How popular is the baby name Jill 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 Jill.

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Popularity of the baby name Jill


Posts that mention the name Jill

Baby names typed by the right hand: Better?

computer keyboard

Years ago, I came up with a list of one-handed baby names — that is, names that are typed with either the left hand or the right hand on a QWERTY keyboard.

Turns out there may be a slight advantage to right-hand names.

According to a study published recently in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, “the QWERTY keyboard may gradually attach more positive meanings to words with more letters located on the right side of the layout (everything to the right of T, G and B).”

Why?

It has to do with fluency.

We tend to like simplicity over complexity, and the harder-to-type letter pairs are on a QWERTY keyboard’s left side — these two facts together may lead people to prefer words (and names) that are typed on the right.

Which names are typed by the right hand only? My original list:

  • Holly
  • Io
  • Jill, Jim, Jimi, Jimmy, Jin, Jo, John, Johnny, Jon, Joni, Joy, Juho, Juli, Julio, Jun, Juno
  • Kiki, Kim, Kimi, Kimiko, Kimmy, Kimo, Kip, Kiyoko, Kojo, Kollin, Kumiko, Kyou
  • Lili, Lilly, Lilou, Lily, Lin, Lino, Loni, Lonny, Lou, Lulu, Lyn, Lynn
  • Miki, Mikki, Mikko, Milly, Milo, Mimi, Min, Minh, Miyu, Molly, Momoko
  • Nik, Nikhil, Niki, Nikki, Niko, Nikol, Nikon, Nuno
  • Olli, Olujimi, Om
  • Phil, Philip, Phillip, Pio, Polly, Poppy
  • Yoko, Yuko, Yumi, Yumiko

Can you think of any others?

Source: Mosher, Dave. “The QWERTY Effect: How Typing May Shape the Meaning of Words.” Wired 7 Mar. 2012. (h/t Anthony Mitchell, @aem76us)

Image: Adapted from Apple Macintosh Plus Extended Keyboard by MagicTom13 under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The fall of Nan & Nanny

Nancy was first used during the medieval era as a form of Agnes, but became popular during the 18th century as a form of Anne.

But it was used as a form of Anne only because the other forms of Anne — Nan and Nanny — had fallen into disuse.

Why were the once-common names Nan and Nanny shunned in the late 17th century? Because they, like several other once-common female names (e.g. Jill, Parnel), had become synonyms for “jade.” Nanny was even used in terms like nanny-house and nanny-shop, synonyms for “brothel.”

So babies stopped getting the names Nan and Nanny. But “[r]espectable people, still liking the name, changed it to Nancy, and in that form it still lives.”

Interesting, no?

Makes me wonder if Parnel (a short form of Petronilla) could have been resurrected with a nifty new ending. Parnelcy? Parncy? Hm.

Sources:

  • Bardsley, Charles Wareing Endell. Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature. London: Chatto & Windus, 1897.
  • Green, Jonathon. Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang. 2nd ed. London: Cassell, 2006.

One-syllable girl names: Kate, Sage, Wren, Maeve

single tree

Looking for a girl name that’s short and to-the-point? Something that might work particularly well as a middle name?

Check out this list of several hundred one-syllable girl names:

  • Anne/Ann, Ash/Ashe, Ayn
  • Banks/Banx, Bar, Bea, Belle/Bell, Bess, Beth, Bjork, Blair/Blaire, Blaise/Blaze/Blayze/Blaize, Blake/Blayke, Blanche, Bless, Blessed, Bliss/Blyss, Bloom, Blue/Blu, Blythe, Brave, Bray, Breck, Bree/Brie, Breeze/Brees, Brett, Bright, Britt, Bronx, Bronze, Brooke/Brook, Bryce/Brice, Brynn/Bryn/Brynne/Brin/Brinn, Burke
  • Cache, Cass, Cate/Cait, Chance, Charm, Chase, Chen, Cher, Chris, Claire/Clare/Clair, Clark/Clarke, Cloud, Clove, Coast, Cove, Cree, Cruz
  • Dale, Dare, Dash, Dawn, Deah, Dee, Deem, Del/Dell, Doll, Dor, Dove, Dream, Drew/Dru
  • Earth, Elle, Eve
  • Fair/Fayre, Faith/Fayth, Fawn/Faun, Fate, Faye/Fay/Fae, Fern/Ferne, Flame, Fleur, Flor, Flynn, Fran
  • Gail/Gayle/Gale, Gal, Gay/Gaye, Gem, Gift, Gold, Grace/Grayce, Gray/Grey, Greer, Gwen, Gwyn/Gwynn/Gwynne
  • Hayes/Haze, Hayle, Heart/Hart, Hope
  • Jace/Jayce, Jade/Jayde/Jaide, Jan, Jane/Jayne, Jaye/Jae, Jazz/Jaz, Jean/Jeanne, Jem, Jen/Jenn, Jess, Jett, Jewel, Jill, Jin/Jyn, Jo, Joan, Joss, Joy/Joye/Joi/Joie, Joyce, Jude, Jules, June, Jung
  • Kai, Kate/Kayte/Kaite, Kay/Kaye/Kae, Kayce, Kayde, Kim, Klaire/Klare/Klair, Klark/Klarke, Kree, Kris, Kyle
  • Lace, Laine/Lane/Layne, Lake, Lark, Leigh/Lee, Light, Liv, Liz, Love, Lux, Luce, Luz, Lynn/Lynne/Lyn/Lin
  • Mae/May, Madge, Maeve/Maebh/Mave, Mai, March, Marge/Marj, Maude/Maud, Maze/Maize/Mayze, Mills, Mirth, Moon
  • Nash, Naz, Nelle/Nell, Neve/Niamh, Nile, Noire/Noir, Noor/Nour, North
  • Paige/Payge/Page, Pam, Pax, Paz, Peace, Peach, Pearl/Perl, Plum, Praise, Prayer, Prim, Psalm, Psalms, Prue, Pure
  • Queen, Quinn
  • Rae/Raye, Rayne/Rain/Raine/Rainn/Reign, Reece/Reese/Rhys, Reem, Reet, Reeve, Rell, Ren, Rise, Rogue, Rome, Rose, Rue, Rune, Rut, Ruth, Ryn/Rin
  • Saint, Sage/Saige/Sayge/Saje, Scout, Shane/Shayne, Shea/Shae/Shay/Shaye, Shine, Silk, Shir, Skye/Sky, Sloane/Sloan, Snow, Sol, Soul, Star/Starr, Storm, Sue/Sioux, Swan, Sway
  • Tai, Taj, Tate, Teal, Tess, Thyme, Tris, Trish, True/Tru, Trust, Truth, Tyne
  • Vail/Vale, Val, Vaughn
  • Wing, Wren/Wrenn, Wryn, Wynn/Wynne/Winn
  • Yaz, Yen
  • Zane/Zain/Zayne, Zeal, Zell, Zen

Please note that I did include names in the gray area between one syllable and two syllables. The deciding factor on these particular names will be your own interpretation/accent, so be sure to test the names out loud before making any final decisions. (“Hayle,” for instance — would you say it like Hale, or like Hailey? Or “Rise” — is it rize, or ree-sah?)

Many of these names also happen to be unisex, so they appear on the one-syllable boy names list as well.

What’s your favorite one-syllable girl name?

Image: Adapted from 1 Drvo 06241 by Olja Simovic under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: July 2023]

The “name-letter effect” (or, why Mildred moved to Milwaukee)

People tend to like the letters in their names more than the letters that are not in their names. This tendency, called the “name-letter effect,” may even influence some of the major life decisions people make. Studies have shown that people are disproportionately likely to…

  • Live in states or cities that resemble their names (i.e. Philip living in Philadelphia)
  • Have careers that resemble their names (i.e. Laura becoming a lawyer)
  • Choose brands that resemble their names (i.e. Peggy buying Pepsi)
  • Marry people whose surnames–or, less often, first names–begin with the same letter as their own (i.e. Jack marrying Jill)

The downside to this phenomenon is that if your initials match a negative outcome, you’re less likely to see that outcome as averse. This could make it harder for you to succeed. For instance, studies have found that:

  • Students whose first or last names start with A or B tend to get better grades and go to better law schools than those whose first or last names start with C or D.
  • Baseball players whose first or last names start with K (e.g. Kevin Kouzmanoff) are more likely to strike out than other players.

None of the above correlations are extremely strong, but they’re statistically significant. So if you want your daughter to reach the Supreme Court, you might want to name her Lauren instead of Cecilia or Deirdre. If your dream is to see your son play in the majors, you might want to play it safe and give him something other than a k-name.

(The researchers who conducted the aforementioned studies include Jozef Nuttin, Brett Pelham, Mauricio Carvallo, Matthew Mirenberg, John Jones, Tom DeHart, John Hetts, C. Miguel Brendl, Amitava Chattopadhyay, Leif Nelson and Joseph Simmons.)