How popular is the baby name Iona 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 Iona.

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Popularity of the baby name Iona


Posts that mention the name Iona

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2023

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island of Ireland — welcomed roughly 55,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Grace and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl Names

  1. Grace, 339 baby girls
  2. Fiadh (pronounced FEE-a), 300
  3. Emily, 297
  4. Sophie, 283
  5. Lily, 270
  6. Ellie, 252
  7. Mia, 242
  8. Amelia, 241 (tie)
  9. Éabha (pronounced EY-va), 241 (tie)
  10. Ella, 231
  11. Isla, 227
  12. Hannah, 226
  13. Sophia, 218
  14. Lucy, 214
  15. Ava, 207
  16. Sadie, 200
  17. Olivia, 199
  18. Freya, 188
  19. Emma, 183
  20. Chloe, 181
  21. Robyn, 180
  22. Molly, 176
  23. Anna, 166 (tie)
  24. Croía (pronounced KREE-a), 166 (tie)
  25. Evie, 165
  26. Caoimhe (pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va), 158
  27. Saoirse (pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha), 157 (tie)
  28. Cara, 157 (tie)
  29. Sofia, 156
  30. Millie, 150
  31. Aoife (pronounced EE-fa), 148
  32. Isabelle, 132
  33. Bonnie, 130
  34. Maya, 128 (tie)
  35. Ada, 128 (tie)
  36. Róisín (pronounced ROH-sheen), 127
  37. Ruby, 126
  38. Kate, 123 (tie)
  39. Alice, 123 (tie)
  40. Holly, 120 (3-way tie)
  41. Erin, 120 (3-way tie)
  42. Sadhbh (pronounced siev; rhymes with “5”), 120 (3-way tie)
  43. Leah, 119
  44. Isabella, 118 (3-way tie)
  45. Ailbhe (pronounced AL-va), 118 (3-way tie)
  46. Méabh (pronounced mayv), 118 (3-way tie)
  47. Zoe, 115
  48. Annie, 112
  49. Ivy, 111
  50. Willow, 110

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 561 baby boys
  2. Noah, 473
  3. James, 369
  4. Rían (pronounced REE-an), 339
  5. Oisín (pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen), 330
  6. Fionn (pronounced fyun or fyoon), 306
  7. Tadhg (pronounced tieg, like the first part of “tiger”), 301
  8. Liam, 289
  9. Cillian (pronounced KIL-ee-an), 275
  10. Daniel, 256
  11. Finn, 251
  12. Conor, 244 (tie)
  13. Charlie, 244 (tie)
  14. Seán (pronounced shawn), 240
  15. Michael, 239
  16. Leo, 237
  17. Theo, 233
  18. Thomas, 227
  19. Patrick, 221
  20. Luke, 215
  21. Tommy, 214
  22. Oliver, 211
  23. Adam, 201
  24. Harry, 198
  25. Luca, 197
  26. Darragh, 195
  27. Alex, 175
  28. Bobby, 157
  29. Cian (pronounced KEE-an or keen), 156
  30. Oscar, 154
  31. John, 152 (tie)
  32. Max, 152 (tie)
  33. Ryan, 151
  34. Páidí (pronounced PAW-dee), 150
  35. Jamie, 149
  36. Ben, 147
  37. Kai, 141 (tie)
  38. Ollie, 141 (tie)
  39. Tom, 135
  40. Matthew, 134
  41. Dylan, 132
  42. Callum, 131
  43. Sonny, 130
  44. Sam, 129
  45. Ethan, 127 (tie)
  46. Alfie, 127 (tie)
  47. David, 122
  48. Alexander, 118
  49. Mason, 116
  50. Caelan, 114

New to the girls’ top 100 were Lucia, Cadhla (pronounced KIE-la) and Síofra (pronounced SHEE-fra).

New to the boys’ top 100 were Caelan, Jude, Paddy, Éanna (pronounced EY-na) and Dáithí (pronounced DAH-hee).

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Éala (increased by 41 baby girls), Ailbhe (+40), Méabh (+36), Zara (+33), Croía (+26)
  • Caelan (increased by 58 baby boys), Páidí (+41), Arlo (+35), Tommy (+30), Mark (+28)

And the fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:

  • Síofra (rose 57 spots on the girls’ list), Lucia (+43), Éala (+38), Lottie (+36), Zara (+31)
  • Caelan (rose 58 spots on the boys’ list), Mark (+46), Ruairí (+41), Eoin (+37), Arlo (+31)
Map of the four provinces of Ireland
Ireland’s four provinces

Home to more than five million people, the Republic of Ireland is divided into four provinces. (One of these provinces, Ulster, lies largely within Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.) The top baby names within each of the four provinces last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Leinster
(56% of the population)
GraceJack
Munster
(27% of pop.)
GraceJack
Connacht
(11% of pop.)
FiadhJack
Ulster [ROI portion]
(6% of pop.)
LilyJack

And what about the baby names at the other end of the spectrum?

Here’s a selection of the names that were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Adara, Brídín, Cushla, Dottie, Eilidh, Féile, Gillian, Hezlin, Iona, Jolene, Kalina, Lorna, Maliha, Natasha, Ocean, Philomena, Ríonach, Saffie, Tuiren, Vedika, Yasmine, ZadieAlby, Bram, Conal, Douglas, Elvis, Finnian, Gerald, Igor, Jonnie, Keenan, Lughaidh, Maitiú, Nathanael, Orin, Patryk, Rylan, Séadhna, Téidí, Ultán, Viktor, Wren, Yohan, Zachariah

Finally, here are Ireland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2023), Births, Deaths and Marriages – CSO, Provinces of Ireland – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of Ireland location map by Ssolbergj under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Baby names associated with purple: Violet, Amethyst, Tyrian, Plum

purple twilight

Looking for baby names that are associated with purple — including baby names that mean “purple”?

If so, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve collected dozens of options for you in this post.

Before we get to the names, though, let’s take a quick look at what the color purple represents…

Symbolism of purple

What does the color purple signify?

In Western cultures in particular, purple can be symbolic of:

  • Royalty
  • Nobility
  • Wisdom
  • Luxury
  • Imagination
  • Mystery
  • Spirituality

The color came to be identified with royalty and nobility during ancient times. In those days, creating purple dye for fabric was laborious and time-consuming, so the dye was very expensive. As a result, only the wealthy could afford to wear purple-colored clothing.

purple flowers (aubrieta)

Baby names associated with purple

All of the names below are associated with the color purple. The names range from traditional to unusual, and their associations range from strong to slight.

Those that have been popular enough to appear in the U.S. baby name data are linked to their corresponding popularity graphs.

Amaranth
Amaranth flowers are sometimes purple. The genus name Amaranthus is derived from a combination of the Ancient Greek words amarantos, meaning “unfading,” and anthos, meaning “flower.” Here’s the popularity graph for Amaranth.

Amethyst
The word amethyst refers to a purple variety of the mineral quartz. (The Ancient Greeks thought that amethyst — perhaps due to its wine-like color — would prevent drunkenness, so they called it amethustos, meaning “not intoxicating.”) By extension, the word also refers to the purple color of these crystals. Amethyst will only form in quartz that: (a) contains trace amounts of iron, and (b) is exposed to low-level gamma radiation. The radiation will oxidize the iron, and thereby change the crystal’s color from clear to purple. Here’s the popularity graph for Amethyst.

Aster
Aster flowers are often purple. The genus name Aster, derived from the Ancient Greek word aster, meaning “star,” is a reference to the shape of the flower head. Here’s the popularity graph for Aster.

Aubrieta
Aubrieta flowers are commonly purple. The genus Aubrieta was named in honor of French botanical artist Claude Aubriet.

Azalea
Azalea (pronounced uh-ZAY-lee-uh) flowers are sometimes purple. The (obsolete) genus name Azalea is derived from the Ancient Greek word azaleos, meaning “dry.” Here’s the popularity graph for Azalea.

Banafsha
Banafsha is a Persian feminine name meaning “violet.”

Betony
Betony flowers are usually purple. “Betony” is the common name of plants in the genus Stachys. Here’s the popularity graph for Betony.

Bíbor
Bíbor (pronounced BEE-bor) is a Hungarian masculine name based on the word bíbor, meaning “purple.”

Bíborka
Bíborka is a feminine form of Bíbor.

Bora
Bora is a Korean feminine name meaning “purple.” (Though the name has appeared in the U.S. data, this probably reflects the usage of the identical Albanian name, which means “snow.”) Here’s the popularity graph for Bora.

Fjóla
Fjóla (pronounced FYOH-lah) is an Icelandic and Faroese feminine name meaning “violet.”

Fjólar
Fjólar is the masculine form of Fjóla.

Giacinta and Giacinto
Giacinta (feminine) and Giacinto (masculine) are the Italian forms of Hyacinth. Here’s the popularity graph for Giacinto.

Gladiola
Gladiola refers to Gladiolus, a genus of plants with flowers that are sometimes purple. The genus name, meaning “little sword” (a diminutive of the Latin word gladius, “sword”) refers to the shape of the leaves. Here’s the popularity graph for Gladiola.

Haze
Haze (besides being a vocabulary word) is part of “Purple Haze” [vid] — the title of the song by Jimi Hendrix. “Purple Haze” was the opening track of the iconic album Are You Experienced (1967). Here’s the popularity graph for Haze.

Heather
Heather flowers are usually purple. “Heather” is the common name of plants in the genus Calluna. Here’s the popularity graph for Heather.

Honesty
Honesty (besides being a vocabulary word) is the common name of the plant species Lunaria annua, which has flowers that are frequently purple. The common name is likely a reference to the translucence of the seed pods. Here’s the popularity graph for Honesty.

Hyacinth
Hyacinth flowers are often purple. The genus Hyacinthus was named for the plant’s association with the myth of Hyacinthus (who was one of the lovers of Apollo in Greek mythology). Here’s the popularity graph for Hyacinth.

Iantha
Iantha is a variant of Ianthe. Here’s the popularity graph for Iantha.

Ianthe
Ianthe, which means “violet flower,” is derived from a combination of the Ancient Greek words ion, meaning “violet,” and anthos, meaning “flower.” Here’s the popularity graph for Ianthe.

Ibolya
Ibolya is a Hungarian form of Viola.

Iola
Iola is a variant of Iole. Here’s the popularity graph for Iola.

Iolanda
Iolanda is the Portuguese and Italian form of Yolanda. Here’s the popularity graph for Iolanda.

Iolanthe
Iolanthe may be a variant of Yolanda influenced by the name Ianthe.

Iole
Iole (pronounced IE-oh-lee) is based on the Ancient Greek word ion, meaning “violet.” In Greek myth, Iole was one of Heracles’ many objects of desire. Here’s the popularity graph for Iole.

Iona
Iona could be considered a variant of Ione, though more often it’s a reference to the Scottish island of Iona. Here’s the popularity graph for Iona.

Ione
Ione (pronounced ie-OH-nee) is also based on the Ancient Greek word ion, meaning “violet.” Here’s the popularity graph for Ione.

Iris
The word iris can refer to several things, including flowering plants of the genus Iris, the name of which comes from the Ancient Greek word for “rainbow.” The showy blooms of these plants come in a variety of colors (as the name suggests), though we often think of irises as being shades of purple. For instance, did you know that all of the irises in Vincent van Gogh’s various paintings were once purple? His irises now appear blue only because the red pigment he used to create the purple has faded over time. Here’s the popularity graph for Iris.

Jacaranda
Jacaranda flowers are purple. The genus name Jacaranda is derived from a Tupi-Guarani word meaning “fragrant.”

Jacinta and Jacinto
Jacinta (feminine) and Jacinto (masculine) are the Spanish and Portuguese forms of Hyacinth. Here are the popularity graphs for Jacinta and Jacinto.

Jolanda
Jolanda (pronounced yoh-LAHN-dah) is the Dutch form of Yolanda. Here’s the popularity graph for Jolanda.

Lavender
Lavender flowers are typically purple. “Lavender” is the common name of plants in the genus Lavandula. The genus name is derived from the Latin word lividus, meaning “bluish,” and/or the Latin word lavare, meaning “to wash” (due to aromatic lavender being used in washing and bathing). Here’s the popularity graph for Lavender.

Liila
Liila is the Finnish form of Lilac.

Lila
Lila is the Swedish form of Lilac, though the name also has other possible meanings (e.g., “play” in Sanskrit, “night” in Arabic). Here’s the popularity graph for Lila.

Lilac
Lilac flowers are frequently purple. “Lilac” is the common name of plants in the genus Syringa. Here’s the popularity graph for Lilac.

Lupine
Lupine flowers are often purple. The genus name Lupinus is derived from the Latin word lupinus, meaning “wolfish” (from lupus, “wolf”). Here’s the popularity graph for Lupine.

Magenta
Magenta is a reddish-purple color. A French chemist first synthesized magenta-colored dye in the late 1850s, and the color was eventually named “Magenta” in honor of the French-Sardinian victory at the Battle of Magenta (1859). Here’s the popularity graph for Magenta.

Malva
Malva flowers are commonly purple. The genus name Malva comes from the Latin word for the plant, malva.

Murasaki
Murasaki is a Japanese feminine name meaning “purple.” Originally it referred to the gromwell plant, the root of which was used to make purple dye.

Orchid
Orchid flowers are sometimes purple. Orchids are all members of the Orchidaceae family of plants. Here’s the popularity graph for Orchid.

Phoenix
Phoenix refers to the mythical bird, but the name of that bird was based on the Ancient Greek word phoinix, meaning “purple” or “crimson.” Here’s the popularity graph for Phoenix.

Plum
Plum fruits are commonly purple. Plum trees are part of the genus Prunus. Here’s the popularity graph for Plum.

Porfiria and Porfirio
Porfiria (feminine) and Porfirio (masculine) are the modern Spanish forms of Porphyrius. Here are the popularity graphs for Porfiria and Porfirio.

Porfiriy
Porfiriy is the modern Russian masculine form of Porphyrius.

Porphyrios
Porphyrios was an Ancient Greek name derived from the word porphyra, meaning “purple dye, purple.”

Porphyrius
Porphyrius is the Latinized form of Porphyrios.

Purple
Purple, which can also be traced back to the ancient Greek word porphyra, is rarely used as a given name…though I did spot a girl named Purple in Los Angeles’ baby name data a few years back.

rebeccapurple

Rebecca
Rebecca is part of “rebeccapurple” — the name of the shade of purple with the hex value #663399. The color name pays tribute to Rebecca Meyer, the daughter of web design pioneer Eric Meyer. Rebecca, whose favorite color was purple, passed away on her 6th birthday (in mid-2014). The biblical name Rebecca is ultimately derived from the Semitic root r-b-q, meaning “to tie” or “to secure.” Here’s the popularity graph for Rebecca.

Sigalit
Sigalit is a Hebrew feminine name meaning “violet.”

Sumire
Sumire (pronounced soo-mee-reh) is a Japanese name that can mean “violet,” depending upon the kanji being used to write the name. Here’s the popularity graph for Sumire.

Temenuzhka
Temenuzhka is a Bulgarian feminine name meaning “violet.”

Thistle
Thistle flowers are usually purple. “Thistle” is the common name of various prickly plants, most of which are in the Asteraceae family. Here’s the popularity graph for Thistle.

Twila
Twila may be based on the English word “twilight.” During twilight, the sky can turn various shades of purple. Here’s the popularity graph for Twila.

Twyla
Twyla is a variant of Twila. Here’s the popularity graph for Twyla.

Tyrian
Tyrian (pronounced TEE-ree-uhn) is part of “Tyrian purple” — the name of the expensive purple dye used during ancient times that I mentioned earlier. The source of the dye was a type of sea snail found in the Mediterranean, near the city of Tyre (now part of Lebanon). The city name can be traced back to the Hebrew word tsor, meaning “rock,” as the settlement was originally built upon a rocky formation. Here’s the popularity graph for Tyrian.

Verbena
Verbena flowers are sometimes purple. The genus name Verbena is derived from the Latin word verbena, which referred to the leaves, twigs, and branches of specific plants (like laurel, olive, and myrtle) that were used during religious ceremonies. Here’s the popularity graph for Verbena.

Vernonia
Vernonia flowers are typically purple. The genus Vernonia was named in honor of English botanist William Vernon.

Viola
Viola is based on the Latin word viola, meaning “violet.” In fact, the genus Viola includes many (though not all) violet flowers. Here’s the popularity graph for Viola.

Violanda
Violanda is another elaboration of Viola. Here’s the popularity graph for Violanda.

Violet
The word violet refers to any flowering plant of the genus Viola — particularly the fragrant species Viola odorata — or to any similar-looking flowering plant. By extension, it also refers to the bluish-purple color of these flowers. Here’s the popularity graph for Violet.

Violeta
The name Violeta is a form of Violet used in Spanish, Romanian, Serbian, Bulgarian, and other languages. Here’s the popularity graph for Violeta.

Violett
Violett is a variant of Violet. Here’s the popularity graph for Violett.

Violetta
Violetta is an Italian and Hungarian form of Violet. Here’s the popularity graph for Violetta.

Violette
The name Violette is a form of Violet used in French. Here’s the popularity graph for Violette.

Violia
Violia is an elaboration of Viola. Here’s the popularity graph for Violia.

Viorica
Viorica is a Romanian form of Viola.

Wisteria
Wisteria (pronounced wuh-STEE-ree-uh) flowers are frequently light purple. The genus Wisteria was named in honor of American physician and anatomist Caspar Wistar. Here’s the popularity graph for Wisteria.

Yolanda
Yolanda may have been derived from the medieval European feminine name Violante, which was based on the Latin word viola, “violet.” Here’s the popularity graph for Yolanda.

Yolande
Yolande is the French form of Yolanda. Here’s the popularity graph for Yolande.

Yukari
Yukari is a Japanese feminine name that can mean “purple,” depending upon the kanji being used to write the name. Here’s the popularity graph for Yukari.

Yukariko
Yukariko is a Japanese name that can include the element Yukari.

Zi
Zi (third tone) is a Chinese name that can mean “purple,” depending upon the character being used to write the name. Here’s the popularity graph for Zi.

Ziming
Ziming is a Chinese name that can include the element Zi.

Ziyang
Ziyang is another Chinese name that can include the element Zi. Here’s the popularity graph for Ziyang.

Zinnia
Zinnia flowers are sometimes purple. The genus Zinnia was named in honor of German botanist Johann Gottfried Zinn. Here’s the popularity graph for Zinnia.


Can you think of any other names that have a connection to the color purple?

P.S. Want to see more color-related baby names? Here are lists of red, orange, yellow, green, and blue names.

Sources:

Images:

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]

Quotes about animal and pet names

sloth

From an article about a baby two-toed sloth at the London Zoo:

Keepers have named the young male Edward after Johnny Depp’s famous character, Edward Scissorhands, due to his impressive claws – which will grow up to four inches in length and enable him to cling on and climb easily through the tree-top branches of his Rainforest Life home.

From an Orion Magazine article about an octopus named Athena:

I was struck by this, since Murphy and others had first described Athena’s personality to me as “feisty.” “They earn their names,” Murphy had told me. Athena is named for the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, and strategy. She is not usually a laid-back octopus, like George had been. “Athena could pull you into the tank,” Murphy had warned. “She’s curious about what you are.”

From a LIFE article about Ham, the First Chimpanzee in Space:

The most famous of all the Mercury chimps, due to his landmark January 1961 flight, Ham was actually not publicly called Ham until after the flight succeeded. The name by which he’s now known — an acronym for Holloman Aerospace Medical Center at the Air Force base — was only widely used when he returned safely to earth; NASA reportedly wanted to avoid bad publicity should a named (and thus a known, publicly embraced) animal be killed; all the Mercury chimps were known by numbers.

From “Maine”s GOP governor, veto record-holder, names new dog Veto” in The Seattle Times:

Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the state’s all-time veto champion, has named his new dog Veto.

LePage, who has earned renown for exercising his veto pen on bills he didn’t like, adopted a Jack Russell terrier mix from a shelter.

[…]

LePage chose the name Veto because his pet “is the mascot of good public policy, defender of the Maine people and protector of hardworking taxpayers from bad legislation,” his spokesman Peter Steele said.

Steele joked that the governor is going to train the dog to deliver vetoes from his office to legislative leaders.

From an AP News article about a baby deer named after a K-pop star:

Fans of the K-pop group NCT 127 donated money in January to name a baby pudu at the Los Angeles Zoo after one of its members, Haechan (HECH’-ehn). This week, the human Haechan got to meet his namesake, snapping selfies with the little deer at his enclosure.

From an article about the trendiness of giving human names to pets in The Atlantic:

Long, long ago — five years, to be precise — Jeff Owens accepted that his calls to the vet would tax his fortitude. When the person on the other end asks his name, Owens, a test scorer in Albuquerque, says, “Jeff.” When they ask for his cat’s name, he has to tell them, “Baby Jeff.” The black exotic shorthair, a wheezy female with a squashed face and soulful orange eyes, is named for Owens, says his partner, Brittany Means, whose tweet about Jeff and Baby Jeff went viral this past spring. The whole thing started as a joke several years ago, when Means started calling every newcomer to their home — the car, the couch — “Baby Jeff.” Faced with blank adoption paperwork in 2017, the couple realized that only one name would do.

Flag of California
Flag of California

From an article about the bear on the California state flag:

Hearst put the bear on display [in 1889] in Golden Gate Park and named him Monarch. At more than 1,200 pounds, Monarch was the largest bear ever held captive.

[…]

Taking a cue from the Sonoma revolt in 1846 [after which a flag featuring a bear was created to represent the captured region], the state again decided to make the California Grizzly the flag’s focal point. Only this time they wanted a bear that actually looked like a bear.

Illustrators used the recently deceased Monarch as the model for the bear on our state flag.

(Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst took the name “Monarch” from the tagline of the San Francisco Examiner, the “Monarch of the Dailies.”)

About Pigcasso, a 450-pound painting pig in South Africa with a great name:

She’s fat, friendly and fabulous! Meet Pigcasso – the fine swine who was rescued from the brink of extinction at a South African pig ‘farm’. From pork chop to hog heaven, she loves the sweet things in life: Eat. Sleep. Eat. Repeat. She also loves to paint – and that’s no hogwash! Pigcasso’s primary purpose? To paint a better picture for farm animals.

(Titles of Pigcasso’s paintings include Grin, Vitality, Rockstar, and Brexit.)

From the description of a mid-2020 video released by the Australian Reptile Park of New South Wales:

We have a very special announcement… Our very first koala of the season has popped out of Mums pouch to say hello!

Keepers have decided to name her Ash! Ash is the first koala born at the park since the tragic Australian bushfires and is a sign of hope for the future of Australia’s native wildlife.

From an article about dog names in New Orleans:

New Orleans dogs are often the namesakes of the cuisine (Gumbo, Roux, Beignet, Po-Boy, Boudin); the Saints (Brees, Payton, Deuce); music (Toussaint, Jazz, Satchmo); streets (Clio, Tchoupitoulas, Calliope); neighborhoods (Pearl, Touro, Gert) and Mardi Gras krewes (Zulu, Rex, Bacchus).

From Tropic Thunder: Making of a War Movie Satire by Emanuel Levy:

One cast member had very few complaints about shooting in Hawaii, never letting it get in the way of her own agenda on the set. The filmmakers found Bertha, the water buffalo that [Jack] Black’s character rides, in Texas and flew her to Kauai on a special plane. But about midway through filming, everyone was in for a big surprise. One day the trainer called us and said, Oh, by the way, Bertha can’t work because when we showed up at the corral this morning, she had a calf, recalls producer McLeod. We didn’t know she was pregnant. No one knew she was pregnant. Bertha having this baby was definitely kind of a humorous morale booster for everyone. In honor of Jack Black, the animal trainer named Bertha’s baby Little Jack.

(Here’s a video of Jack Black talking about getting bucked off Bertha during filming.)

From a 2022 National Park Service Instagram post:

Fun fact: The actual number of bobcats named Bob is fairly small.

Many actually prefer Robert.

Katmai bear "Walker" (NPS)
Katmai bear #151, a.k.a. “Walker”

From the Katmai National Park booklet Bears of Brooks River 2018 (PDF):

Bears at Brooks River are assigned numbers for monitoring, management, and identification purposes. Inevitably, some bears acquire nicknames from staff and these nicknames are included in this book, but naming wild animals is not without controversy. Is it appropriate to name wild animals?

[…]

Names also carry meaning, intentionally or not. What stigmas would you attach to a young bear nicknamed Fluffy versus a large male bear named Killer? How would those stigmas alter your experience when watching that animal?

(The booklet also included the nicknames of various Katmai brown bears. For example, “Walker” had “large dark eye rings” reminiscent of zombie eyes, and “Evander” was missing part of an ear — much like Evander Holyfield after his 1997 fight with Mike Tyson.)

From an article about medieval pet names at Medievalists.net:

In England we find dogs that were named Sturdy, Whitefoot, Hardy, Jakke, Bo and Terri. Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of King Henry VIII, had a dog named Purkoy, who got its name from the French ‘pourquoi’ because it was very inquisitive.

From “A Puppy Called Marvin” by Julie Lasky in the New York Times:

Clara is my 2-year-old Wheaten terrier and one of several dogs in my neighborhood with a name that sounds as if it came from a shuffleboard tournament on a golden-years cruise. Among her pals, Fern is red-nose pit bull, Alfie is (mostly) a black lab and Eleanor is a mix of Bernese mountain dog and poodle.

This pack has led me to conclude that whereas we look back to remote centuries when giving children trendy names like Emma, Sebastian, Julian or Charlotte, we name our dogs after our grandparents.

[…]

This means that future generations of dogs should be prepared to be called the mom-and-dad names of today. Names like Kimberly, Jason and Heather.

From a 2019 video of Vogue editor Anna Wintour talking about her new puppy, named Finch:

She’s called Finch because we call all of our dogs after characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. So we have had a Scout, a Radley, and a Harper. And let me tell you, they are not happy about Finch’s arrival.

DRAM's album "Big Baby DRAM" (2016)
DRAM album

From a video in which rapper DRAM talks about his goldendoodle named Idnit [vid]:

So, Idnit — as in, idn’t it so cute.

From a Mental Floss article about why we call parrots Polly by Kara Kovalchik:

The generic name “Pol” for a parrot can be traced back to England since at least the early 1600s. In his 1606 comedy Volpone, Renaissance playwright — and close friend of William Shakespeare — Ben Jonson assigned many of the characters animal personas which reflected their true nature.

[…]

Two comic relief-type characters, Sir Politic Would-Be (“Sir Pol” for short) and his wife, are visitors from England who are trying to ingratiate themselves into Venetian society, and they do so by simply mimicking the words and behavior of Volpone and his associates. Because of their endearing ignorance of what they are actually saying when they repeat phrases they’ve learned, Jonson describes them as parrots.

It is unclear whether Jonson actually coined the term “Pol” as a catch-all moniker for parrots, or if he simply popularized it. In any case, indulgent British pet owners eventually turned “Pol” into the much cutesier diminutive “Polly,” and both names made their way across the Atlantic.

From a Stuff.co.nz article about a bright orange seagull with a fitting name:

Staff at the Buckinghamshire, England [animal] hospital say the gull somehow got curry or turmeric all over his feathers, which prevented him from flying properly. The bird, named Vinny after the popular Indian dish Vindaloo curry, put up a fight but eventually let the staff scrub his feathers.

From a late 2020 Zoological Society of London news release:

ZSL Whipsnade Zoo’s giraffe herd welcomed a giant six-foot-tall new arrival this week — on what has been dubbed ‘the day of hope’ by staff at the UK’s largest zoo.

The female calf was born at the same time [that] the first COVID-19 vaccine was given to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan, during the early hours of Tuesday 8 December — and in recognition of the poignant moment, the infant has been named Margaret.

From a late 2023 BBC article about a rescued turtle:

The tiny turtle was found in a pretty bad condition off the Scottish island of Iona – which she was named after – in January 2022.

Her rescuers weren’t sure if she was going to make it at first, as she is a loggerhead turtle, a tropical species that needs warm temperatures to survive.

But after almost two years of recovery in the UK and Portugal, Iona has now been released back into the ocean by marine scientists.

Images: sloth by Sophia Müller from Unsplash, flag adapted from Flag of California (public domain), bear by NPS (public domain), the album Big Baby DRAM (2016)

[Latest update: Oct. 2023]

Montana brothers named Reindeer & Rainbow

Around 1920, a 15-year-old Montana boy named Reindeer Coffman was in the news.

Reindeer’s baby brother had died while Reindeer was babysitting. At first, murder was suspected. Later, it was revealed that Reindeer had simply neglected the baby, who proceeded to accidentally strangle himself. (The baby’s shirt collar got caught on a protruding nail.)

One article about the case included a few lines about Reindeer’s name:

The boy’s unusual name caused [Humane Officer A. E. Decew] to make inquiries as to its genuineness. He found not only that Reindeer was called by his correct name but that there was a still more unusual name in the family. Reindeer has a brother named Rainbow.

Sure enough, both Rainbow and Reindeer (spelled “Rainder”) were listed together on the 1920 U.S. Census:

Their parents were William and Mina, and their siblings had the more common names Warren, Emery, Frances, Iona, Henry, Myrtie, Charles, and Allen.

Source: “Nail catches dress, baby is strangled, is brother’s tale.” Great Falls Daily Tribune 13 Mar. 1920: 13.