How popular is the baby name Ferdinand 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 Ferdinand.

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Popularity of the baby name Ferdinand


Posts that mention the name Ferdinand

Baby names in the news: Tia, Gylfi, Dorian

Some recent and not-so-recent baby names collected from various news sites…

Dorian: A baby boy born in Florida during Hurricane Dorian (Sept. 2019) was named Tadashi Dorian, middle name to commemorate the storm. (CNN)

Evalina: A baby girl born with “a rare combination of life-threatening heart defects” at Evelina London Children’s Hospital in 2017 was named Evalina [sic] in honor of the care she received from hospital staff. (Mirror)

  • “The original Evelina Hospital for Sick Children opened in 1869 on Southwark Bridge Road, London. Funded by Austrian Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, it was built in memory of his wife, Evelina. Evelina had died three years earlier along with their son who was premature.” (NHS)

Gylfi: A baby boy born in Indonesia in November of 2017 was named Gylfi after Icelandic soccer player Gylfi Sigurðsson, who plays for Everton FC. (TWNews)

KVIIIlyn: A baby girl born in Queensland, Australia, circa 2016 was named KVIIIlyn — Kaitlyn, with the Roman numeral VIII (eight) in place of the “ait.” (Metro)

Malaysia: At least 74 people born in Malaysia have been named Malaysia, the earliest in 1962, “before Malaysia was officially formed,” and the most recent in 2017. (The Star)

Sambo: A baby boy born in Korea in November of 2019 — at the time of the Sambo world championships, to a father who teaches martial arts — was named Sambo. (FIAS)

Sky: A baby girl born in an airport in North Carolina in November of 2019 — during what was supposed to have been a 20-minute layover between two legs of a flight from Florida to Pennsylvania — was named Sky. (WFLA; Travel+Leisure)

What gave the baby name Ileana a boost in 1926?

Princess Ileana (1909-1991)
Princess Ileana

About ninety years ago, the baby name Ileana saw a sudden spike in usage:

  • 1928: 8 baby girls named Ileana
  • 1927: 31 baby girls named Ileana
  • 1926: 44 baby girls named Ileana
  • 1925: 6 baby girls named Ileana
  • 1924: 6 baby girls named Ileana

In fact, Ileana was the fastest-rising baby name of 1926.

What drew attention to the name that year?

Princess Ileana of Romania, the youngest surviving child in the Romanian royal family.

Toward the end of 1926, 17-year-old princess Ileana (pronounced ee-LYA-nah, roughly) accompanied her mother, Queen Marie, and one of her brothers, Nicolae, on a tour of the United States (and Canada). The three of them were fixtures in the U.S. news for a number of weeks.

Prince Nicholas, Princess Ileana and Queen Marie in October of 1926
The Romanian royals upon arrival in the USA (Oct. 1926)

They left France on the night of October 12 aboard the SS Leviathan. En route to America, Princess Ileana, “brimful of enthusiasm,” told reporters that “she was looking forward to the purchase of an American automobile, having learned to drive before leaving Bucharest.”

They were greeted with a ticker tape parade upon their arrival in New York on October 18. The next day, they dined with President Coolidge at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Soon after, the royals and their entourage began a transcontinental journey aboard a luxury train (the Royal Roumanian) that was described as a “traveling palace.”

The train will follow closely the trail of Lewis and Clark on their 1803-06 historic expedition of the Northwest through the Red River Valley, through the Yellowstone Valley, will cross the American Rockies into the Inland Empire, to Spokane and to the Columbia River and Cascade Mountains.

Along the way, they hit a slew of cities — usually just briefly. Americans followed their every move, day by day, via the newspapers.

Their many stops included:

  • Niagara Falls on Oct. 26
  • North Dakota (where they watched a rodeo) on Nov. 1
  • Washington state (where they toured a lumber camp) on Nov. 4
  • Colorado (where they visited Buffalo Bill’s grave) on Nov. 10
  • Indiana (where they toured a steel mill) on Nov. 16

The media focused on the queen, of course, but Ileana and Nicolae were mentioned in nearly every article as well. (Though Ileana did become the primary focus on November 17 — the day she got into a minor car accident in Grant Park, Illinois.)

The royals had planned to visit several southern states as well, but Queen Marie decided to cut the trip short in mid-November upon hearing that the health of her husband, King Ferdinand, was failing. So they sailed out of New York and back to Europe at the earliest opportunity (aboard the RMS Berengaria on November 24).

The Romanian name Ileana is thought to be a variant of Elena/Helena. Incidentally, the most famous Romanian Ileana isn’t the princess, but the mythological figure Ileana Cosânzeana.

What are your thoughts on the name Ileana? Do you like it?

Sources:

Image: Photograph in San Pedro Daily News 1 Nov. 1926: 3.

Where did the baby name Ysobel come from in 1916?

A scene from the movie "The Yaqui" (1916)
“The Yaqui“

If you like the baby names Isabelle and Isabel but want a something a bit different, here’s an idea: Ysobel, which appeared for the first and only time in the U.S. baby name data in 1916:

  • 1918: unlisted
  • 1917: unlisted
  • 1916: 6 baby girls named Ysobel [debut]
  • 1915: unlisted
  • 1914: unlisted

The inspiration was either (or both?) of two 1916 films featuring characters named Ysobel:

  • The Yaqui, released in March of 1916. Ysobel was played by actress Yona Landowska.
  • Lieutenant Danny, U.S.A., released in August of 1916. Ysobel was played by actress Enid Markey.

(My guess is that the first film had more influence, both because it was released earlier and because another character name, Modesta, also saw higher usage in 1916.)

The rare spelling “Ysobel” is likely based on the Old Spanish version of the name, Ysabel.

In fact, did you know that the historic Spanish queen we call “Isabella” in English was actually known as “Ysabel” during her lifetime? (And her husband Ferdinand was actually “Fernando.”) Their initials, “F” and “Y,” were featured on the banner that Christopher Columbus created for his 1492 expedition to the New World.

Sources:

  • “The Yaqui.” Moving Picture World, Mar. 18, 1916: 1847.
  • SSA

Round-up of multiples from 1944

Badgett quadruplets, born Galveston, Texas, in 1939
Jeraldine, Joan, Jean, and Janet Badgett

Oodles of multiples — eight sets of twins, one set of triplets, six sets of quadruplets, and one set of quintuplets — were featured in an early 1944 issue of LIFE magazine. Most of these multiples had been born in the 1920s and 1930s.

Curious about the names? I knew you would be! Here they are, along with ages and other details.

Twins:

  • Marjorie and Mary Vaughan, 19.
  • Lois and Lucille Barnes, 21.
  • Betty and Lenore Wade, early 20s.
  • Robert “Bobby” and William “Billy” Mauch, 22.
    • They had starred in the 1937 movie The Prince and the Pauper.
  • Blaine and Wayne Rideout, 27.
    • They had been track stars at the University of North Texas in the late 1930s along with another set of twins, Elmer and Delmer Brown.
  • Charles and Horace Hildreth, 41.
    • Horace was elected Governor of Maine later the same year.
  • Ivan and Malvin Albright, 47.
  • Auguste and Jean Piccard, 60.
    • “Honors as the world’s most distinguished pair of twins must go to Jean and Auguste Piccard, stratosphere balloonists, who are so identical that not everyone realizes there are two of them.”

Triplets:

  • Diane Carol, Elizabeth Ann, and Karen Lynn Quist, 11 months.

Quadruplets:

  • Claire (boy), Cleo (boy), Clayton (boy), and Connie (girl) Brown, 3.
  • Janet, Jean, Jeraldine, and Joan Badgett, 5.
    • “The customary alliteration in multiple names accounts for the “J” in Jeraldine.”
  • Felix (boy), Ferdinand (boy), Frances (girl), and Frank (boy) Kasper, 7.
  • James (boy), Jay (boy), Jean (girl), and Joan (girl) Schense, 13.
  • Edna, Wilma, Sarah, and Helen Morlok — the Morlok Quads — 13.
  • Anthony, Bernard, Carl, and Donald Perricone, 14.
    • “Their Beaumont neighbors call them “A,” “B,” “C” and “D” for short.”

Quintuplets:

  • Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie, and Yvonne Dionne — the Dionne Quints — 9.

Which of these sets of names do you like best? Why?

Source: “Twins: Accident of Their Birth Sets Them Apart from Other People.” Life 6 Mar. 1944: 91-99.
Image: © 1944 Life