How popular is the baby name Gray 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 Gray.

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Popularity of the baby name Gray


Posts that mention the name Gray

Top baby names in Nova Scotia, 1914

Speaking of popular baby names Nova Scotia…did you know that the province’s Open Data site includes birth registration records from the mid-1800s and from the early 1900s? I isolated the records from 1914 — the most recent year in the data — and came up with baby name rankings for about a century ago:

Top Girl Names, 1914

  1. Mary (close to 700 girls)
  2. Margaret
  3. Annie
  4. Marie
  5. Helen
  6. Dorothy
  7. Florence
  8. Elizabeth
  9. Catherine (over 100 girls)
  10. Alice

Top Boy Names, 1914

  1. John (close to 600 boys)
  2. Joseph
  3. James
  4. William
  5. George
  6. Charles
  7. Robert
  8. Arthur
  9. Donald
  10. Edward (over 100 boys)

The rankings represent about about 6,700 baby girls and about 6,800 baby boys born in Nova Scotia in 1914. I’m not sure how many babies were born that year overall, but it looks like the province’s total population in 1914 was roughly 500,000 people.

Hundreds of the names were used just once. Here are some examples:

Unique Girl namesUnique Boy names
Adalta, Adayala, Ailsa, Amilene, Anarina, Aniela, Attavilla, Birdina, Buema, Burance, Caletta, Cattine, Celesta, Claviettee, Deltina, Elta, Erdina, Ethelda, Eudavilla, Evhausine, Fauleen, Genneffa, Gennesta, Heuldia, Hughenia, Iselda, Ivenho, Lanza, Lebina, Lelerta, Loa, Lougreta, Manattie, Meloa, Milnina, Minira, Namoia, Naza, Neitha, Neruda, Olava, Oressa, Prenetta, Ramza, Ruzena, Sophique, Stanislawa, Taudulta, Udorah, Velena, Vola, Vonia, Waldtraut, Willina, YuddisAlbenie, Alpine, Alywin, Alyre, Armenious, Bayzil, Bernthorne, Briercliffe, Carefield, Cicero, Colomba, Craigen, Desire, DeWilton, Docithee, Edly, Enzile, Ethelberth, Ewart, Exivir, Fernwood, Firth, Florincon, Glidden, Gureen, Haliberton, Haslam, Hibberts, Irad, Kertland, Kinsman, Kitchener, Langille, Lemerchan, Lockie, Lubins, Meurland, Murl, Neddy, Nevaus, Niron, Odillon, Olding, Phine, Rexfrid, Roseville, Saber, Sifroi, Sprat, Stannage, Venanties, Waitstill, Wardlo, Wentworth, Wibbert

I also spotted one boy with the first and middle names Earl Gray, and another with the first and middle names “Kermit Roosevelt” (the name of one of Theodore Roosevelt’s six children).

Sources: Open Data Nova Scotia (specifically, Birth Registrations 1864-1877, 1908-1914), Nova Scotia – Population urban and rural, by province and territory

Babies named Earl Grey?

black tea

Today happens to be International Tea Day, so let’s talk a bit about Earl Grey.

Earl Grey tea was probably named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), who served as British Prime Minister in from 1830 to 1834. His actual connection to the tea is unknown. Here’s one theory:

The tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Charles, 2nd Earl Grey, to suit the water at Howick, using bergamot in particular to offset the taste of the lime in it. Lady Grey used it to entertain in London as a political hostess, and it proved so popular that she was asked if it could be sold to others.

So has anyone ever been named “Earl Grey”?

Yes, so far I’ve found close to 90 people with the first-middle combo “Earl Grey.” Only three were born in England (the earliest in 1831, while Charles Grey was Prime Minister). The rest were born in the U.S. and Canada, mostly in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One was born as recently as the 1980s.

Here are a bunch of the U.S. Earl Greys:

It’s impossible to know how many were named with the tea in mind, but I’m sure at least a few were. (Earl Grey tea was available commercially starting in the 1880s.)

Finally, I should mention that Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, had a whopping 16 children with his wife Mary, and that 15 of the 16 lived to adulthood. The 15 surviving children were named Louisa, Elizabeth, Caroline, Georgiana, Henry, Charles, Frederick, Mary, William, George, Thomas, John, Francis, Henry and William.

Sources: The Earl Grey Tea House – Howick Hall Gardens, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Black tea by patrick george under CC BY 2.0.

Baby born to Ohio State University fans, named Scarlet Gray

football field

Earlier this year, on January 12, the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Oregon Ducks to win “the first national title in college football’s playoff era.”

Twenty days later, a baby girl born into the Victory family in Akron was named Scarlet Gray Victory.

Parents Andrew and Bianchi Victory say family and friends call the name “genius.”

Baby Scarlet is the third child in the Victory family, the older two being 20-month-old twins William and Georgia.

(A surprising number of Ohio State University fans have named their kids “Scarlet,” “Gray,” and “Scarlet Gray” after the school colors, but this is the first time I’ve seen “Scarlet Gray” paired with the surname “Victory,” so I figured this one deserved a post.)

P.S. Here’s a list of names associated with the color red, just in case you’re interested. :)

Sources: Bob Dyer: Baby is OSU fan for life — or else, Ohio State shuts down Oregon offense, wins title

Image: Adapted from New Meadowlands Stadium: Mezz Corner (cropped) by section215 under CC BY 2.0.

What popularized Darby as a girl name in the mid-1990s?

The character Darby Shaw (played by Julia Roberts) from the movie "The Pelican Brief" (1993)
Darby Shaw from “The Pelican Brief“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Darby was relatively gender-neutral during the mid-20th century.

That changed in the late 1970s, when the name started being given to girls more often than to boys on a regular basis.

This gender gap was widest in the mid-1990s, when Darby became trendy as a girl name. It entered the girls’ top 1,000 for the first time in 1994, and reached peak usage the following year:

Girls named DarbyBoys named Darby
1996431 [rank: 542nd]33
1995491† [rank: 499th]48
1994321 [rank: 666th]35
199312632
19927442
19915932
†Peak usage

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Darby in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Darby

What accounts for the rise in usage among baby girls?

The legal thriller The Pelican Brief, which was released in theaters in December of 1993.

The movie was set in New Orleans, and the main character was female law student Darby Shaw (played by actress Julia Roberts).

After two Supreme Court justices were assassinated, Darby discovered a connection between the murders and wrote a brief that, “if true, would implicate one of the richest men in the country, and lead to the Oval Office.” But the brief turned her into a target, so she spent the rest of the film not just trying to unravel the conspiracy (with the help of investigative journalist Gray Grantham, played by Denzel Washington), but also trying to stay alive.

The film was based on the 1992 novel of the same name by John Grisham.

The first name Darby comes from the surname Darby, which has two possible origins: England and Ireland. The English version of the surname began as a place name (made up of Old Norse elements meaning “deer” and “farm, settlement”), while the the Irish version of the surname is an Anglicization of either Ó Diarmada or Mac Diarmada — Irish surnames derived from the personal name Diarmaid, which is of unknown etymology.

What are your thoughts on the name Darby?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Pelican Brief