How popular is the baby name Johnny 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 Johnny.

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Popularity of the baby name Johnny


Posts that mention the name Johnny

Where did the baby name Sturgill come from in 2017?

Country music singer Sturgill Simpson
Sturgill Simpson

The rare name Sturgill first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2017:

  • 2019: unlisted
  • 2018: unlisted
  • 2017: 6 baby boys named Sturgill [debut]
  • 2016: unlisted
  • 2015: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Kentucky-born singer-songwriter Sturgill (pronounced STUR-jil) Simpson, who is “typically classified as a country artist in the outlaw tradition.”

His singles — which include a cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom” [vid] — have never topped the country charts. But his third album, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth (2016), did win a Grammy Award for Best Country Album in early 2017.

Interestingly, Sturgill Simpson (whose full name is John Sturgill Simpson) has since distanced himself from “Sturgill.” He now goes by the stage name Johnny Blue Skies. In mid-2024 he explained,

I got to this point where, I don’t know, like, I kind of wanted my name back for myself. I felt like my identity had just become a brand. (…) And then I realized I was always a big fan of the Derek and The Dominos record. And I thought that was a really neat concept that he hid behind a character to make a very vulnerable rock and roll record of love songs. And I don’t know if he would have done it with his name on it.

(Eric Clapton’s short-lived blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos put out a single album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, in late 1970.)

What are your thoughts on Sturgill as a first name?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Sturgill Simpson photo 2016 by Atlantic Records under CC BY-SA 4.0.

What gave the baby name Seth a boost in 1999?

The character Seth from the movie "City of Angels" (1998)
Seth from “City of Angels“

The paranormal romance City of Angels was released in movie theaters in April of 1998.

The film’s main character, Seth (played by Nicolas Cage), was an angel who helped dying humans transition to the next life.

While doing his work in a Los Angeles hospital, Seth took an interest in heart surgeon Maggie Rice (played by Meg Ryan). He made himself visible (and audible) to her, so that they could communicate with one another, and the pair soon fell in love. Seth ultimately decided to give up his immortality in order to live as a human with Maggie.

City of Angels was a success at the box office and, in 1999, the name Seth was the fastest-rising boy name in the country:

  • 2001: 6,223 baby boys named Seth (rank: 68th)
  • 2000: 6,717 baby boys named Seth (rank: 63rd)
  • 1999: 6,304 baby boys named Seth (rank: 65th)
  • 1998: 4,587 baby boys named Seth (rank: 86th)
  • 1997: 4,043 baby boys named Seth (rank: 97th)

The name reached peak usage one year later.

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Seth in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Seth

The brief-but-steady rise of the name Maggie that began in the late ’90s may have been kicked off by the movie as well:

  • 2000: 1,614 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1999: 1,423 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1998: 1,238 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1997: 1,054 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1996: 1,103 baby girls named Maggie

And one of Seth’s angelic friends, Cassiel (played by Andre Braugher), also had an impact on names. Despite the fact that the character was male, Cassiel debuted in as a girl name in the U.S. baby name data in 1999.

What are your thoughts on the name Seth? (Do you like it more or less than Cassiel?)

P.S. Coincidentally, the movie Universal Soldier: The Return, which came out in mid-1999, also featured characters named Seth and Maggie.

P.P.S. The Goo Goo Dolls’ power ballad “Iris” [vid], which was written for the City of Angels soundtrack, reached #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in December of 1998. Though the name Iris was not mentioned in either the song or the film — vocalist Johnny Rzeznik randomly chose the song’s title after spotting Iris DeMent‘s name in a magazine — the usage of baby name Iris did see an uptick in usage in the late ’90s.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of City of Angels

Babies named Christmas

Christmas tree decorations

How many humans have been named Christmas throughout history?

It’s impossible to know for sure, but records reveal that thousands of babies across the globe have been given “Christmas” as either a first or middle name over the last few centuries. As you’d expect, the majority of them were born on, or close to, December 25th. Some examples…

  • Christmas Smyth, christened in England on Dec. 29, 1622
  • Christmass Elizabeth Cattermaul, christened in England on Dec. 28, 1766
  • Christmas Dagenet, born in the U.S. (Indiana) on Dec. 25, 1799
  • Christmas Griffith, christened in Wales on Dec. 25, 1824
  • Ebenezer Christmas Matthews, christened in England on Jan. 1, 1844
  • Walter Christmas Frost, christened in England on Dec. 25, 1854
  • Horace Christmas Liddle, born in Australia on Dec. 25, 1855
  • Christmas Evans Ward, born in the U.S. (South Carolina) on Dec. 25, 1859
  • Charles Christmas Lambert, born in Australia on Dec. 25, 1866
  • Casper Christmass Kline, born in the U.S. (New York) on Dec. 25, 1866
  • Terry Christmas Donnelly, born in Ireland on Dec. 15, 1879
  • Emma Christmas Thacker, christened in England on Jan. 15, 1880
  • Christmas James Jones, born in Wales on Dec. 25, 1888
  • Earl Christmas Elmendorf, born in the U.S. (Iowa) on Dec. 25, 1892
  • Christmas Roberts, born in England on Dec. 25, 1896
  • Arnold Christmas Flett, born in Canada on Dec. 25, 1900
  • Laverna Christmas Lambas, born in the U.S. (West Virginia) on Dec. 25, 1902
  • Mabel Christmas Tidgwell, born in Canada on Dec. 25, 1903
  • Christmas Higgins, born in the U.S. (Massachusetts) on Dec. 25, 1909
  • Christmas Kaailau Kelii, born in the U.S. (Hawaii) on Dec. 25, 1915
  • Johnny Christmas Mattingly, born in the U.S. (Texas) on Dec. 24, 1945

The parents of hundreds of these babies went even further by creating names out of Christmas-related phrases. For instance…

  • Christmas Eve Flournoy, born in the U.S. (Texas) on Dec. 24, 1871
  • Christmas Carol McCloud, born in the U.S. (California) on Dec. 25, 1909
  • Christmas Day Wagstaff, christened in England on Jan. 27, 1884
  • Christmas Gift Evans, born in the U.S. (New York) on Dec. 25, 1840
  • Merry Christmas Lloyd, born in the U.S. (Ohio) on Dec. 25, 1889

Two more examples are Merry Christmas Miller (born to Conrad and Nellie Miller, the founders of Alaska’s Santa Claus House, in 1961) and Mennonite writer Christmas Carol Kauffman (born in Indiana on Dec. 25, 1902).

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Bellagio Christmas tree by Bert Kaufmann under CC BY-SA 2.0.

What gave the baby name Gilda a boost in the mid-1940s?

The title character from the movie "Gilda" (1946)
Gilda from “Gilda“

The baby name Gilda achieved its highest ranking in 1927, thanks to shimmying Gilda Gray. But it didn’t reach peak numerical usage until two decades later:

  • 1948: 281 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 479th]
  • 1947: 346 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 441st]
  • 1946: 305 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 442nd]
  • 1945: 68 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 920th]
  • 1944: 61 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 994th]

Why did the usage of Gilda more than quadruple in 1946 (which, admittedly, was the first year of the baby boom)?

Because of the hit movie Gilda, which was released in April of that year.

The movie was a “dark and twisted love story” set in Buenos Aires. It involved gambler Johnny Farrell (played by Glenn Ford), who worked for casino owner Ballin Mundson (played by George Macready), whose new wife just so happened to be Johnny’s ex-lover Gilda (played by Rita Hayworth).

A classic of film noir, Gilda featured Hayworth as the quintessential “noir woman,” a duplicitous temptress and an abused victim in equal measure.

Hayworth’s portrayal of the seductive Gilda turned the actress “into one of the cinema’s most unforgettable and enduring sex goddesses.”

Several months after the release of Gilda, the world’s fourth atomic bomb detonation (the first during peacetime) occurred above Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Servicemen had nicknamed the bomb Gilda — a nod to Hayworth’s status as a bombshell — and stenciled “Gilda” on the side of the explosive. They even affixed an image of Rita Hayworth (cut out of Esquire magazine) below the stenciled name.

This spontaneous tribute earned Miss Hayworth nearly as much international publicity as the fearsome “Gilda” got for itself by exploding on schedule. To Miss Hayworth’s studio it amounted to the most literally earth-shaking free plug in the history of the world.

Which name do you like more, Gilda or Rita?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Gilda