Nancy’s Baby Names was launched on March 6, 2006. So today is the blog’s birthday.
In fact, it’s the blog’s sweet sixteen!
Happy birthday, NBN. :)
Image by diapicard from Pixabay
How popular is the baby name Goodluck 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 Goodluck.
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Nancy’s Baby Names was launched on March 6, 2006. So today is the blog’s birthday.
In fact, it’s the blog’s sweet sixteen!
Happy birthday, NBN. :)
Image by diapicard from Pixabay
They came, they went, and they never came back!
These baby names are one-hit wonders in the U.S. baby name data. That is, they’ve only popped up once, ever, in the entire dataset of U.S. baby names (which accounts for all names given to at least 5 U.S. babies per year since 1880).
There are thousands of one-hit wonders in the dataset, but the names below have interesting stories behind their single appearance, so these are the one-hits I’m writing specific posts about. Just click on a name to read more.
As I discover (and write about) more one-hit wonders in the data, I’ll add the names/links to this page. In the meanwhile, do you have any favorite one-hit wonder baby names?
P.S. You might also be interested in this list of the top one-hit wonder baby names since 1880…
According to data from Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB), the most popular baby names in the Netherlands in 2015 were Emma and Liam.
Here are the Netherlands’ top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:
Baby Girl Names | Baby Boy Names |
---|---|
1. Emma 2. Julia 3. Sophie 4. Anna 5. Mila 6. Eva 7. Tess 8. Lotte 9. Sara 10. Zoë | 1. Liam 2. Sem (a form of Shem) 3. Lucas 4. Luuk 5. Noah 6. Milan 7. Daan 8. Levi 9. Finn 10. Jesse |
On the girls’ list, Lotte replaced Isa (which fell from 6th place to 20th).
On the boys’ list, Jesse replaced Bram (which fell from 2nd place to 13th).
Another significant mover of the boys’ list was Liam itself. Liam ranked 17th in 2013, then 9th in 2014, and finally 1st in 2015.
Other names bestowed last year in the Netherlands include Goodluck, Dikshit, Lovelace, Genius, Narbys-Lenay, Rooney, Amen, Islam, Jood, Godmother, Eh, and You.
The top names in 2014 were Sophie and Daan. In 2013, they were Tess and Sem.
Sources: Kindernamen top 20 – SVB, Emma and Liam are most popular Dutch kids names, but what about little Eh?
UPDATE, Nov. 2016: According to Amsterdam University researchers, who took combined spellings into account, the top names of 2015 were Sarah and Luuk. My source didn’t offer the researchers’ full top 10 lists, but here’s what I took from the article:
1. Sarah/Sara/Zara
2. Sophie/Sofie
3. Anne/Anna
4. Lisa/Lize/Lise/Liza
1. Luuk/Luc/Luke
2. Lucas/Lukas
[…]
10. Mohamed/Mohammed/Muhammed/Mohammad
Source: Sarah and Luuk are the most popular Dutch baby names, say university researchers
The unusual name Goodluck was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 2010:
Why?
Looks like the answer is Nigerian politics!
In May of 2010, Nigeria’s vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, became the 14th president of the country upon the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Goodluck served as president until 2015.
Interestingly, Goodluck’s wife, Patience, also has a name that comes from English vocabulary. :)
What are your thoughts on the auspicious-sounding baby name Goodluck?
Source: Goodluck Jonathan – Wikipedia
Alberta’s top baby names of 2013 were announced a couple of weeks ago.
According to data from Service Alberta, the most popular baby names last year were Olivia and Liam.
Here are Alberta’s top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2013:
Girl Names
Boy Names
Lucas rose from 7th place in 2012 to 2nd place last year, and Noah rose from 10th to 4th. Meanwhile, Jacob fell from 3rd to 8th and Mason fell from 5th to 9th.
Usage of Sadie more than doubled from 51 baby girls in 2012 to 118 in 2013. (Sadie shot up in the U.S. last year as well.)
Here are some of the more unusual names I spotted on the list:
Unusual Girl Names | Unusual Boy Names |
---|---|
Avexis, Azkadellia, Beatle, Blissannie, Caliber, Calyannabella, Dignity, Ecclesia, Edgely, D’Or, Emathyst, Emma-Tiger, Fra’Oll, Freixelyne, Glamour, Hannaneh, Izumi, Jilmil, Kayyo, Kree-Dance, Klarybel, Koket, Lava, Lootii, Lszybelle, Maple, Maquinna, Mòrag-Elizabeth, Nebraska, Qori, Shanaekqaheart, Slash, Solomiya, Taynjerine, Thiingdong, Trudith, Venelope, Vyllain, Winter-Wray, Zxianne | Aerlwilliam, Aidence, Arismendy, Bemba, Blacker, Brenver, Buffalochild, Chrysogonus, Cooch, Crisxander, Dentley, Dulee’O, Ezzekielle, Godbless, Goodluck, Grady-Best, Gurmn, Hurricane, Isaiah-Ron-Kurt, Jax-Jude, Jet-Lee, Jixxr, Kairaratjo, Klutch, Kris-n, Linclon, Mambo, Mickdam, Neepin-Neepsy, Noah-Niño, Phyo, Sun-Rise, Sunstar, Thunderheart, Trigger, Unitus-Judah, Whiskeyjack, Wintersky, Zancent |
If marshmallow peeps could magically come alive, I think “neepin-neepsy” is the sound they would make. (Also “peep,” of course.)
Jamie Dirom of the Calgary Herald went through all of the available Alberta lists (1980 to 2013) and found even more great ones, including:
Tiramisu! If that exists, there has to be a Cheesecake out there somewhere… :)
Sources: Alberta’s Top Baby Names, Alberta baby names 2013 list reveals kids called Kindle, Lava, Daenarys and Peeta, but Olivia, Liam still tops, Unique? Not so unique: 101 unusual Alberta baby names