How popular is the baby name Gia 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 Gia.

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Popularity of the baby name Gia


Posts that mention the name Gia

Baby name needed: Girl name for Edie’s sister

A reader named Andrea is expecting her second daughter in May and she’d appreciate some name suggestions. Here’s what she writes:

My husband and I love unusual names that have a little bit of a retro feel (my first daughter is Edie). We’ve been trying to think of something fun and different but still feminine. A few we like: Camilla, Lina, Romi, Gia, Neve and Leigh.

Here are some other names I think they might like:

Beatrix
Bettina
Blythe
Celia
Colette
Cora
Daphne
Della
Fern
Flora
Gemma		Hazel
Iola
Iris
Isla
Jill
Kate
Lida
Livia
Louise
Lucy
Mabel		Martha
Mina
Mona
Nelle
Nessa
Nina
Odette
Pearl
Pia
Rita
Rose		Ruby
Sabina
Sally
Stella
Sylvie
Thea
Tilda
Tess
Wendy
Willa
Winnie

Which of the above do you like best with Edie? What other names would you suggest to Andrea?

Where did the baby name Melora come from in 1956?

The character Melora from the movie "Don't Go Near the Water" (1957)
Melora from “Don’t Go Near the Water“

The mellifluous name Melora debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1956:

  • 1959: 12 baby girls named Melora
  • 1958: 10 baby girls named Melora
  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: 7 baby girls named Melora [debut]
  • 1955: unlisted
  • 1954: unlisted

Where did it come from?

William Brinkley’s novel Don’t Go Near the Water, a military comedy that came out in mid-1956 and became the bestselling book in the country that year. The character Melora Alba, a native of the remote Pacific island of Tulura, was the love interest of main character Ensign Max Siegel of the U.S. Navy.

The name dropped out of the data the next year, and it may have remained a one-hit wonder if not for the late 1957 release of the movie Don’t Go Near the Water, in which Glenn Ford* and Gia Scala played Max and Melora. Right on cue, the name returned in 1958.

No one can pinpoint where Melora comes from or what it means, but we do know it was featured in the late 17th century Arthurian romance “Eachtra Mhelora agus Orlando,” Irish for “Adventures of Melora and Orlando.”

The name is still being given to babies these days, but usage rarely rises above a dozen babies per year.

Do you like the name Melora? Do you like it more or less than other Mel- names such as Melissa and Melinda?

*Glenn Ford’s birth name was Gwyllyn Ford. He based his stage name on Glenford, the name of the Canadian village where his father was born. His biography states that Gwyllyn is a Welsh form of William.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Don’t Go Near the Water (1957)

Baby name needed: Middle name for Elle

Patience and her husband are expecting a baby girl in June. They plan to name her Elle, but they’re having a tough time choosing a middle name:

My maiden name is Lewis, and my husband’s middle name is Louis. […] I don’t like Louise…but it would be cool to play on the similarity of our names for her middle name. Then again I don’t know how I feel about: Elle L. Wagner.

(Their real surname isn’t Wagner, but it does start with a W and have two syllables.)

I’m not too sure about “Elle L.” either. Putting a name and a letter that sound exactly alike side-by-side will probably cause a lot of confusion. Also, Elle followed by any L-name is going to be tricky to say aloud.

Unfortunately, though, many Louis-derived female names start with L. Most of those that don’t (e.g. Clovia, Aloysia) are fairly exotic. The only two I’d consider are Gia and Gina, which are distant cousins of Louis via the Italian Luigia.

A compound name might work. Marylou, Marylouisa, Annalou, Annalouisa…any short-ish name could be the first element, and a Louis-based name could be the second. Length would be an issue, but Elle is quite short, so I think a longer middle wouldn’t be too much of a burden.

The only other idea I had was to look at names that have consonants in common with Lewis and Louis, such as:

Celeste
Gwendolyn
Melissa		Phyllis
Sybil
Sylvia		Selena
Salome
Wilhelmina

None of the above are in the Louis family, but they could be seen as “tribute” names in a sense.

What other ideas would guys offer to Patience?

Baby name needed: Spunky name for Sophie’s little sister

A reader named Mercedes is expecting a baby girl in December:

Our 4-year-old is named Sophie. We love it because it’s cute and spunky. We initially came up with Daphne Colette for baby girl #2. But the more I think about it, the more I worry that Sophie and Daphne sound too similar. What do you think? On that note, can you think of any other names that deliver the same cute and spunky sound?

I was on the fence for a while about Sophie and Daphne…but I think I ultimately agree that they’re too much alike. As for other spunky names, how about:

Astrid
Beatrix
Bettina
Billie
Brynn
Calliope
Chloe
Cleo
Daisy
Darcy
Della		Gemma
Gia
Lila
Lucy
Lyra
Maeve
Mia
Molly
Nelle
Nina
Penelope		Phoebe
Pia
Piper
Reese
Rory
Ruby
Stella
Sylvie
Tamsin
Tess
Zita

(Sylvie and Phoebe are probably too similar to Sophie as well, but I left them on the list just in case.)

What other ideas do you guys have?

P.S. Mercedes is also considering the names Kendall, Julianne, Lola and Gwen.

Update – The baby has arrived! Scroll down to find out what name Mercedes chose.