How popular is the baby name Dirk 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 Dirk.

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Popularity of the baby name Dirk


Posts that mention the name Dirk

The first incubator baby was named Edith

Edith Eleanor McLean

On September 7, 1888 — 128 years ago today — an incubator (or “hatching cradle”) was used for the first time in the U.S. to treat a premature baby.

That baby’s name? Edith Eleanor McLean.

She was born at the State Emigrant Hospital on Ward’s Island in New York City. She arrived two months early and weighed just 2 pounds, 7 ounces.

How did the names Edith and Eleanor do on the U.S. baby name charts in 1888? Edith was the 29th most popular baby girl name in the country that year, and Eleanor ranked 128th.

Update, 9/2022: According to correspondence received by Dirk de Klein of the blog History of Sorts, Edith’s name was later changed to Myrtle Eleanor, intriguingly. (In 1888, the baby name Myrtle ranked 35th.)

Sources:

  • Accardo, Pasquale. The Medical Almanac: A Calendar of Dates of Significance to the Profession of Medicine. New York: Springer, 1992.
  • “Reared by Heat.” Evening World [New York, NY] 20 Nov. 1888: 1.

Hollywood names invented by Henry Willson

American talent agent Henry Willson (1911-1978)
Henry Willson

Hollywood talent agent Henry Willson — the man behind the beefcake craze of the 1950s — liked to invent snappy stage names for his clients. “Catchy, iterative, marquee-size monikers were his trademark.”

And several of his clients (such as Troy Donahue, and Tab Hunter) went on to achieve so much fame that they, in turn, had an influence on U.S. baby names.

Here are some of the names that Willson came up with (or helped come up with):

Stage nameReal name
Chad EverettRaymon Cramton
Dack & Dirk RamboNorman & Orman Rambo (twins)
Guy MadisonRobert Moseley
John SaxonCarmine Orrico
Rhonda FlemingMarilyn Louis
Rock HudsonRoy Fitzgerald
Rory CalhounFrancis McCown
Tab HunterArthur Gelien
Touch Connors (later known as Mike Connors)Krekor Ohanian
Troy DonahueMerle Johnson
Ty Hungerford (later known as Ty Hardin)Orison Hungerford
Yale SummersRoy Neuvohner

Red-headed Rhonda Fleming’s surname was chosen because it sounded like the word flaming.

Speaking of flames, Rory Calhoun’s first name was inspired by Francis McCown’s brief stint as a firefighter (i.e., “roaring blazes”).

Which group of names do you prefer, the stage names (on the left) or the real names (on the right)?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Modern Screen (Oct. 1946)

[Latest update: Oct. 2025]

80+ Hidden gems: Rare baby boy names

gems

Want a boy name that’s not popular, but also not unheard of?

I looked through all the names at the bottom of SSA’s 2011 mega-list and found a bunch of hidden gems:

  1. Alaric (48 baby boys)
  2. Alban (12)
  3. Aldous (11)
  4. Aldric (7)
  5. Alphonse (20)
  6. Archibald (14)
  7. Astor (5)
  8. Augustin (50)
  9. Balthazar (13)
  10. Barclay (6)
  11. Barnabas (8)
  12. Bartholomew (19)
  13. Booker (22)
  14. Chadwick (34)
  15. Cyril (41)
  16. Clancy (14)
  17. Claude (44)
  18. Clement (34)
  19. Crispin (21)
  20. Darcy (15)
  21. Dirk (40)
  22. Doyle (10)
  23. Ernst (6)
  24. Ferdinand (20)
  25. Garrick (42)
  26. Giles (20)
  27. Gregor (14)
  28. Griffith (18)
  29. Grover (9)
  30. Gustaf (7); Gustav (29)
  31. Horatio (10)
  32. Hubert (46)
  33. Ignatius (49)
  34. Isidore (7)
  35. Kermit (6)
  36. Lambert (6)
  37. Laird (17)
  38. Laurence (48)
  39. Laurent (9)
  40. Leander (48)
  41. Leith (7)
  42. Lemuel (50)
  43. Lowell (29)
  44. Maxfield (22)
  45. Newton (14)
  46. Nicanor (8)
  47. Norbert (9)
  48. Norris (21)
  49. Ogden (13)
  50. Orson (33)
  51. Osborn (5); Osborne (7)
  52. Oswald (18)
  53. Pascal (25)
  54. Percival (13)
  55. Peregrine (9)
  56. Piers (16)
  57. Regis (10)
  58. Remis (11)
  59. Roscoe (47)
  60. Rudolph (44)
  61. Rufus (39)
  62. Rupert (8)
  63. Sanford (6)
  64. Seymour (6)
  65. Sherman (40)
  66. Sinclair (8)
  67. Tavish (16)
  68. Thane (48)
  69. Tobiah (14)
  70. Walton (14)
  71. Warner (48)
  72. Watson (42)
  73. Webster (8)
  74. Weldon (27)
  75. Werner (11)
  76. Wilbert (42)
  77. Wilbur (20)
  78. Winfield (7)
  79. Winfred (7)
  80. Winslow (10)
  81. York (5)
  82. Zebulon (25)
  83. Zeno (13)

(In some cases, a different spelling of the name is more popular than what’s shown here. For instance, Laurence is rare, but Lawrence is moderately popular.)

Like any of these?

Spot any other good names at the end of the list?

P.S. Here’s the girls’ list.

Image: Adapted from Birmanian rock crystals by Mauro Cateb under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Edgar Allan Poe names: Lenore, Ligeia, Prospero

Writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe

The godfather of Gothic fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, was born 202 years ago today.

He may have been master of the macabre, but he wrote widely — far beyond horror. His other works fall into genres such as humor/satire, science fiction, detective fiction, and adventure fiction.

To celebrate Poe’s birthday, let’s check out some of the character names he used in his short stories, poetry, and longer works:

Girl Names

  • Ada, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Alessandra, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Annabel Lee, from the poem “Annabel Lee” (1849)
  • Annie, from the poem “For Annie” (1849) and the short story “Landor’s Cottage” (1849)
  • Arabella, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Berenice, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Camille, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Eleonora, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Ermengarde, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Estelle, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Eugenie, from the short stories “The Spectacles” (1844) and “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” (1845)
  • Eulalie, from the poem “Eulalie – A Song” (1845)
  • Evangeline, from the poem “Evangeline” (1848)
  • Fanny, from the poem “Fanny” (1833)
  • Grettel, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Helen, from the poems “To Helen” (1831) and “To Helen” (1849)
  • Ianthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Isabel, from the poem “Fairy-Land” (1829)
  • Jacinta, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Jane, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Kate, from the short story “Three Sundays in a Week” (1841)
  • Kathleen, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Lalage, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Lenore, from the poems “Lenore” (1843) and “The Raven” (1845)
  • Ligeia, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829) and the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Madeline, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Marian, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Marie, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Miranda, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Morella, from the short story “Morella” (1835)
  • Pauline, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Psyche, from the short story “A Predicament” (1838)
  • Rowena, from the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Stephanie, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Tabitha, from the piece “How to Write a Blackwood Article” (1838) and the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Ulalume (rhymes with tomb), from the poem “Ulalume” (1847)
  • Una, from the short story “The Colloquy of Monos and Una” (1841)
  • Zanthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
"The Cask of Amontillado" illustration by Harry Clarke
“The Cask of Amontillado”

Boy names

  • Adolphe, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Adolphus, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Alberto, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alexander, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Alexandre, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alfonzo, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Andrew, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Angelo, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Arthur, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “Some Words with a Mummy” (1845)
  • Auguste, from the short stories “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842), and “The Purloined Letter” (1844)
  • Augustus, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” (1844)
  • Baldazzar, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Barnabas, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Benito, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Charles, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Cornelius, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Dirk, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Egaeus, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Emmet, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Ernest, from the short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845)
  • Ethelred, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Fortunato, from the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846)
  • Frank, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Frederick, from the short story “Metzengerstein” (1832)
  • Gordon, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Hans, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Henri, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Isidore, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Israfel, from the poem “Israfel” (1831)
  • Jacques, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • James, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • John, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jules, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Julius, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jupiter, from the short story “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Meredith, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Napoleon, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Paul, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Pedro, from the short story “The Oval Portrait” (1842)
  • Peter, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “The Business Man” (1840)
  • Pierre, from the short story “Bon-Bon” (1832), the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840), and the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Poindexter, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Politian, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Prospero, from the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842)
  • Richard, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Robert, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Roderick, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Rupert, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Tamerlane, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Theodore, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Toby, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840) and the short story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” (1841)
  • Ugo, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Victor, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • William, from the short stories “William Wilson” (1839), “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), and “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Zoilus, from the short story “Shadow – A Parable” (1835)

Though they aren’t character names, Raven and Poe could be added to this list as well, as both are closely associated with Edgar Allan Poe. And both are bird-related, incidentally: the surname Poe can be traced back to the Middle English word for “peacock.”

Which of the above names do you like best? Which would you considering using in real life?

Sources:

[Latest update: Oct. 2022]