How popular is the baby name Jerry 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 Jerry.

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Popularity of the baby name Jerry


Posts that mention the name Jerry

Popular boy names: Biblical vs. Non-Biblical

How has the ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names changed over time (if at all) among the most popular baby names in the U.S.?

This question popped into my head recently, so I thought I’d take a look at the data. We’ll do boy names today and girl names tomorrow.

First, let’s set some parameters. For these posts, “Biblical” names are personal names (belonging to either humans or archangels) mentioned in the Bible, plus all derivatives of these names, plus any other name with a specifically Biblical origin (e.g., Jordan, Sharon, Genesis). The “most popular” names are the top 20, and “over time” is the span of a century.

For boy names, the ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names has basically flipped over the last 100 years. Here’s a visual — Biblical names are in the yellow cells, non-Biblical names are in the green cells, and a borderline name (which I counted as non-Biblical) is in the orange cell:

Popular boy names: Biblical vs. non-Biblical.
Popular boy names over time: Biblical (yellow) vs. non-Biblical. Click to enlarge.
  • Biblical names: Adam, Alexander, Andrew, Austin (via Augustus), Benjamin, Daniel, David, Elijah, Ethan, Jack (via John), Jackson (via John), Jacob, James, Jason, John, Jonathan, Joseph, Joshua, Justin (via Justus), Lucas, Mark, Matthew, Michael, Nathan, Nicholas, Noah, Paul, Stephen, Steven, Thomas, Timothy, Zachary
  • Non-Biblical names: Aiden, Albert, Anthony, Arthur, Billy, Brandon, Brian, Charles, Christopher, Dennis, Donald, Dylan, Edward, Eric, Frank, Gary, George, Harold, Harry, Henry, Jayden, Jeffrey, Kenneth, Kevin, Larry, Liam, Logan, Louis, Mason, Raymond, Richard, Robert, Ronald, Ryan, Scott, Tyler, Walter, William
  • Borderline name: Jerry (can be based on the Biblical name Jeremy/Jeremiah or on the non-Biblical names Jerome, Gerald, Gerard)

It felt strange putting an overtly Christian name like Christopher in the non-Biblical category, but it doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible, so…that’s where it goes.

Here are the year-by-year tallies:

YearTop 20 names
given to…		# Biblical# Non-Biblical
191440% of baby boys5 (25%)15 (75%)
192443% of baby boys6 (30%)14 (70%)
193443% of baby boys7 (35%)13 (65%)
194447% of baby boys7 (35%)13 (65%)
195446% of baby boys11 (55%)9 (45%)
196442% of baby boys11 (55%)9 (45%)
197438% of baby boys11 (55%)9 (45%)
198436% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)
199427% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)
200419% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)
201414% of baby boys14 (70%)6 (30%)

But there’s a huge difference between sample sizes of 40% and 14%, so let’s also take a look at the 2014 top 100, which covers 42% of male births.

By my count, last year’s top 100 boy names were half Biblical, half non-Biblical:

Biblical names (49)Non-Biblical names (51)
Noah, Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Alexander, James, Daniel, Elijah, Benjamin, Matthew, Jackson (via John), David, Lucas, Joseph, Andrew, Samuel, Gabriel, Joshua, John, Luke, Isaac, Caleb, Nathan, Jack (via John), Jonathan, Levi, Jaxon (via John), Julian (via Julius), Isaiah, Eli, Aaron, Thomas, Jordan, Jeremiah, Nicholas, Evan, Josiah, Austin (via Augustus), Jace (via Jason), Jason, Jose, Ian, Adam, Zachary, Jaxson (via John), Asher, Nathaniel, Justin (via Justus), JuanLiam, Mason, William, Logan, Aiden, Jayden, Anthony, Carter, Dylan, Christopher, Oliver, Henry, Sebastian, Owen, Ryan, Wyatt, Hunter, Christian, Landon, Charles, Connor, Cameron, Adrian, Gavin, Robert, Brayden, Grayson, Colton, Angel, Dominic, Kevin, Brandon, Tyler, Parker, Ayden, Chase, Hudson, Nolan, Easton, Blake, Cooper, Lincoln, Xavier, Bentley, Kayden, Carson, Brody, Ryder, Leo, Luis, Camden

(Christian, Angel, Xavier, Dominic…all technically non-Biblical, despite having strong ties to Christianity.)

50%-50% isn’t quite as extreme as 70%-30%, but it’s still noticeably more Biblical than 1914’s 25%-75%.

Do any of these results surprise you?

Which Lane sister name do you like best?

The Lane Sisters in the movie "Four Wives" (1939)
The Lane Sisters

The Lane Sisters were a trio of sisters who became famous for their singing and acting during the 1930s and ’40s.

Interestingly, though, their surname wasn’t “Lane.” And there were a total of five of them, not just three.

The Mullican family of Iowa consisted of parents Lorenzo and Cora and their five daughters:

  • Leotabel, or “Leota,” b. 1903
  • Martha, b. 1905
  • Dorothy, or “Lola,” b. 1906
  • Rosemary, b. 1913
  • Priscilla, b. 1915

Four out of the five daughters pursued careers in entertainment. Three out of the four saw success in film. Along the way, they all adopted the simpler surname “Lane.” (Their mother did, too.) And that’s how the final three — Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola — became known as the Lane Sisters.

Which of the five names do you like best? Why?

P.S. Lola Lane, who was one of the actresses who played Torchy Blane, inspired Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel to create the character Lois Lane!

Source: Lane Sisters – Wikipedia

Which “Mod Generation” sticker name do you like best?

mod generation stickers

In 1969, dozens of “Mod Generation” stickers — each of which featured a drawing of a young person, and a first name — were distributed inside packs of Topps chewing gum.

Female names used on the stickers included Alice, Ann, Barbara, Betty, Connie, Diane, Donna, Dotty, Ellen, Esther, Fay, Frances, Gloria, Helen, Jackie, Joan, Judy, Lois, Marie, Mary, Millie, Minda, Nancy, Natalie, Phyllis, Rose, Shelly, and Susan.

mod generation stickers

Male names used on the stickers included Barry, Bert, Bill, Charlie, Chris, Dave, Don, Fred, George, Herb, Irv, Jerry, Joe, John, Larry, Louis, Michael, Paul, Pete, Ray, Richard, Roy, Teddy, and Tony.

mod generation stickers

While of these female and male names do you like most? How about least?

Sources: 1969: “Mod Generation” Stickers, Mod Generation – 1969

Names collected on the island of Hawaii

Earlier this month, my husband and I spent a week camping on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Kilauea Iki pit crater, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Kilauea Iki pit crater, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

It’s not easy to find names to blog about while you’re traversing the still-steaming surface of a pit crater, but I did manage to spot a few names here and there. :)

We spent the first half of the trip in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Our campsite was located off Hilina Pali Road. Here’s the view:

Hilina Pali Lookout, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
Hilina Pali Lookout, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Hilina, which immediately reminded me of Helena, seemed like it might be a name…but turns out it’s just a vocabulary word. In Hawaiian it means “struck (as by wind)” — which is appropriate, as the campsite was extremely windy. But hilina did help me discover Hilina’i in the SSA’s baby name data:

  • 2013: unlisted
  • 2012: 6 baby girls named Hilina’i (all born in Hawaii)
  • 2011: 11 baby girls named Hilina’i (9 born in Hawaii)
  • 2010: unlisted
  • 2009: 5 baby girls named Hilina’i (all born in Hawaii)
  • 2008: 7 baby girls named Hilina’i (all born in Hawaii) [debut]
  • 2007: unlisted

Hilina’i means “to believe, trust; to lean on, rely on; trust, confidence” in Hawaiian.

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is also where the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum is located. It’s named after geologist Thomas Augustus Jaggar (1871-1953), founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO).

One of the museum’s exhibits included three posters that were blown-up copies of pages taken from the old Volcano House hotel register. Each included at least one Hawaiian name. The longest list of names on display came from May, 1891:

Volcano House register, 1891
Volcano House register page from 1891

These are the Hawaiian forenames I think I can make out:

  • Liliuokalani (Queen Lili’uokalani, perhaps?)
  • Kaniu
  • Kahae
  • Wakeki
  • Kaonowai
  • Kawahalama
  • Kele (the Hawaiian form of Jerry)

The Hawaiian names on the other two posters were Mihana, I Kaia, and Pele-liilii. (Liilii isn’t part of the name, but means “small; little; diminutive; young.”)

Another exhibit included a short bio of Thomas Jaggar, and it mentioned that he’d invented an amphibious vehicle in the 1920s “for offshore lava flow observations.”

Ohiki amphibious vehicle
‘Ohiki, the amphibious vehicle invented by Dr. Jaggar

The vehicle’s name? ‘Ohiki, Hawaiian for “sand crab.”

We also did a lot of sightseeing outside the park. One of the places we visited was Rainbow Falls in Hilo, on the east side of the island. One of the plants there had graffiti all over the leaves. We weren’t able to see every name, but here are shots of “Silas + Sarah F.” and “Rachel + Jackson.”

leaf names - leaves

The plant seemed healthy despite the vandalism, thankfully.

leaf names - plant

Something even cooler growing by the falls was this fantastic banyan tree. (That’s me hanging off the tree. Behind me is someone’s bicycle.)

Banyan tree at Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Hawaii
Banyan tree at Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Hawaii

Did you know that Banyan has been on the national baby name list for more than a decade now?

  • 2013: 22 baby boys named Banyan [6 in Hawaii]
  • 2012: 19 baby boys named Banyan [6 in California, 5 in Florida]
  • 2011: 26 baby boys named Banyan [5 in California]
  • 2010: 18 baby boys named Banyan [6 in California]
  • 2009: 21 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2008: 14 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2007: 13 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2006: 15 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2005: 7 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2004: 16 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2003: 7 baby boys named Banyan
  • 2002: 8 baby boys named Banyan
  • …
  • 1996: 5 baby boys named Banyan [debut]

Banyan trees grow best in warm climates, so it doesn’t surprise me that usage of the name is highest in warmer states.

…And that’s it! So I’ll wrap up with this gratuitous shot of the black sand beach in Pololu Valley:

Beach at Pololu Valley, Kohala, Hawaii
Pololu Valley, Kohala, Hawaii

Have you ever been to the Big Island? Do you remember seeing/hearing any interesting names while there?

Sources: