How popular is the baby name Kelis 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 Kelis.
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The name Nas debuted in the U.S. baby name data back in the late 1990s:
1999: unlisted
1998: 5 baby boys named Nas
1997: 5 baby boys named Nas [debut]
1996: unlisted
1995: unlisted
What put it there?
New York rapper Nas (pronounced nahz).
His 1994 debut album Illmatic — today considered one of the best hip-hop albums ever made — didn’t meet commercial expectations.
But his second album, It Was Written (1996), saw mainstream success and produced two big singles. The first, “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” featuring Lauryn Hill, reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in August and received a Grammy nomination. The second, “Street Dreams,” peaked even higher (#22) in January of 1997.
Nas’ stage name is short for his legal first name, Nasir (which also rose in usage as Nas rose to fame). Here’s how he explained his name back in 1994:
My whole name is Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones. Nasir is Arabic. It means “helper and protector.” Bin means “son of.” Jones is the slave part. N*ggas weren’t trying to say my name back in the days. When we used to tag up on trains and high places, we’d climb up — I didn’t want to write Nasir, you couldn’t even say it — I’d just write Nas or Kid Wave.
(“Kid Wave” was a name he used for breakdancing.)
Nas’ father, Mississippi-born jazz trumpeter Olu Dara, changed his name from Charles Jones III in the late 1960s. His new name is comprised of the Yoruba words olu, short for oluwa, meaning “God” or “lord,” and dara, meaning “good.”
Garcia, Bobbito. “Streets Disciple.” Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic, ed. by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai, Basic Civitas Books, 2010, pp. 225-235.
Mononymous singer-songwriter Kelis (pronounced kuh-LEESE).
Her first album, Kaleidoscope, was released in late 1999. The album’s most successful single, “Caught Out There,” reached Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart (peaking at #54 in early 2000).
Perhaps more importantly, though, Kelis’ vocals were featured in the song “Got Your Money” by Ol’ Dirty Bastard (who, like Raekwon, was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan). She sang that memorable hook: “Hey, Dirty / Baby, I got your money / Don’t you worry, I said hey / Baby, I got your money.”
Here’s Kelis in the “Got Your Money” music video (which borrows heavily from the movie Dolemite, incidentally):
The name saw spikes in usage in both 2004 and 2007. (It reached the girls’ top 1,000 for the first and only time in 2007, in fact.) These high points line up with notable moments in Kelis’ career:
Her biggest single, “Milkshake” (2003) reached #3 on the Hot 100 and was nominated for a Grammy. (It was written and produced by The Neptunes, one-half of which is Pharrell Williams.)
Her second-biggest single, “Bossy” (2006), reached #16 on the Hot 100. It was the lead single from the album Kelis Was Here (2006), which earned her a second Grammy nomination.
The singer’s full name is Kelis Rogers. Her parents, Kenneth and Eveliss, created her first name by combining their own names.
If you’re on the hunt for baby names with a numerological value of 2, you’re in luck! Because today’s post features hundreds of 2-names.
Before we get to the names, though — how do we know that they’re “twos” in numerology?
Turning names into numbers
Here’s how to calculate the numerological value of a name.
First, for each letter, come up with a number to represent that letter’s position in the alphabet. (Letter A would be number 1, letter B would be number 2, and so forth.) Then, add all the numbers together. If the sum has two or more digits, add the digits together recursively until the result is a single digit. That single digit is the name’s numerological value.
For instance, the letters in the name Aurora correspond to the numbers 1, 21, 18, 15, 18, and 1. The sum of these numbers is 74. The digits of 74 added together equal 11, and the digits of 11 added together equal 2 — the numerological value of Aurora.
Baby names with a value of 2
Below you’ll find the most popular 2-names per gender, according to the latest U.S. baby name data. I’ve further sub-categorized them by total sums — just in case any of those larger numbers are significant to anyone.
2 via 11
The letters in the following baby names add up to 11, which reduces to two (1+1=2).
Girl names (2 via 11)
Boy names (2 via 11)
Adea, Fe, Aia
Aj, Ja, Cabe
2 via 20
The letters in the following baby names add up to 20, which reduces to two (2+0=2).
There’s no definitive answer, unfortunately, because various numerological systems exist, and each one has its own interpretation of the number two. That said, if we look at a couple of modern numerology/astrology websites, we see 2 being described as “diplomatic,” “cooperative,” “peaceful,” “gentle,” and “understanding.”
We can also look at associations, which are a bit more concrete. Here are some things that are associated with the number 2:
Hands
Feet
Eyes
Ears
Lungs
Chopsticks
Knitting needles
Complementary pairings (e.g., pen and paper, bow and arrow, peanut butter and jelly)
Dualities (e.g., day and night, yin and yang, war and peace)
Boxing (2 competitors; 2 fists)
Partner dancing
DNA double helix
What does the number 2 mean to you? What are your strongest associations with the number?
P.S. To see names with other numerological values, check out the posts for the numbers one, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine.
Pharrell Williams had been a successful producer (as part of The Neptunes) since the mid-1990s, working with Jay Z, Britney Spears, Nelly, Justin Timberlake, Kelis, and others.
But he didn’t start getting attention as a solo artist until 2003. That’s when when he released the single “Frontin’,” which peaked at #5 on the Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in September. (Crazily enough, 2003 was also the year that 43% of songs played on U.S. radio were produced by The Neptunes.)
The same year, the baby name Pharrell debuted impressively in the SSA’s baby name data:
And Pharrell Williams — who has a dad named Pharaoh and a son named Rocket, incidentally — has been on the scene ever since. But 2013 and 2014 were particularly big years for him, with the success of the songs “Blurred Lines” and “Happy,” and his new gig as a judge on The Voice.
Usage of the name cooled off after 2003, but there was a slight increase in 2013. Do you think Williams’ ongoing exposure will boost the name even higher in 2014?
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