How popular is the baby name Eisenhower 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 Eisenhower.

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Popularity of the baby name Eisenhower


Posts that mention the name Eisenhower

Why did Nikita debut as a boy name in 1959?

Soviet politician Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) in 1961.
Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of the Soviet Union for over a decade (1953 to 1964) during the early Cold War.

Between the time the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik in 1957 and sent Yuri Gagarin on the first manned space flight in 1961, Khrushchev became first Soviet head of state to visit the United States.

Upon the invitation of president Dwight D. Eisenhower, Khrushchev and his family (wife Nina, son Sergei, daughters Julia and Rada, and son-in-law Alexei) flew to Washington, D.C., on September 15, 1959. They visited New York, California, Iowa, and Pennsylvania before flying back to Moscow on the 27th.

Though Khrushchev famously never made it to Disneyland, he did manage to make an impression upon expectant parents:

Girls named NikitaBoys named Nikita
19613921
19605625
19594419*
195816.
195713.
*Debut

The name Nikita had appeared in the U.S. baby name data as a girl name before, but in 1959 it showed up for the very first time as a boy name.*

These days the usage of Nikita is about equal for males and females — 93 baby girls and 92 baby boys got the name in 2015. But there was a spike in female usage in 1985, thanks to the song “Nikita” by Elton John. (American radio listeners similarly interpreted Luka as a girl name a couple of years later.)

The name Nikita can be traced back to the ancient Greek word for “victor,” niketes, which is based on the more familiar word nike, meaning “victory.”

And eight years after the name Nikita debuted, another Russian arrival, Svetlana Stalina, showed up and added yet another Soviet-inspired baby name to the mix…

*To debut in the SSA’s baby name data, a name has to be given to least 5 babies of one gender or the other within a single calendar year.

Sources: Nikita Khrushchev – Wikipedia, Timeline: Nikita Khrushchev’s Trip Itinerary, SSA
Image: John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev in 1961

Popular and unique baby names in Alberta (Canada), 2015

Flag of Alberta
Flag of Alberta

According to data from the government of Alberta, the most popular baby names in the province in 2015 were Olivia and Liam.

Here are Alberta’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Olivia, 294 baby girls
2. Emma, 275
3. Emily, 252
4. Sophia, 205
5. Ava, 201
6. Chloe, 179
7. Ella, 167 [tie]
7. Abigail, 167 [tie]
9. Avery, 155
10. Amelia, 142		1. Liam, 301 baby boys
2. Noah, 256
3. Ethan, 233
4. Benjamin, 221
5. Lucas, 218
6. William, 217
7. Oliver, 209
8. Mason, 203
9. Logan, 196
10. Alexander, 193

In the girls’ top 10, Chloe, Avery, and Amelia replaced Isabella, Charlotte, and Hannah.

In the boys’ top 10, Mason and Alexander replaced Jacob and Carter.

Baby names that were bestowed only once last year include…

Unusual Girl NamesUnusual Boy Names
Alastrine, Anarchy, Annayancy, Archa, Black-Feather, Breitling, Christivie, Costandina, Daylight, Drolma, Eallaf, Ehhuphoe, Esquire, Everra, Frozenda, Heledana, Isabeau, Jupiter, Kah, Loklyee-Snow, Lúthien, Mercyfavor, Mixx, Mornin-Starr, Mraeven, Nations, Nelanora, Obsolete, Oromia, Ovee, Patvabelle, Pluriana-Bella, Razbee, Reznor, SaQueira, Soda, Starlight, Sparrows, Surrender, Tayt-Lynn, Temperley, Uairirira, Umnia, Vhylix, Wynstelle, Xyrelle, Yeabkal, Yllethea, Yvriellebon, Zarabeen, ZayabellaArarso, Athanasius, Axtion, Bayou, Boxuan, Bry, Calyx, Clifflen, Coho, Den-Mark, Denzworth, Dezus, Eero, Eisenhower, Fnan, Fortress, Frotan, Galvin, Igloiel, Indus, JMaxx, Jomonosi, Kenardo, Knoll, Knoxin, Larxaniel, Memo, Mercer, Mugsy, Nazarus, Nexland, Nimona, Nuno, Nusetor, Okooc, Orges, Parx, Poncho, Psalmer, Qumbi, Ray-Pio, Reacher, Rook, Ryxer, Sky-Light, Sleem, Snowden, StylesJunior, Turbo, Uzuvira, Vanderjak, Vince-Gil, Wen-Ray, Wrightkin, Yngwie, Yogi, Zackharry, Zaylex, Zyller

Finally, here’s a link to Alberta’s top names of 2014.

Source: Frequency and Ranking of Baby Names by Year and Gender

Image: Adapted from Flag of Alberta (public domain)

Baby name story: Dulles

airplane

On Nov. 23, 1994, the de Bara family of three — mom Theresa, dad Santiago, and 3-year-old Amanda — became a family of four when Theresa, who was seven months pregnant, unexpectedly went into labor aboard a TWA flight headed from New York to Florida.

The baby was delivered (with the help of several medically trained passengers) about an hour into the flight, just as the plane was beginning its descent into Virginia’s Dulles (pronounced DUH-luhs) International Airport, where it was making an emergency landing.

The baby boy was named Matthew Dulles de Bara.

The airport was named in honor of John Foster Dulles, who served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Eisenhower.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Air Canada Boeing 777-333ER by MarcusObal under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Babies named for Sputnik

Sputnik replica

Fifty-five years ago today — on October 4, 1957 — the Soviet space program launched the Earth’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik (pronounced spoot-nik).

Sputnik was a metal sphere “about the size of a beach ball” that weighed 184 pounds and had four external radio antennas. After orbiting for three weeks, its batteries died (and transmissions ceased), so it continued orbiting silently until January 4, 1958, when it fell back into the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up.

The satellite’s unexpected success marked the start of the Space Race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. It also “ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments,” according to NASA.

But NASA forgot to mention one more thing the Soviet satellite ushered in: the brand new baby name “Sputnik,” which was bestowed upon a handful of U.S. children starting in late 1957:

  • Sputnik Eisenhower Watkins, born on October 31, 1957, in Ramsey, Minnesota.
  • Gary Sputnik Clack, born on January 17, 1958, in Orange, Texas.
  • Polly Sputnik Johnson, born in 1959 in Wilson, North Carolina.
  • Isaac Sputnik Ornelas, born in 1991 in Riverside, California.

“Sputnik Eisenhower” (middle name for then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower) is definitely the most memorable of the bunch. According to an article in Jet, Sputnik Eisenhower Watkins had three older siblings with the non-satellite names Pauline, Merium and Sam.

Sputnik, Russia’s word for “satellite,” literally means “traveling companion” or “fellow traveler.” The word was coined by combining the Russian word putnik (“traveler”) with the prefix s- (“together”).

Sources: