriner became a soap opera actor; his twin brother, Wil (named for Will Rogers, but with one l), became a comedian, television, director, and talk show host with a laid-back style reminiscent of his father.
From a 2008 interview with singer Erykah Badu, whose daughter Puma was born in 2004:
The puma is one of the biggest and strongest cats in the feline family, but it has no roar. I thought that was very unique.
(Thanks to Badu, the name Erykah was the highest-debuting girl name of 1997.)
From a 2012 People interview during which singer Nick Lachey (of 98 Degrees) spoke about the name of his son Camden John:
“It’s kind of a funny story. I’ve always liked the name Colin. We thought that Colin would be the name. And John is my dad’s name. […] But as we got further into it, I learned that Vanessa wasn’t a big fan of the name Colin, so we started looking for another ‘C’ name.”
Nick, who frequented Vanessa’s obstetrician’s office with her on Camden Drive [in Beverly Hills], one day suggested, “Hey, what about Camden?”
At this point, he says, “We didn’t really know anyone else named Camden. It was such a neat name. We fell in love with it and decided on it five or six months ago.”
From a 2017 E! Online article about singer Liam Payne:
The One Direction singer-turned-solo artist explained the origin of son Bear Payne’s name during a Total Access radio interview, which he said was decided upon by mom Cheryl Cole.
“It was an internal battle,” Liam reflected. “I wanted a more traditional name and she wanted a name that was more unusual. “The reason she chose Bear was because Bear is a name that when you leave a room, you won’t forget.”
“And I like that,” the U.K. native decided eventually.
From a 2015 interview with actor Dax Shepard [vid] on The Ellen DeGeneres Show:
Ellen: Where does the name Delta come from, was that something you had thought of before?
Dax: So Delta actually — it was a joke, because our first daughter’s name is Lincoln, which is very masculine, so a friend of mine teasingly texted me, “Oh great, what’s this one gonna be, Navy Seal? Delta Force? Green Beret?” And I was reading this text out loud to Kristen, I’m like, “Oh listen to how funny this is, Steve said, what if we named her Delta Force” and I was like…Delta! Delta Bell Shepard, that’s it! And that’s it.
From a 2019 Instagram post by English singer Stacey Solomon, who explained why she named her son Rex Toby Francis:
Rex because our boys think he sounds like a T-Rex. Francis is Joe’s Nanna’s name and Toby is my Nanna’s name.
If you’re on the hunt for baby names with a numerological value of 2, you’re in luck! Because today’s post features hundreds of 2-names.
Before we get to the names, though — how do we know that they’re “twos” in numerology?
Turning names into numbers
Here’s how to calculate the numerological value of a name.
First, for each letter, come up with a number to represent that letter’s position in the alphabet. (Letter A would be number 1, letter B would be number 2, and so forth.) Then, add all the numbers together. If the sum has two or more digits, add the digits together recursively until the result is a single digit. That single digit is the name’s numerological value.
For instance, the letters in the name Aurora correspond to the numbers 1, 21, 18, 15, 18, and 1. The sum of these numbers is 74. The digits of 74 added together equal 11, and the digits of 11 added together equal 2 — the numerological value of Aurora.
Baby names with a value of 2
Below you’ll find the most popular 2-names per gender, according to the latest U.S. baby name data. I’ve further sub-categorized them by total sums — just in case any of those larger numbers are significant to anyone.
2 via 11
The letters in the following baby names add up to 11, which reduces to two (1+1=2).
Girl names (2 via 11)
Boy names (2 via 11)
Adea, Fe, Aia
Aj, Ja, Cabe
2 via 20
The letters in the following baby names add up to 20, which reduces to two (2+0=2).
There’s no definitive answer, unfortunately, because various numerological systems exist, and each one has its own interpretation of the number two. That said, if we look at a couple of modern numerology/astrology websites, we see 2 being described as “diplomatic,” “cooperative,” “peaceful,” “gentle,” and “understanding.”
We can also look at associations, which are a bit more concrete. Here are some things that are associated with the number 2:
Hands
Feet
Eyes
Ears
Lungs
Chopsticks
Knitting needles
Complementary pairings (e.g., pen and paper, bow and arrow, peanut butter and jelly)
Dualities (e.g., day and night, yin and yang, war and peace)
Boxing (2 competitors; 2 fists)
Partner dancing
DNA double helix
What does the number 2 mean to you? What are your strongest associations with the number?
P.S. To see names with other numerological values, check out the posts for the numbers one, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine.
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