How popular is the baby name Glenda 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 Glenda.
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The name Dorinda would have sounded fashionable in the 1940s — a decade during which names like Linda, Brenda, Glenda, and Wanda ranked inside the girls’ top 100. But its sudden trendiness can be traced back to a specific influence: a movie character.
The romance/fantasy film A Guy Named Joe (which did not feature any characters named Joe, incidentally) was released in March of 1944. It went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
The main character was WWII bomber pilot Pete Sandridge (played by Spencer Tracy). After being killed in action — and leaving behind his girlfriend Dorinda (played by Irene Dunne) — he found himself in the afterlife, where he was told to return to Earth as a guardian angel. His first assignment was a young military pilot named Ted (played by Van Johnson). Eventually, Ted happened to meet, and fall for, a grieving Dorinda — which made things complicated for Pete.
What are your thoughts on the name Dorinda? Would you use it?
“Everly” is hot…”Beverly” is not. It’s a one-letter difference between fashionable and fusty.
If you’re sensitive to style, you’ll prefer Everly. It fits with today’s trends far better than Beverly does.
But if you’re someone who isn’t concerned about style, or prefers to go against style, then you may not automatically go for Everly. In fact, you may be more attracted to Beverly because it’s the choice that most modern parents would avoid.
If you’ve ever thought about intentionally giving your baby a dated name (like Debbie, Grover, Marcia, or Vernon) for the sake of uniqueness within his/her peer group — if you have no problem sacrificing style for distinctiveness — then this list is for you.
Years ago, the concept of “contrarian” baby names came up in the comments of a post about Lois. Ever since then, creating a collection of uncool/contrarian baby names has been on my to-do list.
Finally, last month, I experimented with various formulas for pulling unstylish baby names out of the SSA dataset. Keeping the great-grandparent rule in mind, I aimed for names that would have been fashionable among the grandparents of today’s babies. The names below are the best results I got.
Interestingly, thirteen of the names above — Bobbie, Cary, Dale, Jackie, Jimmie, Jody, Kerry, Kim, Lynn, Robin, Sandy, Tracey, Tracy — managed to make both lists.
Now some questions for you…
Do you like any of these names? Would you be willing to use any of them on a modern-day baby? Why or why not?
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a reader looking for lists of old-fashioned double names. She was aiming for names like Thelma Dean, Eula Mae, and Gaynell — names that would have sounded trendy in the early 1900s. She also mentioned that she’d started a list of her own.
So I began scouring the interwebs. I tracked down lists of old-fashioned names, and lists of double names…but I couldn’t find a decent list of double names that were also old-fashioned.
I loved the idea of such a list, though, so I suggested that we work together to create one. She generously sent me the pairings she’d collected so far, and I used several different records databases to find many more.
I restricted my search to names given to girls born in the U.S. from 1890 to 1930. I also stuck to double names that I found written as single names, because it’s very likely that these pairings were used together in real life (i.e., that they were true double names and not merely first-middle pairings).
Pairings that seemed too timeless, like Maria Mae and Julia Rose, were omitted. I also took out many of the pairings that feature now-trendy names — think Ella, Emma, and Lucy — because they just don’t sound old-fashioned anymore (though they would have a few decades ago).
The result isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a decent sampling of real-life, old-fashioned double names. I’ve organized them by second name, and I also added links to popularity graphs for names that were in the SSA data during the correct time period (early 1900s).
I spotted plenty of other combinations that just didn’t happen to be written as single names in the records, so here’s a handy dandy little table to cover some of the other existing combinations…
You guys know the world is ending in two weeks, right?
At least, that’s how popular culture has misinterpreted the ending of the 13th b’ak’tun of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar on December 21, 2012.
If your due date is December 21, why not commemorate the date with an “end of the world”-inspired baby name?
No, I’m not suggesting you go with something ridiculous like Armageddon or Apocalypse. (Though I have seen both used as names. Examples: Armageddon James Margerum, born in England in 1833, and Ulysses Apocalypse Johnson, born in California in 1992.)
Instead, try a name with a less obvious “end of the world” connection. Perhaps one of these:
Maya – the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is most commonly associated with the Maya
Jeremiah – inspired by Maya
Nehemiah – inspired by Maya
Deedee – short for doomsday
Ann – short for annihilation
Catherine – inspired by cataclysm
Calypso – inspired by apocalypse
Arma – short for armageddon
Armand – inspired by armageddon
Armando – inspired by armageddon
Gideon – inspired by armageddon
Don – short for armageddon
Or try one of the dozens of names that happen to contain the word “end” (short for “end of the world,” of course).
Aviendha
Brenda
Brendan
Enda
Ender
Endia
Erendira
Glenda
Glendon
Glendora
Gwendolen/Gwendolyn
Henderson
Hendrik/Hendrick
Hendrika
Hendrix
Kendall
Kendra
Kendrick
Lavender
Legend
Mendel
Nagendra
Penda
Pendleton
Rajendra
Rosenda
Rosendo
Surendra
Townsend
Vendela
Wendell
Wendy
Zenda
Zendaya
What other “end of the world” baby names can you think of?
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