How popular is the baby name Fussy 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 Fussy.

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Popularity of the baby name Fussy


Posts that mention the name Fussy

Indonesian siblings: Andy Go To School, Rudi A Good Boy…

First there was Fussy Gotobed, now there’s Andy Go To School!

Indonesian police officer Andy Go To School was born on the island of Java. He’s the second of three boys.

The first boy arrived on the first day of 1979 and was named Happy New Year — a phrase his father had heard the English-speaking tourists using.

As a young boy, Happy New Year did not enjoy school. In fact, he’d often run away to avoid attending.

So when his brother was born in 1986, their father chose the name Andy Go To School, hoping that this second son would be a more diligent student than the first.

And we was one…though he frequently misbehaved. Perhaps because the other students often teased him, calling him “Andy Go To Hell.”

So when the third baby boy arrived in 1990, their father chose the name Rudi A Good Boy, hoping that this last son would be better behaved than the first two.

In his own family, Andy Go To School has continued the tradition of bestowing English words as names, calling his two sons Virgenio Silvero Goes To Paradise and Lucky Star Beloved Mother.

Sources: Kisah di Balik Pemberian Nama Happy New Year, Andy Go To School, dan Rudy A Good Boy, What’s in a name? Let’s ask Indonesian police officer Andy Go To School

Baby name news (& snark) from 1858

A great passage about “absurd” baby names, published in London’s Chambers’s Journal way back in 1858:

No names are too absurd for parents to give their children. Here are innocents stamped for life as Kidnum Toats, Lavender Marjoram, Patient Pipe, Tabitha Cumi, Fussy Gotobed, and, strangest of all, here is one called Eli Lama Sabachthani Pressnail! Other parents are more ambitious, and prematurely ennoble their children by designating them Lord, Earl, Princess Charlotte, &c.; whislt, during the Russian war, numbers of poor things were labeled Malakoff, Sebastopol, Redan, Inkermann, and Balaklava. Florence Nightingale, however, seems to have been the greatest favourite, especially amongst the poor, who have shewn their admiration for her by perpetuating her name in their families all over the country. The returns for the last two years would shew that Florence has become a much commoner name lately.

Some thoughts…

Tabitha Cumi
“And he took the damsel by the hand, and said to her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say to you, arise.” Mark 5:41

Fussy Gotobed
This could be my new favorite baby name of all time. Is it legit? I can’t find anyone named “Fussy Gotobed” specifically, but the surname Gotobed is real, and I’ve found a dozens people named Fussy, so it’s certainly plausible.

Eli Lama Sabachthani Pressnail
Jesus’s last words on the cross were “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?” meaning “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Malakoff, Sebastopol, etc.
Names inspired by the Crimean War (1853-1856):

In birth records from the mid-19th century, I’ve found all five of the above. I’ve also found variants (e.g., Balaclava, Inkerman, Sevastopol) plus a few other Crimea-inspired names (e.g., Alma, Crimea, Eupatoria).

Several locations (e.g. Inkerman in Renfrewshire, Scotland) were given Crimea-inspired names during the war as well.

Florence Nightingale
This one may be the biggest Crimean War name, in a sense. Nightingale first gained fame for treating the injured in the Crimean War. She was known as The Lady with the Lamp.

I don’t have reliable numbers for 19th-century England, but many baby girls in England were named “Florence Nightingale” between the 1850s and the early 1900s.

In the U.S., Florence became popular during the same period, quite possibly for the same reason:

YearsCensus of 1850Census of 1880Census of 1920
1801-1810<10 Florencesxx
1811-1820<10 Florencesxx
1821-1830<10 Florencesxx
1831-184012 Florences
(rank: ~95th)		xx
1841-185062 Florences
(rank: 52nd)		52 Florences
(rank: 52nd)		x
1851-1860x240 Florences
(rank: 33rd)		x
1861-1870x416 Florences
(rank: 29th)		x
1871-1880x746 Florences
(rank: 19th)		584 Florences
(rank: 18th)
1881-1890xx931 Florences
(rank: 13th)
1891-1900xx1,428 Florences
(rank: 9th)
1901-1910xx1,464 Florences
(rank: 11th)
1911-1920xx1,366 Florences
(rank: 17th)

P.S. That paragraph from 1858 is the second-oldest bit of baby name news I’ve been able to scrounge up so far. The oldest is from 1853.

Sources:

  • Chambers, William and Robert Chambers. “Births, Deaths, and Marriages.” Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Arts 6 Mar. 1858: 156.
  • Popular Given Names, US, 1801-1999