How popular is the baby name Eddie 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 Eddie.

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Popularity of the baby name Eddie


Posts that mention the name Eddie

What gave the baby name Nile a boost in 1940?

College football player Nile Kinnick, Jr. (1918-1943)
Nile Kinnick, Jr.

According to the U.S. baby name data, the uncommon name Nile saw an uptick in usage in 1940:

  • 1942: 25 baby boys named Nile (6 born in Iowa)
  • 1941: 25 baby boys named Nile
  • 1940: 39 baby boys named Nile (12 born in Iowa)
  • 1939: 28 baby boys named Nile (7 born in Iowa)
  • 1938: 21 baby boys named Nile

Why?

Because of Nile Clarke Kinnick, Jr., who played football at the University of Iowa.

The Iowa Hawkeyes — after winning a single game in 1937, and another single game in 1938 — had an unexpectedly successful 1939 season. Under new coach Eddie Anderson, the team compiled a 6-1-1 record overall and finished second in the Big Ten Conference.

Leading the charge was senior Nile Kinnick, a halfback who — by “passing, running or kicking” — “was directly involved in 107 of Iowa’s 130 points that season.”

Thanks to his stellar performance on the field, Nile Kinnick won almost every major national award, including the Heisman Trophy, the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy, and the Maxwell Award.

Kinnick’s celebrity became so strong, he was named 1939’s top male athlete in the country by the Associated Press. The honor was particularly noteworthy considering his competition included Joe DiMaggio, Joe Louis and Byron Nelson.

Among his namesakes were Nile Clarke Andersen, born in Iowa in late 1939, and Nile Kinnick Clarke, born in Washington state in 1946 (to Nile Kinnick’s first cousin, Fred).

After college, Nile Kinnick turned down an offer to join the NFL. Instead, he went to law school.

But a year later, when it seemed likely that the U.S. would enter World War II, he left law school and enlisted in the Naval Air Corps Reserve. He died during a training flight off the coast of Venezuela in 1943.

In 1972, Iowa’s football stadium, simply called Iowa Stadium, was renamed Kinnick Stadium in honor of Nile Kinnick. And by the early 2000s, enough babies were being named after the stadium every year that the name Kinnick began popping up in the U.S. baby name data.

What are your thoughts on the name Nile? (Do you like it more or less than the similar name Niles?)

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Imperial Valley Press (11 Dec. 1939)

What gave the baby name Levert a boost in the 1980s?

LeVert's single "Casanova" (1987).
LeVert single

The name Casanova — made famous during the 18th century by Italian adventurer and womanizer Giacomo Casanova — started popping up in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1980s. It saw a modest increase in usage a few years later:

  • 1989: unlisted
  • 1988: 14 baby boys named Casanova
  • 1987: 11 baby boys named Casanova
  • 1986: unlisted

The spelling variant Cassanova debuted around the same time, in 1987.

What was influencing these names?

The catchy song “Casanova” by R&B vocal trio LeVert. It was released in mid-1987 and peaked at #5 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. Though the group had multiple songs reach #1 on the R&B chart, “Casanova” was their strongest showing on the pop chart.

The group consisted of brothers Gerald and Sean LeVert — sons of O’Jays lead vocalist Eddie LeVert — and a third member, Marc Gordon.

Thanks to the success of the song, the French surname LeVert also saw its highest-ever usage in the late 1980s:

  • 1989: 17 baby boys named Levert
  • 1988: 19 baby boys named Levert [peak usage]
  • 1987: 7 baby boys named Levert
  • 1986: unlisted
  • 1985: unlisted

(The surname is rendered “Levert” in the data because the SSA strips out internal capitalization.)

Getting back to Casanova, though…what are your thoughts on “Casanova” as a first name?

P.S. Another member of the O’Jays, Walter Williams, was behind the peak usage of the names Shalawn and Seandra in the mid-1970s.

Sources: LeVert – Wikpedia, SSA

What popularized the baby name Arsenio in the late 1980s?

Arsenio Hall hosting "The Arsenio Hall Show" (1989-1994)
Arsenio Hall

The name Arsenio, which has been appearing in the U.S. baby name data since the 1910s, shot into the top 1,000 in 1989 and and stayed there for three years in a row:

  • 1992: 47 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1991: 45 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1990: 188 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 743rd]
  • 1989: 397 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 479th]
  • 1988: 124 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 854th]
  • 1987: 83 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1986: 21 baby boys named Arsenio

Here’s a visual:

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

The variant forms Aresenio, Arsenial, Arseno, and Marsenio also popped up for the first and only time in 1989.

What caused this sudden interest in the name Arsenio?

Comedian and actor Arsenio Hall.

In 1987, he became the first African-American to host a late-night talk show with his 13-week stint on The Late Show. (It was originally called The Late Show with Joan Rivers, but, after Rivers was fired, the show was re-titled and featured a series of guest hosts.)

Audiences would have noticed him next in the hit movie Coming to America (1988), which starred Hall’s longtime friend Eddie Murphy.

Several months later, in January of 1989, he kicked off The Arsenio Hall Show — a hip, energetic alternative (“woof, woof, woof!”) to the other late-night talk shows of the era.

Notably, Hall’s show was one of the few on mainstream television to showcase hip-hop culture. Musical guests included N.W.A, Ice-T, Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, Bell Biv DeVoe, Heavy D, Black Sheep, Kwamé, Tone Loc, A Tribe Called Quest, and Leaders of the New School. He also spotlighted R&B acts like Bobby Brown, En Vogue, New Edition, Troop, Jodeci, and Mariah Carey.

The Arsenio Hall Show was a breakout success. It was particularly popular with young urban audiences. Despite this, ratings began to slip in late 1993 (largely due to scheduling issues) and the show was cancelled in May of 1994.

So where does the name Arsenio come from? It’s a form of the ancient Greek name Arsenios, which is based on the ancient Greek word arsen, meaning “masculine, virile.”

What are your thoughts on the name Arsenio?

P.S. The name’s slight rise in 1983 and 1984 was likely due to Arsenio Hall’s time as a sidekick on an earlier late-night show, Thicke of the Night (1983-1984), which was hosted by Alan Thicke.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Arsenio Hall Show

Popular baby names in Liechtenstein, 2021

Flag of Liechtenstein
Flag of Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein, one of the smallest countries in Europe, is located in the Alps (sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland).

Last year, Liechtenstein welcomed 375 babies — 181 girls and 194 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emilia/Frida/Mia (3-way tie) and Elias.

Here are Liechtenstein’s top girl names and top boy names of 2021:

Girl names

  1. Emilia, Frida/Frieda, and Mia, 4 baby girls each (3-way tie)
  2. Emma, Melina, and Sophia/Sofia, 3 each (3-way tie)
  3. Alicia, Alina, Anna, Aria, Ariana/Arianna, Aurora, Chiara, Elea, Elin, Emily, Hannah, Helena, Jana, Ladina, Leonie, Lina, Mara, Maria, Milena, Mina, and Noelia, 2 each (21-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Elias/Elyas, 7 baby boys
  2. Louis/Luis, 6
  3. Leo, 5
  4. Noah and Paul, 4 each (tie)
  5. Leano, Luca, Mattia, Nelio, Raphael/Rafael, and Valentin, 3 each (6-way tie)
  6. Benedict/Benedikt, Benjamin, Eliah/Elijah, Eric/Erik, Gion, James, Janik, Julian, Lenny, Levin, Lionel, Lucas/Lukas, Mael, Matteo, Maximilian, Nicklas/Niklas, Oliver, and Ömer, 2 each (18-way tie)

The rest of the names were bestowed just once:

Unique girl names (118)Unique boy names (114)
Ada, Adora, Aflah, Aida, Aileen, Akila, Alessia, Alexandra, Alia, Alizée, Alma, Amalia, Ambra, Amela, Amélie, Amina, Amra, Ana, Aniko, Anila, Anina, Annika, Antonia, Asalia, Ava, Aynara, Calissa, Carla, Carmen, Catalina, Cecilia, Céline, Charlotte, Clea, Darja, Désirée, Diana, Diona, Dorothea, Dua-Lea, Ela, Elena, Elenia, Eleonora, Elif, Elina, Eline, Elise, Ena, Evi, Finja, Gabriella, Gea, Grace, Hailey, Haley, Hava, Heidi, Hindiya, Hylkije, Ina, Jara, Johanna, Josepa, Josephine, Julia, Juliana, Juna, Künkyi, Lailah, Lanah, Lara, Lea, Leila, Lelle, Lena, Leni, Lia, Liara, Lillia, Lily, Lorena, Lounah, Luisa, Malea, Marie, Maya, Mayte, Medina, Mejra, Melissa, Meryem, Mila, Mirella, Mona, Nadine, Naima, Nayla, Nevia, Niva, Nóra, Nurcan, Patrizia, Romina, Ronja, Rosa, Ruby, Sarah, Saskia, Serena, Siena, Svea, Theresia, Yara, Ylvie, Zana, Zeyneb, ZoeAaron, Adrian, Ajan, Akira, Alessio, Alexis, Ali, Alparslan, Alvaro, Ammar, Anton, Arion, Arjen, Aron, Arthur, Aurel, Aurelio, Ayman, Azad, Benno, Björn, Byron, Conradin, Dario, Dayan, Din, Eddie, Ediz, Elliot, Elvis, Emanuel, Emiel, Emil, Emilian, Erlis, Felix, Finn, Florian, Francesco, Gabriel, Gael, Grégory, Gustav, Henrik, Henry, Jakob, Jan, Jari, Jemin, Jonas, Joris, Julius, Juri, Justin, Karl, Kenan, Kian, Korab, Kunga, Laurin, Leandro, Leon, Levi, Liam, Lian, Liano, Linard, Lino, Lio, Louie, Luar, Mailo, Maleo, Malik, Marcelo, Matin, Matti, Mauro, Max, Metehan, Mikkel, Milo, Miro, Musab, Nathan, Neo, Nevio, Nils, Noam, Noar, Noel, Norden, Quentin, Richard, Rocco, Romeo, Rron, Samuel, Sandro, Santiago, Sava, Tenzin, Theo, Tiago, Tim, Timéo, Timo, Tobia, Vinzenz, Vitus, Xaver, Yakari, Yannick, Yannis

Some thoughts on a few of the above…

  • Künkyi and Tenzin are Tibetan.
  • Nevia and Nevio are Italian. They derive from the Roman family name Naevius, which was based on the Latin word naevus, meaning “birthmark” or “mole (on the body).”
  • Rron is an Albanian. It was created from the word rronj, a dialectal form of rroj, which means “to live, to survive.”

Finally, here’s a link to Liechtenstein’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Source: Neugeborenennamen 2021 – Statistikportal Liechtenstein

Image: Adapted from Flag of Liechtenstein (public domain)