How popular is the baby name Hugh 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 Hugh.

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Popularity of the baby name Hugh


Posts that mention the name Hugh

Names in the Tollemache-Tollemache family

British Army officer Leone Sextus Tollemache (1884-1917)
Leone Sextus Tollemache

The Rev. Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache-Tollemache (1826-1895), a clergyman in the Church of England, gave his fifteen children some bizarre (and bizarrely long) names.

Here are the names of the children he had with his first wife, Caroline:

  1. Lyonel Felix Carteret Eugene Tollemache (b. 1854)
  2. Florence Caroline Artemisia Hume Tollemache (b. 1855)
  3. Evelyne Clementina Wentworth Cornelia Maude Tollemache (b. 1856)
  4. Granville Grey Marchmont Manners Plantagenet Tollemache (b. 1858)
  5. Marchmont Murray Grasett Reginald Stanhope Plantagenet Tollemache (b. 1860)

And here are the names of the children he had with his second wife, Dora:

  1. Dora Viola Gertrude Irenez de Orellana Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1869)
  2. Mabel Ethel Helmingham Huntingtower Beatrice Blazonberrie Evangeline Vise de Lou de Orellana Plantagenet Saxon Toedmag Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1872)
  3. Lyonesse Matilda Dora Ida Agnes Ernestine Curson Paulet Wilbraham Joyce Eugénie Bentley Saxonia Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1874)
  4. Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1876)
    • His first fifteen initials spell “Lyonel the second.”
  5. Lyona Decima Veronica Esyth Undine Cyssa Hylda Rowena Viola Adele Thyra Ursula Ysabel Blanche Lelias Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1878)
  6. Leo Quintus Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1879)
  7. Lyonella Fredegunda Cuthberga Ethelswytha Ideth Ysabel Grace Monica de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1882)
  8. Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1884)
    • He was his father’s sixth son, hence “Sextus.” “Fraudatifilius” comes from the Latin phrase fraudati filius, meaning “son of the defrauded one.”
  9. Lyonetta Edith Regina Valentine Myra Polwarth Avelina Philippa Violantha de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1887)
  10. Lyonulph Cospatrick Bruce Berkeley Jermyn Tullibardine Petersham de Orellana Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache (b. 1892)

What are your thoughts on these names?

Sources:

Scottish baby named Princess (after three-year fight)

In July of 1986, a baby girl was born to Isle of Skye residents Hugh and Audrey Manwaring-Spencer. She was named Princess Dulcima Rosetta.

So the birth certificate was filled out, the necessary paperwork was sent to the General Register Office in Edinburgh, and all was well…until five months later, when Hugh and Audrey received a letter from the GRO:

Based upon an Order in Council of 1910, the name Princess is not a recognized forename in this country because it is part of the Crown’s royal prerogative and cannot be assumed or entered in any register or official document without the consent of the sovereign.

The GRO not only rejected the name, but demanded that the birth certificate be returned.

The parents wrote to Queen Elizabeth instead.

In December of 1987, the queen’s private secretary responded:

You may rest assured that you have caused no offense to the queen and you may continue to use the word as your daughter’s Christian name.

But three weeks later, in a second letter, he flip-flopped:

The name will have to be omitted from the birth certificate. However…there is no objection to you and your family continuing to use the word Princess as the name by which your daughter is known to her friends and family.

And then the GRO sent another birth certificate demand-letter.

Finally, in early 1989, the GRO backed down and decided to accept the name Princess. The Manwaring-Spencer family, including little non-princess Princess, had emerged triumphant.

How common is the name Princess in Scotland nowadays? Not very. Here are some recent numbers:

  • 1 in 2011
  • 7 in 2010 (including Princess-Skye and Princess-Tamia)
  • 2 in 2009
  • 4 in 2008 (including Princess-Vanessa)
  • 2 in 2007

And, while Princess is now permitted in the UK, it’s still verboten elsewhere. For instance, it’s regularly one of the most-rejected baby names in New Zealand.

Sources:

What gave the baby name Katina a boost in 1972?

Title of the TV soap opera "Where the Heart Is" (1969-1973)

The baby name Cotina was a top debut name in 1972, coming out of nowhere to be given to an impressive 109 baby girls that year:

  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: 6 baby girls named Cotina
  • 1976: 5 baby girls named Cotina
  • 1975: 13 baby girls named Cotina
  • 1974: 33 baby girls named Cotina
  • 1973: 65 baby girls named Cotina
  • 1972: 109 baby girls named Cotina [debut]
  • 1971: unlisted
  • 1970: unlisted

But that’s not all. The popularity of similar names — most notably Katina — spiked in ’72 as well [rankings in brackets]:

1971197219731974
Katina962,747
[117th]		2,469
[120th]		766
[307th]
Catina151,370
[202nd]		1,236
[207th]		329
[515th]
Contina.209
[696th]		124
[962nd]		36
Cotina.109*6533
Katena.27*28.
Kateena.22*135
Cantina.17*157
Catena.15*85
Kattina.15*..
Kotina.12*8.
Katyna.11*..
Cateena.10*9.
Kontina.10*..
Kantina.9*65
Katinna.7*6.
Cattina.6*9.
Catinna..11*.
*Debut

(Kattina, Katyna, Kontina, and Catinna were one-hit wonders.)

Why?

It took me a while to come up with a decent theory for this one, as the only person the search engines kept directing me to was Greek actress Katina Paxinou (1900-1973).

I was stuck until, in a decades-old Village Voice article, I spotted a reference to a fictional soap-opera baby named Katina. She was “born” in early 1972 on the CBS soap opera Where the Heart Is (1969-1973).

Christina (Katina's mother) on the TV program "Where the Heart Is."
Katina’s mother, Christine

The program was set in suburban Connecticut and focused “on the sexual and psychological intrigues of the wealthy but highly dysfunctional Hathaway family.” One of the adult Hathaway siblings (Allison) had a husband (Hugh) who had an affair with a woman named Christine. This affair resulted in an illegitimate child — a baby girl called Katina.

Expectant parents tend to pay particular attention to TV babies, and soap operas have historically influenced baby name rankings quite a bit, so the one-two punch of a baby born on a soap opera must have had some sort of impact.

Then again, I can’t explain why the variant “Contina” jumped so much higher than, say, “Katena” or “Kateena,” which are much more Katina-like. So perhaps I’m missing something.

Does anyone out there remember Where the Heart Is? Do you think the soap was popular enough to have started a short-lived Katina craze in the early ’70s?

Sources: Where the Heart is | Soap Opera Wiki | Fandom, Where the Heart Is (TV series) – Wikipedia, SSA

Baby name story: Roy Hugh

The SS Laguardia left New York on May 30, 1950, for a month-long trip to the Mediterranean under the command of Capt. Hugh L. Switzer.

About a week before it returned to New York, Mrs. Gertrude Segelman of Spring Valley, NY, gave birth to a baby boy with the help of the ship’s surgeon, Dr. Roy Littlehale.

The baby was named Roy Hugh, after both the doctor and the captain.

Source: “Ship Ends Eventful Trip.” New York Times 29 Jun. 1950: 59.