How popular is the baby name Dee 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 Dee.

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Popularity of the baby name Dee


Posts that mention the name Dee

Baby girl gets 139 names: Tracy Mariclaire Lisa…

John and Margaret Nelson of Chesterfield, England, welcomed a baby girl at the very end of 1985. They named their daughter Tracy, but that’s not all they named her. This is Tracy’s full name:

Tracy Mariclaire Lisa Tammy Samantha Christine Alexandra Candy Bonnie Ursala Zoe Nichola Patricia Lynda Kate Jean Sandra Karren Julie Jane Elizabeth Felicity Gabriella Jackie Corina Constance Arabella Clara Honor Geraldine Fiona Erika Fillippa Anabel Elsie Amanda Cheryl Alanna Louisa Angie Beth Crystal Dawn Debbie Eileen Grace Susan Rebecca Valerie Kay Lena Margaret Anna Amy Carol Bella Avril Ava Audry Andrea Daphne Donna Cynthia Cassie Christabel Vivien Wendy Moira Jennifer Abbie Adelaide Carrissa Carla Anne Astrid Barbara Charissa Catalina Bonny Dee Hazel Iris Anthea Clarinda Bernadette Cara Alison Carrie Angela Beryl Caroline Emma Dana Vanessa Zara Violet Lynn Maggie Pamela Rosemary Ruth Cathlene Alexandrina Annette Hilary Diana Angelina Carrinna Victoria Sara Mandy Annabella Beverly Bridget Cecilia Catherine Brenda Jessica Isbella Delilah Camila Candace Helen Connie Charmaine Dorothy Melinda Nancy Mariam Vicki Selina Miriam Norma Pauline Toni Penny Shari Zsa-zsa Queenie Nelson

That’s 139 given names and 1 surname.

Why did John and Margaret do this to their daughter? According to John, “We just wanted to give her something for when she grows up.”

A reason that makes complete sense, of course.

Speaking of things that make sense, let’s pick out some of the needless repetition:

  • Alexandra (#7) and Alexandrina (#103)
  • Amanda (#36) and Mandy (#111)
  • Angela (#89), Angie (#40) and Angelina (#107)
  • Anna (#33), Anne (#74) and Annette (#104)
  • Bella (#56), Annabella (#112), Arabella (#27) and Isbella (#119)
  • Bonnie (#9) and Bonny (#79)
  • Candace (#122) and Candy (#8)
  • Carrissa (#72) and Charissa (#77)
  • Clara (#28) and Clarinda (#84)
  • Constance (#26) and Connie (#124)
  • Corina (#25) and Carrinna (#108)
  • Elizabeth (#21) and Beth (#41)
  • Margaret (#52) and Maggie (#98)
  • Mariam (#129) and Miriam (#131)
  • Victoria (#109) and Vicki (#130)
  • Zara (#95) and Sara (#110)

If you could go back in time and rename this baby, which two names (out of the 139) would you choose as her first and middle names?

Source: “Tracy for short.” Reading Eagle 24 Jan 1986: 1.

What popularized the baby name Deanna in the 1930s?

Deanna Durbin in trailer for the movie "Three Smart Girls" (1936)
Deanna Durbin

During the latter half of the 1930s, the baby name Deanna saw an extreme rise in usage:

  • 1939: 1,805 baby girls named Deanna [rank: 133rd]
  • 1938: 2,254 baby girls named Deanna [rank: 115th]
  • 1937: 1,624 baby girls named Deanna [rank: 139th]
  • 1936: 77 baby girls named Deanna [rank: 770th]
  • 1935: 29 baby girls named Deanna
  • 1934: 15 baby girls named Deanna

A number of similar names also saw a spike in usage in 1937:

1935193619371938
Deanna29771,6242,254
Deanne1222230231
Deann8136598
Deana20204263
Deeann..18*14
Deeanna...7*
Deeanne...5*
*Debut

Deanna was the baby name that saw the highest relative rise in usage from 1936 to 1937, and Deanne was third on that list. (Second and fourth were Noretta and Noreta — check out the Norita post for the explanation.)

Also rising were the Di- variants, like Dianna, along with the simple name Dee.

Finally, the variant Deeann was the top debut name of 1937.

So…what kicked off this sudden trendiness of Deanna?

Singer and actress Deanna Durbin.

She became famous upon the late 1936 release of the musical comedy Three Smart Girls.

In the film, which was a box office success and received several Oscar nominations, she played the youngest of three sisters (named Joan, Kay and Penny).

A full-page advertisement for the film that ran in Life magazine described Durbin as the “greatest soprano since Jenny Lind.”

Deanna was born Edna Mae Durbin in Canada in 1921. She started out as a singer, but began appearing in films as a teenager. Universal Pictures gave her the stage name “Deanna” when she was about 14.

Louis B. Mayer himself directed her “renaming” process. Durbin was all right, but “Edna Mae” was too ordinary. She was sometimes called “Deedee” at home, and everyone thought matching initials would be attractive for an actress’s name. Edna Mae like the name “Diana,” but she pronounced it “Dee-anna” and a sharp-eared publicity man jumped on the difference. “Dee-anna” would be original and have cachet. So Edna Mae Durbin, renamed Deanna Durbin, was set to go into her first feature film.

The popularity of the name Deanna declined in the ’40s and ’50s, but reached new heights in the ’60s and ’70s, landing in the top 100 from 1969 to 1971. These days it’s still given to several hundred babies per year, but no longer ranks inside the top 1,000.

Do you like the name Deanna? Do you like it more or less than Diana?

Sources:

P.S. The name Kizzy saw a similarly steep rise in usage exactly four decades later…

Baby names spelled with the names of letters: Ivy (IV), Casey (KC), Ellie (LE)

A reader named Becky recently emailed me with a rather cool request:

We’re looking for a girl name that has an actual spelling and letter combinations to represent the word. For example Evie (EV) and Katie (KT). Any suggestions would be great!

Here’s a long list of (mostly female) names that can be spelled with the names of letters. Some of the letter strings don’t quite replicate the pronunciation of the corresponding name, but, even if they don’t match perfectly, they do come pretty close.

Can you guys think of any others? Let me know and I’ll add them!

Update, 2015: Here’s a baby girl named Elloebee, a phonetic spelling of the acronym LOB (“legion of boom”).

Update, Feb. 2025: Just spotted the name Effely (FLE) in an article about Cambridgeshire baby names.

Update, Apr. 2025: Here’s a college basketball player named Azzi Fudd, first name pronounced like the letters A and Z.

Update, Jul. 2025: Here’s a 19th-century baby girl from Norfolk, England, named Emdiella (MDLR).

[Latest update: Jul. 2025]

Reduplicated names: Asher Asher, Owen Owen

oystercatcher birds

I find it interesting that some people are given forenames that exactly match their surnames. A few historically significant examples include:

(Ford Madox Ford and Horst P. Horst don’t count. They were born Ford Hermann Hueffer and Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann.)

There are also many forename/surname sets out there that are partially reduplicated, such as:

  • Alastair McAllister, Australian harpsichord builder
  • Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Soviet cosmonaut
  • Anders Andersen, Norwegian politician
  • Antonis Antoniadis, Greek soccer player
  • Damiano Damiani, Italian film director
  • David Davidson, Canadian baseball player
  • Donagh MacDonagh, Irish writer
  • Donald MacDonald, Canadian politician
  • Dru Drury, British entomologist
  • Filip Filipovic (several people)
  • Fiodar Fiodarau, Soviet physicist
  • Friðrik Friðriksson, Icelandic film director

Have you ever met someone whose first name and last name were identical (or nearly so)? Do you like these sorts of names?

P.S. The name Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (which belonged to a guy who served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior for a few weeks in 1850) is as close to a double double as I’ve ever seen!

Image: Adapted from Two Variable Oystercatchers standing close to each other (public domain)

[Last update: October 2024]