How popular is the baby name Elaine 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 Elaine.
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In early 1916, Photoplay Magazine came up with a list of potential titles for serial films using the formula established by The Perils of Pauline (1914), The Exploits of Elaine (1914), and The Hazards of Helen (1914).
(Just a few months after the above was published, The Mysteries of Myra came out.)
In the Danish fairy tale “Tommelise” (1835) by Hans Christian Andersen, Tommelise is a tiny girl who has adventures with a toad, a butterfly, some stag beetles, a field mouse, a mole, a swallow, and finally a tiny prince.
In the earliest English translations of “Tommelise” the main character is renamed Little Ellie, Little Totty, and Little Maja. It wasn’t until 1864 that translator Henry W. Dulcken came up with the name Thumbelina.
(Both names, Tommelise and Thumbelina, were probably influenced by the name of folklore character Tom Thumb.)
Now for the important question: Have any babies ever been named Thumbelina?
Yes, at least a few dozen.
One example is Fabiola Thumbelina Blonigen, born in Minnesota in 1935. She was mentioned in the book Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface…and Other Totally True Names! by Russell Ash. (Her 5 siblings also had interesting names: Elaine Enid, Fabian Adrian, Quentin Phillip, Verdi Georgio and Twyla Delilah.)
Most of the Thumbelinas I’ve found were born in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. The parents of these babies were likely inspired by the song “Thumbelina” sung by Danny Kaye in the movie musical Hans Christian Andersen (1952).
Believe it or not, “Thumbelina” was one of the nominees for Best Original Song at the 25th Academy Awards.
The most interesting Thumbelina name-combo I’ve spotted so far? “Tiny Thumbelina.” It was given to a North Carolina baby born in 1969.
So what do you think of Thumbelina as a baby name?
And, bonus question: At the end of the original fairy tale, the prince tells Tommelise (pronounced tom-meh-lee-seh) that he doesn’t like her name. “It’s an ugly name, and you are so beautiful.” So he gives her a new one: Maja (pronounced mie-ah). Which name do you prefer, Tommelise or Maja?
Yesterday’s post had to do with Chinese baby names, and Chinese New Year is coming up this weekend, so I thought today would be the perfect day to talk about how to pronounce Chinese names.
If you’re totally unfamiliar with Chinese names, here are the two biggest tips I can give you:
In Chinese, the letter Q sounds a lot like “ch.”
In Chinese, the letter X sounds a lot like “sh.”
Of course those aren’t the exact sounds — the Chinese Q and X don’t have equivalent sounds in English — but “ch” and “sh” are close. Wikipedia’s explanation, on the pinyin page, is a bit better:
Q is like the sound in the middle of “punch yourself.”
X is like the sound in the middle of “push yourself.”
One of yesterday’s names was the female name Qinglan. Because Q sounds like “ch,” the pronunciation is similar to ching lan. (The a-sound in the second syllable is like the a-sound in “father.”)
None of yesterday’s names had a X, so let’s use Xiaolan. (This happens to be the Chinese name of Elaine Chao, 24th U.S. Secretary of Labor.) The X sounds like “sh” or “shy,” so the pronunciation is shyau lan.
Here are a few more Chinese names featuring the letters Q and X. The pinyin transcriptions are followed by my own approximate phonetic pronunciations, in italics. (If you’re a Mandarin speaker and can suggest more accurate pronunciations, I’d appreciate it!)
Qiaoping, chyau ping Qinghua, ching hwa Weiqiong, way chyong
Xiaoping, shyau ping Xinghua, shing hwa Weixiong, way shyong
What other Chinese names do you have a hard time pronouncing?
Looking for a set of baby names with something in common? If so, here are some 6-letter anagram names for you to check out!
Anagrams are words that contain the same set of letters, but not in the same sequence. For instance, the words “listen,” “silent,” and “tinsel” are all anagrams of one another.
Anagram names can be a neat option for siblings — particularly multiples (like twins and triplets). They’re also a clever way to connect a baby name to the name of an older relative (e.g., grandpa Weston, grandson Townes).
Below are hundreds of six-letter names (collected from the SSA’s huge database of U.S. baby names) that happen to be anagrams of other names.
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