How popular is the baby name Evangeline 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 Evangeline.
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Another celebrity has gone with a Hawaiian baby name. Helen Hunt has a daughter named Makena Lei, Lisa Bonet has a son named Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha, and now Evangeline Lilly has a son named Kahekili.
This is old news, actually. Lilly’s baby (with boyfriend Norman Kali) was born in mid-2011, and the name was revealed later that year. Kahekili means “the thunder” in Hawaiian: ka is “the” and hekili is “thunder.”
But apparently Lilly has only recently come out with the full story behind Kahekili’s name:
My son was born outside in Hawaii in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm that was so insane that we had an island-wide power outage… We were woken out of our sleep by the thunder, it was so intense, and in Hawaii they call that mana, which is like your essence or your spirit… so we had to name him after his mana.
She’d previously mentioned that the baby was born “outside in a thunderstorm.” Also, that the name wasn’t chosen right away: “My baby did not have a name for a month. It took me a month to name my child.”
A handful of other baby boys have been named Kahekili lately. In fact, over past few years, the name has popped up on the national list three times and on the Hawaii list twice:
2012: 6 baby boys named Kahekili nationally
2011: unlisted
2010: 6 baby boys named Kahekili nationally, 5 in Hawaii
2009: 5 baby boys named Kahekili nationally [debut], all 5 in Hawaii [debut]
2008: unlisted
I wonder how many of these babies were born during thunderstorms.
Lord Francis Knollys was a close friend of the British royal family. So close that he served as as Private Secretary to the Sovereign under both Edward VII (from 1901 to 1910) and George V (from 1910 to 1913).
It’s not too surprising, then, that both of Knollys’ children were named in honor of the royals. His daughter was named Alexandra Louvima Elizabeth (b. 1888) and his son was named Edward George William (b. 1895).
Alexandra, Elizabeth, Edward, George, William — these are all names we know.
But “Louvima”? Where did that come from?
Turns out it’s an acronym. Edward VII (who was still “Albert Edward, Prince of Wales” back in 1888) and his wife Alexandra had six children: Albert Victor, George (later George V), Louise, Victoria, Maud, and Alexander John. “Louvima” was created from the first letters of the names of Edward’s three daughters:
Louvima = Louise + Victoria + Maud
The papers picked up on the interesting birth name right away. Here’s an article that appeared in a New Zealand newspaper in July of 1888:
Few people have noticed the second name bestowed on Sir Francis Knollys’ little daughter, who was baptised on May 5. Sir Francis, as every one knows, is the energetic and popular private secretary of the Prince of Wales, and in a torrent of grateful loyalty he has called his firstborn “Louvima,” a marvellous amalgam of the Christian names of the three young Princesses of Wales, “Louisa [sic], Victoria, Maud.” Since the expectant Mrs. Kenwigs invented the name of Morleena we have had nothing quite so good as this.
(Morleena Kenwig is a character in the Charles Dickens novel Nicholas Nickleby.)
Here’s a second-hand account printed in Notes & Queries that same month:
Louvima, a new Christian Name — It is stated in the newspapers — but it may not be correct; for, as Theodore Hook said to the credulous old lady, “Those rascally newspapers will say anything” — that Sir Francis Knollys, private secretary to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, has named his first-born Louvima, which is an ingenious amalgam of the names of the three daughters of the Prince — Louise, Victoria, and Maud.
After the news of Louvima Knollys got out, the rare name Louvima was given to baby girls in England (and other English-speaking regions) considerably more often. This lasted until the late 1910s.
Here are some of the Louvimas I found:
Hilda Louvima Pritchard, born in 1888 in England
Evangeline Louvima Brumbley, born in 1888 in England
Louvima Perline Ann Cunningham, born in 1889 in Arkansas
Lilian Louvima Daisy Blake, born in 1889 in South Africa
Louvima Primrose Massey-Hicks, born in 1890 in South Africa
Nina Louvima Shann, born in 1892 in New Zealand
Louvima Evelina Youell, born in 1893 in England
Louvima Griswold, born in 1894 in Idaho
Annie Louvima Brooksband, born in 1895 in England
Rita Louvima Faulkner, born in 1898 in Canada
Louvima Marie Crosson, born in 1901 in Florida
Louvima Naylor, born in 1902 in Iowa
Laura Louvima McKenzie, born in 1902 in Michigan
Florence Louvima Major, born in 1908 in Canada
I also discovered more than a few horses and boats named Louvima during this period.
One of those horses, in fact, belonged to the royal family itself. Which makes me wonder: who came up with the name originally? Was it Francis Knollys’ invention, or did he get the idea from someone in the royal family? Maybe one of the sisters? (The Romanov sisters — Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia — referred to themselves by the acronym “OTMA.”)
Louvima Knollys grew up very close to the royal family. In this 1897 photo, for instance, she’s posing with Queen Alexandra. The Queen is dressed as Marguerite de Valois, wife of Henry IV of France, and Louvima is dressed as a pageboy.
Louvima married twice, and had a son with her first husband (who died during WWI). Through her son she had four grandchildren and at least six great-grandchildren. As far as I can tell, Louvima’s unique name has not (yet) been passed down to any of her descendants.
Sources:
Bede, Cuthbert. “Louvima, a New Christian Name.” Notes & Queries 7 Jul. 1888: 6.
Dutt, William Alfred. The King’s Homeland. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1904.
The Rev. Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache-Tollemache (1826-1895), a clergyman in the Church of England, gave his fifteen children some bizarre (and bizarrely long) names.
Here are the names of the children he had with his first wife, Caroline:
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)
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?
Mckinley, Richard. A History of British Surnames. New York: Routledge, 2013.
[Latest update: 10/2022]
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