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

Hotel discount for people named David

David, by Michelangelo
Statue of David

Hotel David in Florence, Italy, offers a 5% discount to guests named David. So if your name is David and you’re planning to be in Florence anytime soon, you may want to check them out. If you decide to book, remember to use the promo code “DAVID” and be prepared to prove that your name really is David when you check in.

The hotel, which has been around since the 1950s, was named after Michelangelo’s sculpture of David, which has been on display in Florence since 1504.

I don’t know if the hotel’s David offer is permanent (like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Isabellas Free…Forever! program) but there’s no expiration date listed.


Here’s another name-based hotel deal I discovered recently, but this one does have an expiration date, so you’ll have to act quickly if you want to take advantage of it.

From Aug. 20 until Oct. 31, Breezes Bahamas is giving $100 to any guest staying at least 5 nights whose legal first name is on the 2013 National Hurricane Center list of storm names: Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dorian, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Humberto, Ingrid, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van or Wendy.

The spelling of your name must match the storm name exactly (i.e., “Sebastian” and “Rebecca” don’t count).

Image: Adapted from ‘David’ by Michelangelo by Jörg Bittner Unna under CC BY 4.0.

Top boy-name debuts of all time in the U.S. baby name data (21-30)

lotus bud

Time for the middle installment of the top boy name debuts.

From 30 to 21:

Kadeem, #30

  • Kadeem debuted with 52 baby boys in 1988.
    Inspired by Kadeem Hardison, an actor on the TV sitcom A Different World.

Armias, Diallo & Draven, 3-way tie for #29

  • Armias debuted with 54 baby boys in 2019.
    Inspired by rapper Ermias Asghedom (Nipsey Hussle).
  • Diallo debuted with 54 baby boys in 1971.
    Inspired by an article in Jet magazine.
  • Draven debuted with 54 baby boys in 1994.
    Inspired by Eric Draven, a character in the movie The Crow.

Vadhir, #28

  • Vadhir debuted with 55 baby boys in 2010.
    Inspired by Vadhir Derbez, winner of the TV dance show Mira Quien Baila 2010.

Foch, #27

Asahd & Mychal, 2-way tie for #26

  • Asahd debuted with 59 baby boys in 2017.
    Inspired by the son of DJ Khaled.
  • Mychal debuted with 59 baby boys in 1978.
    Inspired by basketball player Mychal Thompson.

Tavares, #25

Toriano, #24

  • Toriano debuted with 62 baby boys in 1970.
    Inspired by singer Toriano “Tito” Jackson, a member of The Jackson 5.

Jionni, #23

  • Jionni debuted with 63 baby boys in 2011.
    Inspired by Jionni LaValle, boyfriend of reality TV star Snooki Polizzi.

Jahseh & Tajh, 2-way tie for #22

  • Jahseh debuted with 65 baby boys in 2018.
    Inspired by rapper Jahseh Onfroy (XXXTentacion).
  • Tajh debuted with 65 baby boys in 1989.
    Inspired by singer Tajh Abdulsamad, a member of The Boys.

Pharrell & Quindon, 2-way tie for #21

  • Pharrell debuted with 67 baby boys in 2003.
    Inspired by singer Pharrell Williams.
  • Quindon debuted with 67 baby boys in 1996.
    Inspired by Quindon Tarver, the boy who sang “When Doves Cry” in the movie William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.

More baby name debuts coming up tomorrow!

More of the top 50 baby name debuts for boys: 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11, 10-1

Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri

[Latest update: 7/2021]

80+ Hidden gems: Rare baby boy names

gems

Want a boy name that’s not popular, but also not unheard of?

I looked through all the names at the bottom of SSA’s 2011 mega-list and found a bunch of hidden gems:

  1. Alaric (48 baby boys)
  2. Alban (12)
  3. Aldous (11)
  4. Aldric (7)
  5. Alphonse (20)
  6. Archibald (14)
  7. Astor (5)
  8. Augustin (50)
  9. Balthazar (13)
  10. Barclay (6)
  11. Barnabas (8)
  12. Bartholomew (19)
  13. Booker (22)
  14. Chadwick (34)
  15. Cyril (41)
  16. Clancy (14)
  17. Claude (44)
  18. Clement (34)
  19. Crispin (21)
  20. Darcy (15)
  21. Dirk (40)
  22. Doyle (10)
  23. Ernst (6)
  24. Ferdinand (20)
  25. Garrick (42)
  26. Giles (20)
  27. Gregor (14)
  28. Griffith (18)
  29. Grover (9)
  30. Gustaf (7); Gustav (29)
  31. Horatio (10)
  32. Hubert (46)
  33. Ignatius (49)
  34. Isidore (7)
  35. Kermit (6)
  36. Lambert (6)
  37. Laird (17)
  38. Laurence (48)
  39. Laurent (9)
  40. Leander (48)
  41. Leith (7)
  42. Lemuel (50)
  43. Lowell (29)
  44. Maxfield (22)
  45. Newton (14)
  46. Nicanor (8)
  47. Norbert (9)
  48. Norris (21)
  49. Ogden (13)
  50. Orson (33)
  51. Osborn (5); Osborne (7)
  52. Oswald (18)
  53. Pascal (25)
  54. Percival (13)
  55. Peregrine (9)
  56. Piers (16)
  57. Regis (10)
  58. Remis (11)
  59. Roscoe (47)
  60. Rudolph (44)
  61. Rufus (39)
  62. Rupert (8)
  63. Sanford (6)
  64. Seymour (6)
  65. Sherman (40)
  66. Sinclair (8)
  67. Tavish (16)
  68. Thane (48)
  69. Tobiah (14)
  70. Walton (14)
  71. Warner (48)
  72. Watson (42)
  73. Webster (8)
  74. Weldon (27)
  75. Werner (11)
  76. Wilbert (42)
  77. Wilbur (20)
  78. Winfield (7)
  79. Winfred (7)
  80. Winslow (10)
  81. York (5)
  82. Zebulon (25)
  83. Zeno (13)

(In some cases, a different spelling of the name is more popular than what’s shown here. For instance, Laurence is rare, but Lawrence is moderately popular.)

Like any of these?

Spot any other good names at the end of the list?

P.S. Here’s the girls’ list.

Image: Adapted from Birmanian rock crystals by Mauro Cateb under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Where did the baby names Foch and Marne come from in 1918?

French military leader Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929)
Ferdinand Foch

The names Marne and Foch and were the top debut names in the U.S. baby name data for girls and boys (respectively) in 1918:

Boys named FochGirls named MarneBoys named Marne
1920.65
19199.6
191858*24*17*
1917...
1916...
*Debut

Foch debuted so impressively in 1918 that it reached the top 1,000 for the first and only time (ranking 874th in 1918).

And Marne didn’t just debut as a girl name — it also debuted as a boy name. In fact, it was the third-highest boy-name debut of 1918, after Foch and Victory.

The Social Security Death Index shows a similar spike in the usage of both names (as first names specifically) that year:

People named Foch (SSDI)People named Marne (SSDI)
1920.10
1919813
19184137
191716
1916.3

So where did these two names come from?

As it turns out, they were inspired by related things.

The Second Battle of the Marne — the last major German offensive of WWI — was fought in the Marne River valley (in northeastern France) over several days in July of 1918. The Allies resisted the attack, then launched a counterattack led by French general Ferdinand Foch — Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies. Soon after, Foch launched the Hundred Days Offensive (August to November), which led to the defeat of Germany and the end of World War I.

The river name Marne is pronounced mahrn (with a guttural R) by French speakers, though I doubt the American babies named for the battle used this pronunciation. (The name saw peak usage in the late 1960s, shadowing the much higher peak of the similar name Marnie.)

The surname Foch is pronounced fosh — like the word “foe” with an sh-sound attached. I spotted several feminized versions of the name (e.g., Focha, Fochette) in the SSDI.

The SSDI also included people with more than one WWI-inspired given name, such as:

  • Foch Pershing Pensis (1918-2011)
  • Marne Pershing Nagle (1918-2010)
  • Victory Foch Havens (1918-1944)
  • Pershing Foch Mills (1918-2008)

What are your thoughts on these names?

Sources: Second Battle of the Marne – Wikipedia, Ferdinand Foch – Wikipedia, SSA, SSDI

Image of Gen. Ferd. Foch. from LOC

[Latest update: 6/2022]