How popular is the baby name Horst 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 Horst.

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Popularity of the baby name Horst


Posts that mention the name Horst

Babies named for Dovima

Fashion model Dovima (1927-1990) in the movie "Funny Face" (1957)
Dovima

The rare name Dovima has never appeared in the U.S. baby name data. But it has popped up a few times in the birth records:

  • Dovima R. Sanchez (born in 1956 in California)
  • Dovima M. Tom (b. 1959, California)
  • Dovima M. Ayers (b. 1959, Vermont)

I think their shared first name was inspired by one of the highest-paid fashion models of the 1950s — and the very first model to go by a single name — Dovima.

Dovima worked with photographers like Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon (who called her “the last of the great elegant, aristocratic beauties”). Her photographs appeared in magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Notably, she also had a small role in the romantic comedy Funny Face (1957), which starred Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.

How did she come to have her single name?

She was born Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba in New York City in 1927. She spent several years of her childhood bedridden with rheumatic fever, and, during that time, invented the name “Dovima” (from the first letters of her three given names: Dorothy, Virginia, Margaret) for an imaginary friend.

What are your thoughts on the name Dovima?

P.S. Another three-in-one name I’ve blogged about is Louvima.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Funny Face

[Latest update: Sept. 2024]

Where did the baby name Deyanne come from in 1950?

The wedding of debutante Deyanne O'Neil Farrell
Deyanne O’Neil Farrell

Deyanne was a two-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data at the start of the 1950s:

  • 1952: unlisted
  • 1951: 7 baby girls named Deyanne
  • 1950: 13 baby girls named Deyanne [debut]
  • 1949: unlisted
  • 1948: unlisted

Where did the name come from?

A New York debutante named Deyanne O’Neil Farrell.

Deyanne never appeared on the cover of Life (like Brenda Frazier) or on the cover of Jet (like Theonita Cox). But she did appear inside the December 1949 issue of Vogue. She wore a white ball gown designed by Ceil Chapman and the photo was taken by famous fashion photographer Horst P. Horst.

The New York Times announced Deyanne’s engagement the next month, and she married Herbert Miller in St. Patrick’s Cathedral the month after that.

Deyanne O'Neil Farrell in a Woodbury Soap advertisement (1950)

Their wedding photos ended up being part of a marketing campaign for soap made by the Woodbury Soap Company, which regularly featured debutantes and actresses in its advertisements. The images above, for instance, came from a full-page ad in a mid-1950 issue of LIFE. I saw other versions of the ad in other magazines (like McCall’s) and in the newspapers (like the Pittsburgh Press) in 1950 and 1951.

The Woodbury ads featuring Deyanne are no doubt what gave the name a boost on the charts during both of those years.

And Deyanne gave one more thing a boost a few years later: Portuguese Water Dogs. In fact, she’s credited with introducing the breed to the United States in 1968. Four decades after that, the Obama family introduced the breed to the White House. (Their Portuguese Water Dogs were named Bo and Sunny.)

But let’s get back to human names now…do you like the name Deyanne? Do you like it more or less than the similar name Diane?

Sources:

Images: Clippings from Life magazine (8 May 1950)

[Latest update: Jul. 2024]

Popular baby names in the Czech Republic, 2016

Flag of the Czech Republic
Flag of the Czech Republic

According to data from the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, the most popular baby names in the country in 2016 were Eliška and Jakub.

Here are the Czech Republic’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names

  1. Eliška, 2,219 baby girls
  2. Tereza, 1,915
  3. Anna, 1,765
  4. Adéla, 1,530
  5. Natálie, 1,382
  6. Ema, 1,274
  7. Viktorie, 1,246
  8. Sofie, 1,238
  9. Karolína, 1,187
  10. Kristýna, 1,017

Boy Names

  1. Jakub, 2,756 baby boys
  2. Jan, 2,426
  3. Adam, 2,020
  4. Tomáš, 1,843
  5. Matyáš, 1,727
  6. Filip, 1,607
  7. Ondrej, 1,575
  8. Vojtech, 1,569
  9. Matej, 1,553
  10. David, 1,532

I forgot to post the 2015 rankings, but here are the 2014 rankings — the top two names (Eliška and Jakub) were the same.

Some of the names used just once last year include: Arslen, Bivoj, Cirilla, Dalibor Jan, Elayo, Fedderick, Gyozo, Horst, Inari, Janko, Kvído, Leen, Mio, Nemanja, Oktavián, Pankrác, Quido Adam, Rostislava, Sagvan, Torian, Ute, Velen Vítek, Wendelin, Xenie, Yazan, and Žasmina. (This is a mix of both boy and girl names.)

Gyozo means “conqueror” in Hungarian. It’s basically the Hungarian equivalent of Victor.

Source: Cetnost jmen a príjmení (via Maybe it is Daijiro (aka Maks))

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Czech Republic (public domain)

Reduplicated names: Asher Asher, Owen Owen

oystercatcher birds

I find it interesting that some people are given forenames that exactly match their surnames. A few historically significant examples include:

(Ford Madox Ford and Horst P. Horst don’t count. They were born Ford Hermann Hueffer and Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann.)

There are also many forename/surname sets out there that are partially reduplicated, such as:

  • Alastair McAllister, Australian harpsichord builder
  • Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Soviet cosmonaut
  • Anders Andersen, Norwegian politician
  • Antonis Antoniadis, Greek soccer player
  • Damiano Damiani, Italian film director
  • David Davidson, Canadian baseball player
  • Donagh MacDonagh, Irish writer
  • Donald MacDonald, Canadian politician
  • Dru Drury, British entomologist
  • Edward Edwards, British naval officer
  • Edward I. Edwards, American politician
  • Evan Evans, American judge
  • Evan Evans, composer (son of Jazz pianist Bill Evans)
  • Filip Filipovic (several people)
  • Fiodar Fiodarau, Soviet physicist
  • Friðrik Friðriksson, Icelandic film director

Have you ever met someone whose first name and last name were identical (or nearly so)? Do you like these sorts of names?

P.S. The name Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (which belonged to a guy who served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior for a few weeks in 1850) is as close to a double double as I’ve ever seen!

Image: Adapted from Two Variable Oystercatchers standing close to each other (public domain)

[Last update: October 2024]