How popular is the baby name Gaia 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 Gaia.

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Popularity of the baby name Gaia


Posts that mention the name Gaia

Popular baby names in Italy, 2015

Flag of Italy
Flag of Italy

A few weeks ago, Italy finally released baby name rankings for 2015. According to the data from Istat (Istituto nazionale di statistica), the most popular baby names in the country last year were Sofia and Francesco.

Here are Italy’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Sofia, 7,191 baby girls
2. Aurora, 6,687
3. Giulia, 6,222
4. Giorgia, 4,099
5. Alice, 3,845
6. Martina, 3,743
7. Emma, 3,690
8. Greta, 3,676
9. Chiara, 3,516
10. Anna, 3,322		1. Francesco, 8,763 baby boys
2. Alessandro, 6,708
3. Mattia, 6,402
4. Lorenzo, 6,389
5. Leonardo, 6,144
6. Andrea, 6,047
7. Gabriele, 5,469
8. Matteo, 4,941
9. Tommaso, 4,386
10. Riccardo, 4,351

In the girls’ top 10, Anna replaced Sara, and Alice jumped from 10th to 5th.

The boys’ top 10 is essentially the same, the biggest move being Mattia rising from 6th to 3rd.

Francesco has been on top since 2001, but it became even more popular in 2013 after Pope Francis was elected.

Here are a few more names from within the top 50:

  • Girl names: Ginevra (12th), Gaia (13th), Ludovica (32nd), Ilaria (46th)
  • Boy names: Nicolò (22nd), Simone (24th), Gioele (37th), Nicola (46th)

Nicolò is pronounced nee-ko-LO, whereas Nicola is pronounced nee-KO-lah. The feminine versions of the name are Nicoletta and Nicolina.

Finally, here are the top baby names among foreigners (mainly from Romania, Morocco, Albania and China) living in Italy:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Sara
2. Sofia
3. Aurora		1. Adam
2. Youssef
3. Rayan

Intriguingly, Kevin was ranked 8th for boys and 1st (!) among both the Albanians and the Chinese. I mentioned Kevinism in last week’s Senga post and already it’s coming to mind again…

Sources: How many babies are named…? – Istat, These are the most popular Italian baby names, Births and fertility among the resident population: Year 2015 (PDF)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Italy (public domain)

Uncommon baby names in Oregon, 2012

Oregon’s Open Data website includes several tables of baby name data from 2012.

The most interesting thing about this data? It goes all the way down to names given to just three babies per year. (All the SSA baby name lists, on the other hand, have a five-baby cut-off.)

So here are some of the baby names that were bestowed in Oregon just three or four times in 2012:

Girl NamesBoy Names
Amberly
Andromeda
Arianny
Damaris
Diem
Ellingon
Fern
Gaia
Io
Isela
Jubilee
Kahlan
Linnea
Lois
Lumen
Magali
Rue
Sahasra
Sanvi
Sayuri
Seven
Sinai
Siri
Sonora
Sparrow
Timber
Twyla
Van
Yara		Achilles
Alvin
Atlas
Atreyu
Bear
Briar
Calder
Carver
Clive
Dutch
Forest
Huck
Hyrum
Isley
Kainoa
Kincaid
Koa
Larry
Loki
Montgomery
Riot
Rogue
Summit
Tavish
Tiberius
Tor
Trapper
Van
Zephyr

The name Diem caught my eye. Diem has been in the SSA data since the ’80s, but a lot of the recent usage was probably inspired by Danielle Michelle “Diem” Brown, who appeared on various MTV reality TV shows from 2006 to 2015. (She passed away in 2014 from ovarian cancer.) In her case, “Diem” was a nickname based on the initials “D.M.,” making this yet another name that can be spelled with the names of letters.

Update, 8/2023: Unfortunately, the state’s Open Data site no longer includes information on baby names, and I couldn’t find copies of the state’s 2012 baby name data anywhere else online (like at the Internet Archive).

While I was searching, though, I did find a couple of baby name-related quiz questions in a mid-2008 issue of CD Summary [pdf], which is a newsletter put out by Oregon Health Authority.

Which was the most frequently used baby name for boys in 2007?
(a) Anthony; (b) Pirate; (c) Jacob; (d) Elvis

The answer: (c) Jacob. “In 2007, 257 babies were named Jacob. Anthony was the tenth most frequently used boy’s name (184 babies). Four babies were named Elvis and only one, Pirate.”

The following were all baby names for girls in 2007 except?
(a) Chevy; (b) ESPN; (c) Logger; (d) God

The answer: (c) Logger. “No baby in Oregon has ever been named Logger. The name Chevy has been chosen for females seven times during the past 46 years, ESPN and God only once.”

Popular baby names in Italy, 2013

Flag of Italy
Flag of Italy

Commenter skizzo recently asked me to check on Italy’s 2014 baby name rankings. They aren’t out yet, but the 2013 list is, and since I’ve never posted a popularity list for Italy before, I thought I’d go ahead and post the older list while we wait for the newer one.

According to data from Istituto nazionale di statistica (Istat), the most popular baby names in Italy in 2013 were Sofia and Francesco.

Here are Italy’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2013:

Girl Names

  1. Sofia
  2. Giulia
  3. Aurora
  4. Emma
  5. Giorgia
  6. Martina
  7. Chiara
  8. Sara
  9. Alice
  10. Gaia

Boy Names

  1. Francesco
  2. Alessandro
  3. Andrea
  4. Lorenzo
  5. Mattia
  6. Matteo
  7. Gabriele
  8. Leonardo
  9. Riccardo
  10. Tommaso

Check out Francesco’s rise in usage from 2012 to 2013, no doubt due to the election of Pope Francis in March of 2013:

Baby name Francesco sees rise in usage in Italy, 2013

Funny thing is, Francesco has long been Italy’s most popular boy name, so in 2013 it just become more dominantly popular.

And what’s the difference between Mattia and Matteo? Not much — they’re just the Italian forms of Matthias and Matthew, which are derived from the same Hebrew root name.

For earlier sets of data from Italy, click the link below. Istat currently offers top 50 lists going back to 1999.

Source: How many babies are named…? – Istat

Image: Adapted from Flag of Italy (public domain). Graph from Istat.