How popular is the baby name Gaia in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Gaia.
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The Southern European country of Italy — that boot-shaped peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea — shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.
Last year, Italy welcomed 400,249 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Leonardo.
Here are Italy’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
Sofia, 5,578 baby girls (2.86%)
Aurora, 4,991
Giulia, 4,616
Ginevra, 3,803
Beatrice, 3,647
Alice, 3,392
Vittoria, 3,202
Emma, 2,876
Ludovica, 2,813
Matilde, 2,633
Giorgia, 2,359
Camilla, 2,343
Chiara, 2,320
Anna, 2,291
Bianca, 2,201
Nicole, 2,169
Gaia, 2,088
Martina, 2,069
Greta, 2,052
Azzurra, 1,673
Sara, 1,651
Arianna, 1,647
Noemi, 1,639
Rebecca, 1,533
Mia, 1,494
Isabel, 1,422
Adele, 1,349
Chloe, 1,317
Elena, 1,298
Francesca, 1,260
Gioia, 1,202
Ambra, 1,171
Viola, 1,152
Carlotta, 1,149
Cecilia, 1,144
Diana, 1,117
Alessia, 1,101
Elisa, 1,086
Emily, 1,070
Marta, 1,066
Maria, 989
Margherita, 988
Anita, 978
Giada, 972
Eleonora, 926
Nina, 856
Miriam, 842
Asia, 823
Amelia, 805
Diletta, 804 – means “beloved” in Italian.
Boy Names
Leonardo, 8,448 baby boys (4.12%)
Alessandro, 4,975
Tommaso, 4,973
Francesco, 4,924
Lorenzo, 4,642
Edoardo, 4,369
Mattia, 4,215
Riccardo, 3,992
Gabriele, 3,944
Andrea, 3,860
Diego, 2,946
Matteo, 2,867
Nicolò, 2,847
Giuseppe, 2,740
Antonio, 2,598
Federico, 2,546
Pietro, 2,247
Samuele, 2,225
Giovanni, 2,211
Filippo, 2,113
Enea, 1,963 – form of Aeneas.
According to Greek mythology, the Trojan hero Aeneas was an ancestor of twins Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. One ancient source associates Aeneas’ name with the Greek adjective ainos, meaning “unspeakable, causing nervousness, fear, terror.”
Davide, 1,925
Christian, 1,738
Gioele, 1,722
Giulio, 1,713
Michele, 1,685
Marco, 1,541
Gabriel, 1,439
Elia, 1,403
Luca, 1,400
Salvatore, 1,374
Vincenzo, 1,333
Emanuele, 1,326
Thomas, 1,322
Alessio, 1,251
Giacomo, 1,197
Nathan, 1,192
Liam, 1,174
Simone, 1,166
Samuel, 1,133
Jacopo, 1,129
Noah, 1,097
Daniele, 1,050
Giorgio, 1,025
Ettore, 1,002 – form of Hector.
Luigi, 996
Daniel, 946
Manuel, 936
Nicola, 859
Damiano, 830
Leonardo is still the clear favorite for baby boys, while Azzurra — no doubt inspired by Italy’s national soccer team gli Azzurri, “the Blues” — continues its rise among baby girls:
Popularity of Azzurra in Italy, 1999-2021
Here are Italy’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Looking for baby names that feature the appealing letter-pair PH?
I’ve collected a hundreds of options for you in this post!
Before we get to the names, though, let’s get one big question out of the way…
Why does PH sound like “F”?
In English, PH is a digraph, which means that it’s a pair of letters that make a single sound. (It’s interesting that the word “digraph” contains a digraph, isn’t it?)
Most of the English words that have PH were derived from Greek — specifically, from Greek words that included the Greek letter phi:
Phi (uppercase)
In ancient times, the Greek letter phi made an aspirated p-sound. (The unaspirated p-sound, on the other hand, was made by the Greek letter pi.)
When Greek was transliterated into Latin, the letter phi was written as “ph” to denote this aspiration — that is, to signal that the letter “p” was accompanied by a brief puff of air.
So, what happened?
In the first several centuries A.D., the pronunciation of the Greek letter phi changed. It slowly evolved from an aspirated p-sound into an f-sound.
As a result, the letter-pair “ph” underwent a corresponding (though somewhat illogical) pronunciation change. It, too, came to represent an f-sound — and still does to this day.
Now, back to the names!
Top baby names with PH
Let’s begin with the most popular names with PH (including a few names that start with PH):
Top girl names with PH
Top boy names with PH
Sophia Josephine Sophie Phoebe Daphne Phoenix Ophelia Stephanie Murphy Persephone
Joseph Christopher Phoenix Memphis Philip Phillip Raphael Kristopher Ephraim Murphy
Now here are the same names again, but this time around I’ve added some details (including definitions, rankings, and popularity graphs).
Christopher + Kristopher
The name Christopher was derived from a pair of ancient Greek words: christos, meaning “Christ” or “anointed one,” and phoros, meaning “bearing” — hence, “Christ-bearing.”
Usage of the baby name Christopher
Kristopher is a slightly simplified form of Christopher (perhaps influenced by the Scandinavian spelling, Kristoffer).
Usage of the baby name Kristopher
Christopher is currently the 52nd most popular boy name in the nation, and Kristopher ranks 936th.
Other forms of the name include Christoph (German) and Christophe (French).
Daphne
The name Daphne was derived from the ancient Greek word daphne, meaning “laurel.”
In Greek myth, Daphne was a naiad who was saved from the advances of the god Apollo by being transformed into a laurel tree.
Daphne is currently the 288th most popular girl name in the U.S.
Usage of the baby name Daphne
One variant form of the name is Daphna. The name is also sometimes spelled Daphnie, Daphney, or Daphni.
Ephraim
The name Ephraim is the Biblical Greek form of a Hebrew name meaning “fruitful.” It’s pronounced a variety of ways: EHF-rum, EEF-rum, EHF-fray-um, etc.
Ephraim is currently the 978th most popular boy name in the nation.
Usage of the baby name Ephraim
The name is also sometimes spelled Ephram or Ephrem.
Joseph + Josephine
The name Joseph is based on Ioseph, the Biblical Greek form of a Hebrew name meaning “he adds.”
Usage of the baby name Joseph
Josephine comes from Joséphine, the French feminine form of Joseph.
Usage of the baby name Josephine
Joseph is currently the 28th most popular boy name in the U.S., whereas Josephine ranks 72nd for girls.
The Dutch form of Joseph is Josephus. Other feminine forms include Josepha (German) and Josephina.
Memphis
Memphis was the Greek form of the ancient Egyptian city-name Men-nefer, which meant “his beauty.” (The nefer element is also evident in the Egyptian name Nefertiti.)
The Egyptian city is long gone, but a city in Tennessee was named Memphis in the 1820s.
Memphis is currently the 404th most popular boy name in the nation.
Usage of the baby name Memphis
Murphy
The Irish surname Murphy was derived from a medieval Irish given name comprised of the elements muir, meaning “sea,” and cath, meaning “battle.”
Murphy is currently the 716th most popular girl name in the U.S. (It’s also sitting just outside the top 1,000 for boys.)
Usage of the baby name Murphy
The name is also sometimes spelled Murphie, Murphee, or Murphey.
Ophelia
The name Ophelia was derived from the ancient Greek word opheleia, meaning “aid, help, succor.”
It’s not a name found in Greek myth, but William Shakespeare used it for a character in his play Hamlet around the year 1600. And, much more recently, the Lumineers featured the name in their 2016 song “Ophelia” [vid].
Ophelia is currently the 321st most popular girl name in the nation.
Usage of the baby name Ophelia
The French form of the name is Ophélie.
Persephone
The etymology of the Greek name Persephone (pronounced per-SEH-fuh-nee) isn’t known for certain, but one modern theory suggests that it means “she who threshes ears of corn.”
In Greek myth, Persephone was the daughter of Demeter (the goddess of agriculture) and Zeus.
Persephone is currently the 778th most popular girl name in the U.S. (It entered the top 1,000 for the first time in 2019.)
Usage of the baby name Persephone
The name is also sometimes spelled Persephonie or Persephony.
Philip + Phillip
The name Philip was derived from a pair of ancient Greek words: philos, meaning “beloved, loving,” and hippos, meaning “horse” — hence, “lover of horses.”
Usage of the baby name Philip (one L)
Phillip-with-two-L’s is a common variant of Philip.
Usage of the baby name Phillip (two L’s)
Philip is currently the 451th most popular boy name in the nation, and Phillip (two L’s) ranks 523rd.
Other forms of the name include Philipp (German) and Philippe (French). Feminine forms include Philippa and Phillipa.
Phoebe
The name Phoebe was derived from the ancient Greek word phoibos, meaning “pure, bright, radiant.”
Many characters in Greek myth had this name, including a Titaness who was the daughter of Uranus and Gaia. This particular Phoebe was the grandmother of the sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis.
Phoebe is currently the 247th most popular girl name in the U.S.
Usage of the baby name Phoebe
The spelling Phebe (used in certain translations of the Bible) was more prevalent in previous generations. Among the babies born in the city of Providence in 1868, for instance, we find four girls named Phebe, but none named Phoebe.
Phoenix
The name Phoenix was derived from the ancient Greek word phoinix, meaning “crimson” or “purple.”
In Greek and Egyptian myth, the phoenix was a bird that periodically self-immolated and then rose again from its own ashes.
In fact, the capital of Arizona was named “Phoenix” because early settlers, in the 1860s, noticed archaeological evidence of the previous Native American inhabitants and recognized that “the new town would spring from the ruins of a former civilization.”
Phoenix, a relatively gender-neutral name, currently ranks 248th for boys and 308th for girls.
Usage of the baby name Phoenix
Raphael
Raphael — the name of a Biblical archangel, Renaissance painter, and a Ninja Turtle — is based on a Hebrew name meaning “God heals.”
Usage of the baby name Raphael
Raphael is currently the 538th most popular boy name in the nation.
Feminine forms of the name include Raphaela (German) and Raphaëlle (French).
Sophia + Sophie
The name Sophia was derived from the ancient Greek word sophos, meaning “wisdom,” “sound judgment,” “skilled.”
Finally, here are some very rare names with PH — some of which haven’t seen any usage in the U.S. in recent years, others of which never appeared in the U.S. data at all.
Which of the PH names above to do you like most? Let me know in the comments!
P.S. If you’d like to see popularity graphs for any of the more common names in this post, just check below for the long list of tags. Each tag is a name, so find the name you’re interested in and click through. The graph will take a moment to load — it’s grabbing a lot of data — but it will allow you to see at a glance the name’s current and historical U.S. usage.
Here are hundreds of baby names that have a numerological value of “9.”
I’ve sub-categorized them by overall totals, because I think that some of the intermediate numbers could have special significance to people as well.
Within each group, I’ve listed up to ten of the most popular “9” names per gender (according to the current U.S. rankings).
Beneath all the names are some ways you could interpret the numerological value of “9,” including descriptions from two different numerological systems.
9
The following baby names add up to 9.
“9” boy names: Ace, Ed
9 via 18
The following baby names add up to 18, which reduces to nine (1+8=9).
The following baby names add up to 144, which reduces to nine (1+4+4=9).
“144” girl names: Yuritzy, Harleyquinn
“144” boy names: Constantino, Johnanthony, Oluwalonimi
9 via 153
The boy name Quintavius adds up to 153, which reduces to nine (1+5+3=9).
9 via 171
The following baby names add up to 171, which reduces to nine (1+7+1=9).
“171” girl names: Oluwatomisin
“171” boy names: Konstantinos, Oluwatimilehin
9 via 180
The unisex name Kamsiyochukwu adds up to 180, which reduces to nine (1+8+0=9).
What Does “9” Mean?
First, we’ll look at the significance assigned to “9” by two different numerological sources. Second, and more importantly, ask yourself if “9” or any of the intermediate numbers above have any special significance to you.
Numerological Attributes
“9” (the ennead) according to the Pythagoreans:
“It is by no means possible for there to subsist any number beyond the nine elementary numbers. Hence they called it ‘Oceanus’ and ‘horizon,’ because it encompasses both of these locations and has them within itself.”
“Because it does not allow the harmony of number to be dissipated beyond itself, but brings numbers together and makes them play in concert, it is called ‘concord’ and ‘limitation,’ and also ‘sun,’ in the sense that it gathers things together.”
“They also called it ‘Hyperion,’ because it has gone beyond all the other numbers as regards magnitude”
“The ennead is the first square based on an odd number. It too is called ‘that which brings completion,’ and it completes nine-month children, moreover, it is called ‘perfect,’ because it arises out of 3, which is a perfect number.”
“It was called ‘assimilation,’ perhaps because it is the first odd square”
“They used to call it […] ‘banisher’ because it prevents the voluntary progress of number; and ‘finishing-post’ because it has been organized as the goal and, as it were, turning-point of advancement.”
“9” according to Edgar Cayce:
“Nine – the change” (reading 261-14).
“Nine indicates strength and power, with a change” (reading 261-15).
“Nine making for the completeness in numbers; […] making for that termination in the forces in natural order of things that come as a change imminent in the life” (reading 5751-1).
“As to numbers, or numerology: We find that the number nine becomes as the entity’s force or influence, which may be seen in that whatever the entity begins it desires to finish. Everything must be in order. It is manifested in those tendencies for the expressions of orderliness, neatness. To be sure, nine – in its completeness, then – is a portion” (reading 1035-1).
Personal/Cultural Significance
Does “9” — or do any of the other numbers above (e.g., 18, 63, 99, 144) — have any special significance to you?
Think about your own preferences and personal experiences: lucky numbers, birth dates, music, sports, and so on. For example, maybe your favorite sport is golf, which has 18 holes per game.
Also think about associations you may have picked up from your culture, your religion, or society in general.
If you have any interesting insights about the number 9, or any of the other numbers above, please leave a comment!
Source: Theologumena Arithmeticae, attributed to Iamblichus (c.250-c.330).
What are your thoughts on minimalist-style baby names? Will you be using one? (Have you used one already?)
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