How popular is the baby name Georgia 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 Georgia.
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The name Alanis first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1995:
1998: 108 baby girls named Alanis
1997: 148 baby girls named Alanis
1996: 172 baby girls named Alanis
1995: 15 baby girls named Alanis [debut]
1994: unlisted
1993: unlisted
The following year, Alanis was one of the fastest-rising baby names in the country, and the spelling variants Alannis and Alanys both debuted in the data.
What was influencing these names in the mid-1990s?
Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis (pronounced uh-LAN-iss) Morissette.
Alanis Morissette album
Her third studio album, the alt-rock juggernaut Jagged Little Pill (1995), won “Album of the Year” at both the Grammy Awards and the Juno Awards. It was the best-selling album of 1996 and went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Jagged Little Pill, which had twelve tracks, spawned six hit singles:
“You Oughta Know,” which peaked at #6 in both the U.S. and Canada
“You Learn,” which peaked at #1 in Canada
“Hand in My Pocket,” which peaked at #1 in Canada
“Ironic,” which peaked at #4 in the U.S. and #1 in Canada
“Head over Feet,” which peaked at #1 in Canada
“All I Really Want,” which peaked at #2 in Canada
Isn’t it ironic (don’t you think) that the music video I’m embedding below is the one for the song “Ironic”?
So, did Alanis Morissette influence baby names in her home country as well?
Yes — in 1996, her name debuted in the Canadian data. In fact, it reached the Canadian girls’ top 1,000 for the first and only time that year:
1998: 7 baby girls named Alanis in Canada
1997: 13 baby girls named Alanis in Canada
1996: 23 baby girls named Alanis in Canada [rank: 867th]
1995: unlisted
1994: unlisted
1993: unlisted
(There may have been a handful of earlier namesakes as well: she’d been famous in Canada since the early ’90s, when she was a teen pop star known mononymously as “Alanis.”)
Alanis Nadine Morissette was born to parents Alan and Georgia Morissette in Ontario in 1974. She was born 12 minutes after her twin brother, Wade Imre Morissette.
If “Imre” in association with Alanis Morissette rings a bell for you, that’s because Alanis’ first child, born in late 2010, was named Ever Imre. She has since welcomed two more children: a daughter named Onyx Solace, and a second son named Winter Mercy.
What are your thoughts on name Alanis?
P.S. We’ve also checked out the Canadian usage of the names Crosby, Sidney, and Tamia…
Last year, the island nation of New Zealand welcomed a total of 57,889 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Charlotte and Noah.
Here are New Zealand’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:
Girl names
Charlotte, 209 baby girls
Amelia, 184
Isla, 179
Olivia, 155
Harper, 150
Willow, 145
Lily, 144
Ava, 143 (tie)
Ella, 143 (tie)
Hazel, 141
Mila, 138
Evelyn, 135 (3-way tie)
Mia, 135 (3-way tie)
Sophie, 135 (3-way tie)
Isabella, 130
Aria, 125
Ruby, 122
Grace, 121
Millie, 119
Florence, 110
Lucy, 108
Ivy, 105
Chloe, 101
Zoe, 100
Maeve, 98
Daisy, 96
Matilda, 95
Sadie, 93 (tie)
Sophia, 93 (tie)
Emily, 92 (3-way tie)
Freya, 92 (3-way tie)
Luna, 92 (3-way tie)
Olive, 88
Georgia, 82 (tie)
Maia, 82 (tie)
Poppy, 81
Frankie, 80 (tie)
Violet, 80 (tie)
Mackenzie, 79
Ellie, 78
Riley, 77
Aurora, 76
Bella, 74
Madison, 70 (tie)
Penelope, 70 (tie)
Kaia, 69 (tie)
Zara, 69 (tie)
Billie, 68 (tie)
Quinn, 68 (tie)
Layla, 67
Boy names
Noah, 267 baby boys
Oliver, 247
Luca, 207
Jack, 194
Leo, 189
Theodore, 186
George, 177
Henry, 172
Charlie, 163
Hudson, 162
Arthur, 158
Arlo, 156
Elijah, 153
William, 147
James, 146 (tie)
Lucas, 146 (tie)
Liam, 143
Thomas, 142
Theo, 135
Oscar, 131
Cooper, 122
Beau, 119
Hugo, 115
Ethan, 114
Ezra, 113 (tie)
Mason, 113 (tie)
Archie, 111 (tie)
Levi, 111 (tie)
Max, 110
Carter, 106
Felix, 105 (tie)
Finn, 105 (tie)
Alexander, 102
Lachlan, 97
Asher, 90 (3-way tie)
Hunter, 90 (3-way tie)
Louie, 90 (3-way tie)
Luke, 87
Benjamin, 84
Harry, 83
Jackson, 82
Archer, 81
Micah, 79 (tie)
Riley, 79 (tie)
Caleb, 78 (3-way tie)
Isaac, 78 (3-way tie)
Louis, 78 (3-way tie)
Austin, 77
Luka, 75
Samuel, 74
And what about Maori names specifically?
Currently, the top Maori baby names in New Zealand are Aroha/Te Aroha for girls and Ariki/Te Ariki for boys. In Maori, the word aroha means “love” or “affection,” the word ariki means “chieftain” or “leader,” and the word te (in these two cases) is the article “the.”
Here are New Zealand’s top 10 Maori girl names and top 10 Maori boy names:
Maori girl names
Aroha/Te Aroha, 164 baby girls
Amaia, 110
Maia, 103
Anahera, 85
Moana, 70
Manaia, 68
Ataahua, 54
Marama, 51
Atarangi, 41
Tui, 39
Maori boy names
Ariki/Te Ariki, 111 baby boys
Wiremu, 86
Rawiri, 80
Mikaere, 65
Nikau, 63
Koa, 62 (tie)
Manaia, 62 (tie)
Manaaki, 59
Kiwa, 45 (tie)
Kaitoa, 45 (tie)
Please note that the Maori rankings don’t cover the calendar year 2023, as the national rankings do. Instead, they cover births from July 10, 2023, to June 30, 2024. (These dates coincide with Matariki, a.k.a. Maori New Year.)
Finally, here’s a link to New Zealand’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
P.S. Did you know that New Zealand’s closest geographic neighbor in the Pacific is New Caledonia (to the north)?
Folk-rock duo Sonny & Cher (pronounced shair) — made up of Salvatore “Sonny” Bono and Cherilyn “Cher” Sarkisian — met in 1962 and got married in 1964.
Soon after, they scored their first big hits: “I Got You Babe,” which ranked #1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for three weeks straight in August of 1965, followed by “Baby Don’t Go,” which peaked at #8 in October.
Over the next few years, the pair put out several more successful singles, such as “The Beat Goes On,” which reached #6 in early 1967. Cher also released several solo singles, including the top-10 hits “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” and “You Better Sit Down Kids.”
As a result, the name Cher returned to the U.S. baby name data in 1965 (after a one-year absence) and began rising in usage:
1967: 43 baby girls named Cher
1966: 32 baby girls named Cher
1965: 18 baby girls named Cher
1964: unlisted
1963: 12 baby girls named Cher
Interestingly, during the second half of the ’60s (and into early ’70s), Cher’s name was typically written with an accent mark over the e on record covers:
“Chér”
I’m not sure how many of Cher’s namesakes similarly wrote their names with an accent mark, though, because the SSA’s data doesn’t include diacritics (among other things).
After several years of success, Sonny & Cher’s popularity began to wane. Here’s how Life magazine accounted for the decline:
Sonny and Cher had about two good years before, along with a lot of other singers of the class of ’65, they disappeared from the record charts and radio. […] They lost the young when acid rock took over from their simple, easy beat.
So the couple went on the road, performing in nightclubs. They developed an act that involved both music and comedy.
They also welcomed their only child, a daughter named Chastity Sun, in March of 1969. The baby had been conceived while Cher was filming the (unsuccessful) movie Chastity, which was released several months later, in June.
Right on cue, the rare name Chastity appeared for the first time in the U.S. baby name data in 1969 — thanks to the baby, or to the movie, or both.
Sonny and Cher
Their nightclub act led to them being re-discovered by a CBS executive, who gave them their own TV variety show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which premiered in August of 1971. The series quickly became popular and remained so throughout its four-season run.
While the show was on the air, Cher continued releasing solo singles. In fact, three of her songs reached the top spot on the Hot 100:
“Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” which peaked at #1 in November of 1971,
“Half-Breed,” in October of 1973, and
“Dark Lady,” in March of 1974.
In response to Sonny and Cher’s second wave of popularity, the usage of the baby names Sonny and Cher increased in 1972:
Girls named Cher
Boys named Sonny
1974
103
281 [rank: 475th]
1973
178 [rank: 760th]
274 [rank: 476th]
1972
235† [rank: 650th]
263 [rank: 486th]
1971
110
206 [rank: 567th]
1970
72
192 [rank: 587th]
†Peak usage
Cher’s birth name, Cherilyn, also saw a nearly six-fold increase in usage that year:
1974: 112 baby girls named Cherilyn
1973: 84 baby girls named Cherilyn
1972: 161 baby girls named Cherilyn [rank: 824th]
1971: 27 baby girls named Cherilyn
1970: 23 baby girls named Cherilyn
How did she come to have the name Cherilyn? Here’s how Cher’s mother, actress Georgia Holt, explained it:
The first part was for Lana Turner’s daughter. I loved that name Cheryl. And the second part was for my mother, Lynda.
Chastity, Sonny, and Cher
The couple’s young daughter Chastity was also featured on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour dozens of times. These appearances propelled the name Chastity into the top 1,000 in 1972, then the top 500 in 1973:
1974: 749 baby girls named Chastity [rank: 311th]
1973: 544 baby girls named Chastity [rank: 380th]
1972: 220 baby girls named Chastity [rank: 675th]
1971: 50 baby girls named Chastity
1970: 40 baby girls named Chastity
By 1974, the couple’s marriage was on the rocks. The TV series ended in May of that year, Sonny and Cher’s divorce was finalized in mid-1975.
In early 1976, Sonny and Cher put their differences aside to co-host a new version of the show, simply called The Sonny & Cher Show.
In July of 1976, Cher welcomed a baby boy named Elijah Blue with her second husband, musician Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. Two months later, when The Sonny & Cher Show resumed after a summer break, Cher and Sonny spoke about Elijah Blue on the air.
The following year, the usage of the baby name Elijah increased by more than 67%:
1978: 547 baby boys named Elijah [rank: 322nd]
1977: 504 baby boys named Elijah [rank: 350th]
1976: 301 baby boys named Elijah [rank: 452nd]
1975: 263 baby boys named Elijah [rank: 491st]
1974: 288 baby boys named Elijah [rank: 472nd]
The second iteration of the TV series lasted until August of 1977, and Cher’s tumultuous second marriage ended not long after that.
In late 1978, Cher filed a name-change petition in Los Angeles Superior Court. Her request to shorten her legal name to the mononym Cher was granted in early 1979.
Decades later, she said:
For so long I was “Cher from Sonny and Cher.” And then I had two children, and each had a different father with a last name that I’d taken on. One day I just realized, “I’m Cher, I don’t need anything else.”
Third and fourth images: Screenshots of the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (episodes from Mar. 1972 and Sept. 1973)
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