How popular is the baby name Doria 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 Doria.

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Popularity of the baby name Doria


Posts that mention the name Doria

How did the sinking of the SS Andrea Doria influence baby names in the 1950s?

The SS Andrea Doria sinking off the coast of Nantucket (July 26, 1956)
The SS Andrea Doria sinking in 1956

The baby name name Doria has peaked in usage twice so far. The second spike happened in 1971, the year of Tropical Storm Doria (which ended up being the costliest storm of the season). But the first spike, which was more subtle, happened in 1957:

  • 1959: 29 baby girls named Doria
  • 1958: 31 baby girls named Doria
  • 1957: 37 baby girls named Doria
  • 1956: 27 baby girls named Doria
  • 1955: 24 baby girls named Doria

What’s behind the first spike?

I think it’s same thing that was behind the sudden jump in usage of the name Andrea* a year earlier:

  • 1958: 3,241 baby girls (and 65 baby boys) named Andrea
  • 1957: 3,369 baby girls (and 67 baby boys) named Andrea
  • 1956: 3,394 baby girls (and 62 baby boys) named Andrea
  • 1955: 2,764 baby girls (and 31 baby boys) named Andrea
  • 1954: 2,721 baby girls (and 26 baby boys) named Andrea

On the night of July 25-26, 1956 — exactly sixty-three years ago — the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sank just off the east coast of America.

The Andrea Doria — said to be “unsinkable” (like the Titanic) — had been known for its luxury. It featured theaters, dance floors, card-rooms, lounges, and three outdoor swimming pools (one per passenger class). Since its maiden voyage in 1953, it regularly made trips across the Atlantic.

The SS Andrea Doria before the collision
SS Andrea Doria

On the final night of one such trip from Italy to New York, the Andrea Doria was sailing through thick fog 50 miles south of Nantucket. Just past 11 pm, the Doria‘s starboard side was suddenly pierced by the ice-breaking prow of a smaller passenger ship called the MS Stockholm (which had left New York at mid-day and was en route to Sweden). The collision resulted in the deaths of 51 people — 46 of them Andrea Doria passengers.

Within a few minutes of the crash, the Doria had taken on so much water that it was listing more than 20 degrees to starboard. Evacuations began and, over the course of the night, the still-seaworthy Stockholm and other nearby ships came to the rescue of the remaining passengers and crew (a total of 1,660 people).

Early the next morning, East Coast newsmen in airplanes visited the crippled Doria. They took photographs and got video footage of the ship’s final moments. (It began sinking in earnest at 9:45 am, and disappeared from view under the water at 10:09 am.)

Newsmen recording the sinking of the SS Andrea Doria
Newsmen recording the SS Andrea Doria sinking

The video footage was broadcast on TV news shows later the same day, making the sinking of the Andrea Doria one of the very first televised tragedies.

The next day, photos of the doomed Doria were on the front pages of newspapers nation-wide. A few weeks later, more Doria shots ran in a photo-essay and on the cover of Life magazine. The most famous Doria photos were the Pulitzer-winning ones taken by Harry A. Trask.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the sinking SS Andrea Doria by Harry A. Trask
Trasks’s photo of the SS Andrea Doria sinking

All this media exposure drew attention to the two names “Andrea” and “Doria,” which in turn gave boost to the usage of both names, which is what we saw in the data above.

The ship had been named for 16th-century Italian admiral Andrea Doria, a member of the wealthy Genoese Doria (D’Oria, De Auria) family. The family traces its lineage back to a woman named Auria.

What do you think of the name Doria? Do you like it more or less than the name Andrea?

*Dozens of the baby girls named Andrea during the second half of 1956 got the middle name Doria. Here’s one example from Idaho.

Sources:

Pop culture baby name game results, 2018

Here are the results of Pop Culture Baby Name Game 2018! For the pop culture context of any of these names, just click back over to the original game post.

Rises

Names that saw higher usage in 2018:

No Change

Names that saw no change in usage in 2018.

Drops

Names that saw lower usage in 2018:

Absent

Names that were absent from the SSA data in 2018:

  • Did not debut: Avicii, Carvena, Chevel, Coco (as a boy name), Cullinan, Ella Mai, Kaavia, Kulture, Mahomes, Majeste, Maquia, Marsai, Nafessa, Osaka, Pineapple, Qira, Ramirez (as a girl name), Reileen, Sanni, Velar, Venom, Villanelle, Xolo, Yanny, Zaxai
  • Did not re-emerge: Cress, Gio, Joji, Jumanji, T’challa

Late Bloomers

Names that were “absent” from 2017’s results, now in 2018:

Plus: Rumi finally rose, and Sircarter unexpectedly surfaced.

What are your thoughts on the results this year? Did anything surprise you?

[Disclaimer: Some of the names above were already moving in the direction indicated, and some were no doubt influenced by more than a single pop culture person/event. I leave it up to you to judge the degree/nature of pop culture influence in each case.]

Pop culture baby name game, 2018

pop culture baby name game 2018

It’s Elvis Presley’s birthday* — that means it’s time to kick off the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game!

So how do you play the game? Simply brainstorm for baby names that could have gotten a boost in usage in 2018 thanks to the influence popular culture: movies, music, television, social media, video games, sports, politics, products, trends, etc.

Here are some names we can start with:

  • Araminta – movie, Crazy Rich Asians character
  • Astrid – movie, Crazy Rich Asians character
  • Avicii – music/news, the late Swedish DJ Avicii
  • Banks – celebrity baby (Hilary Duff)
  • Billion – celebrity baby (Rick Ross)
  • Braven – movie, Braven
  • Canon – celebrity baby (Stephen Curry)
  • Cardi – music, rapper Cardi B
  • Carson – sports, Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz (particularly in PA)
  • Carvena – TV, The Four: Battle for Stardom contestant
  • Chadwick – movie, Black Panther actor
  • Chevel – TV, The Voice contestant
  • Chicago – celebrity baby (Kim Kardashian & Kanye West)
  • Coco – movie, Coco
  • Cress – TV, Black Lightning actor
  • Crew – celebrity baby (Chip & Joanna Gaines)
  • Cullinan – car, Rolls-Royce Cullinan
  • Doria – news, royal wedding (Doria Ragland)
  • Dua – music, singer Dua Lipa
  • Elanese – TV, The Four: Battle for Stardom contestant
  • Ella Mai – music, singer Ella Mai
  • Garrix – music, DJ Martin Garrix
  • Gio – celebrity baby (Adam Levine & Behati Prinsloo)
  • Grayson – news, winter storm Grayson
  • Havana – music, song “Havana”
  • Hayes – celebrity babies (both Jessica Alba and Meghan King Edmonds)
  • Joji – music, singer Joji
  • Jumanji – movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
  • Kaavia – celebrity baby (Dwyane Wade & Gabrielle Union)
  • Kane – music, singer Kane Brown**
  • Karamo – TV, Queer Eye expert
  • Keala – music/movie, singer/actress Keala Settle (“This Is Me”)
  • Kiki – music/dance, “In My Feelings” challenge
  • Mahomes – sports, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
  • Majeste – TV, The Four: Battle for Stardom contestant
  • Maquia – movie, Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
  • Meghan – news, royal wedding (Meghan Markle)
  • Mera – movie, Aquaman character
  • Miles – celebrity baby (John Legend & Chrissy Teigen)
  • Nafessa – TV, Black Lightning actress
  • Nakia – movie, Black Panther character
  • Osaka – sports, U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka – suggested by elbowin
  • Qira (Qi’ra) – movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story character
  • Rami – movie, Bohemian Rhapsody actor
  • Ramirez – video game, Fortnite character (female)
  • Reileen – TV, Altered Carbon character
  • Sharaya – TV, The Four: Battle for Stardom contestant
  • Shuri – movie, Black Panther character
  • Storm – movie, A Wrinkle in Time actress
  • Stormi – celebrity baby (Kylie Jenner)
  • Swae – music, rapper Swae Lee
  • Takeshi – TV, Altered Carbon character
  • T’challa – movie, Black Panther character
  • True – celebrity baby (Khloe Kardashian)
  • Tully – movie, Tully
  • Velar – car, Range Rover Velar
  • Venom – movie, Venom
  • Villanelle – TV, Killing Eve character
  • Wade – movies, both Ready Player One and Deadpool 2 characters
  • Xolo – Web TV, Cobra Kai actor
  • Yanny – news, the Yanny/Laurel audio clip – suggested by elbowin
  • Zhavia – TV, The Four: Battle for Stardom contestant
  • Zaytoven – music, producer Zaytoven
  • Zaxai – TV, The Voice contestant
  • Zazie – movie, Deadpool 2 actress

What other names should be on this list? Let me know by commenting below. And don’t forget to mention the pop culture influence!

I’ll post the game results in May of 2019, a few days after the SSA releases the 2018 baby name data.

If you don’t want to miss the results post, just subscribe to NBN so that you’ll be notified once it’s out.

*Elvis would have been 84 today.
**The first baby born in Richland County, OH, in 2019 was named after Kane Brown.

Mystery baby name: Caster

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

The top two debut names of 1953 were Trenace (for girls) and Caster (for boys). And you know what? Both have me stumped.

We’ve already talked about Trenace, so here are some details about Caster:

  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: 5 baby boys named Caster
  • 1955: 11 baby boys named Caster
  • 1954: 16 baby boys named Caster
  • 1953: 21 baby boys named Caster [debut]
  • 1952: unlisted

Caster doesn’t seem to be a variant of some other name (like Casper, or Lancaster). So I’m assuming this usage corresponds to someone named Caster — either real or fictional — who was in the public eye for several years in a row.

The tricky thing is, of course, that any online search for the name “Caster” turns up all sorts of extraneous stuff — fishing, furniture, music (stratocaster), sports (sportscaster), and so forth.

Still, I was able to track down a few clues.

Records suggest that the majority of these 1950s Casters had middle names that started with D. Here’s a Caster D. born in 1953, and another Caster D. born in 1957.

And every single D-middle I tracked down included the letter L and/or the letter R. Some examples: Dell, Derrell, Derrel, Derriel, Daryl, Deryl, Derald, Derra, Doria, and Doral. A handful of people even had combination names like Casterdale or Casterdell (b. 1953).

Finally, it looks like most of the people named Caster D. were born in the South.

Do you have any idea where the name Caster might have come from?