How popular is the baby name Kent in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Kent.
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The unusual name Tekulve was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in the late 1970s:
1981: unlisted
1980: unlisted
1979: 5 baby boys named Tekulve [debut]
1978: unlisted
1977: unlisted
Where did it come from?
Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Kent Tekulve (pronounced tuh-KULL-vee), noted for his submarine-style pitches.
He played in 1,050 professional baseball games from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, and most of them were with the Pirates. In October of 1979, he helped the Pirates fight back from a 3-game deficit to win the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.
The origin of the surname Tekulve isn’t known for sure, but it’s likely to be a variant of the North German topographic name Tehülwe, meaning “at the swamp hole” (denoting a person who lived near such terrain).
Kent: A baby boy born in Michigan in September while his parents were on their way to the hospital was named Nolan Kent — middle name after the road on which he was born. (Fox 2, via Clare’s Name News)
Mahoba Depot: A baby boy born aboard a moving bus in Mahoba district (Uttar Pradesh, India) in September was named Mahoba Depot. (National Herald)
River: The baby boy born to actors Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara in mid-2020 was named River, after Joaquin’s late brother River Phoenix. (Harper’s Bazaar)
Twifia: A baby girl born in Graubünden, Switzerland, in October was given the second middle name Twifia — based on the name of Swiss internet provider Twifi — in exchange for 18 years of free internet. (Kidspot)
Víðir ÞórAlmarsson: A baby boy born in Iceland in May to quarantining parents Almar Þór Jónsson and Kristín Vigdís was named Víðir Þór Almarsson after Iceland’s COVID-19 trifecta: “Chief of Police Víðir Reynisson, Chief Epidemiologist Þórolfur Guðnason, and Director of Health Alma Möller.” (Reykjavik Grapevine)
Zuko: A baby boy born in California two weeks after the state’s stay-at-home order was issued (Mar. 19) was named Zuko after a character from the animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender. (CBS8)
Actress Jameela Jamil labeled “Kamilah Al-Jamil” by E! News
The red carpet prank pulled on actress Jameela Jamil at the Golden Globes back in January:
Jameela Jamil’s name was spelled wrong on E! News during the red carpet show before the 76th annual Golden Globes.
In place of The Good Place star’s name, the network referenced a plot point from the show — that Jamil’s character, Tahani, is always outshined by her sister, Kamilah Al-Jamil.
Jamil herself was more than a good sport about the misnaming at the Globes. “This is legit the funniest thing I have ever seen,” the actress tweeted. “Tahani would DIE!”
Tiffany Towers, a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Beverly Hills, said she understands why parents may be agreeable to allowing their children to choose or change their names so readily.
It can be either an attempt to empower their children or to avoid the pressure of assigning a name to their offspring, Dr. Towers said. Perhaps the parents don’t want to feel responsible for their child being bullied for having a weird or old-fashioned name. Or maybe they believe that their child’s future will be shaped by this initial identity of a name (a name that the child didn’t request), and they fear that their child will resent them or feel oppressed by their name.
By the turn of the century, the Bob-to-Rob transition had been essentially complete. No Major Leaguer has gone by Bob since journeyman reliever Bob Howry retired in 2010. There are dozens of Robs, Robbys and Bobbys currently in the Minors working their way up the ladder, but no Bobs to be found.
Should social media influence your choice in baby names?
[E]xperts say consulting social media when naming your child — be it asking others about a name on Facebook, or using social media handles to inform a name — can be smart. “With the goal of not having your child get lost in the social shuffle and losing opportunities, it may be best to take a proactive social branding strategy or ‘self insurance’ from the very start of their life,” says Robb Hecht, an adjunct professor of marketing at Baruch College in New York City.
[…]
Others disagree: Lots of people have a social media handle that’s different from their name, so that shouldn’t be a factor in naming your child, says Kim Randall, the owner of KiMedia Strategies. Adds Kent Lewis, the president and founder of marketing firm Anvil: “A [social media] handle can be changed or modified over time, and typically isn’t as important as the content and visibility of the profile.”
How much free advertising has Starbucks got from the incorrect (and correct) spelling of their baristas? […] If we are to accept that people sharing images (especially with a brand name or @ mention) is the most valuable form of “free advertising” for Starbucks on social, the whole name spelling trend is working harder than the general conversation to generate it. […] If this is all a scheme by Starbucks to get free advertising on social media, it’s a very good one indeed.
From an article about the Cook Islands, which is considering a name change “to reflect its Polynesian heritage”:
The nation was named after British explorer James Cook who landed on the islands in the 1700s.
A committee is considering 60 options in Cook Islands Maori including Rangiaroa, meaning Love from the Heavens and Raroatua which translates as We Stand Under God.
“(It’s) kind of weird sometimes when people come right up to me and say ‘Alexa, what’s the best restaurant in …’ or ‘Alexa, how do I get to …’ and they’re joking of course, but initially you’re kind of taken aback a bit that people are using it in that way,” [Alexa] Gorenko said.
[…]
As for Gorenko, she said the newfound prominence of her name has actually helped her embrace it.
“It kind of brought the name out to me, because there aren’t very many people named Alexa and now you hear it all the time,” she said.
The couple is so concerned that they wrote to Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, and proposed a different name to the popular device. Lew Klein said they did hear back.
Amazon explained to them that the product was named after the famous Library of Alexandria that “stored the knowledge of the ancient world.” While the message said the suggestion would be passed along, Amazon has no plans on changing the name anytime soon.
(This reminds me of the time when people named Zoe in France got angry about the name of the Renault Zoe.)
“Everly” is hot…”Beverly” is not. It’s a one-letter difference between fashionable and fusty.
If you’re sensitive to style, you’ll prefer Everly. It fits with today’s trends far better than Beverly does.
But if you’re someone who isn’t concerned about style, or prefers to go against style, then you may not automatically go for Everly. In fact, you may be more attracted to Beverly because it’s the choice that most modern parents would avoid.
If you’ve ever thought about intentionally giving your baby a dated name (like Debbie, Grover, Marcia, or Vernon) for the sake of uniqueness within his/her peer group — if you have no problem sacrificing style for distinctiveness — then this list is for you.
Years ago, the concept of “contrarian” baby names came up in the comments of a post about Lois. Ever since then, creating a collection of uncool/contrarian baby names has been on my to-do list.
Finally, last month, I experimented with various formulas for pulling unstylish baby names out of the SSA dataset. Keeping the great-grandparent rule in mind, I aimed for names that would have been fashionable among the grandparents of today’s babies. The names below are the best results I got.
Interestingly, thirteen of the names above — Bobbie, Cary, Dale, Jackie, Jimmie, Jody, Kerry, Kim, Lynn, Robin, Sandy, Tracey, Tracy — managed to make both lists.
Now some questions for you…
Do you like any of these names? Would you be willing to use any of them on a modern-day baby? Why or why not?
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