How popular is the baby name Kimberly 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 Kimberly.
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Country singer Brad Paisley and actress Kimberly Williams have two sons.
The first one, William Huckleberry, was named in part for Huck Finn.
But the second one, Jasper Warren, has a name story I like even more. His middle name comes from Brad’s grandfather, the person “who gave [Brad] his first guitar and encouraged him to pursue a music career.”
Very cool tribute. Reminds me of the story behind Kiefer Sutherland’s first name.
The name Rory came up a few days ago in the quintuplet post, so I thought now would be a good time to take a closer look at Rory–especially at how pop culture has been tugging the traditionally male name over to the girls’ camp for quite some time.
First, the history. Rory is the Anglicized form of a Gaelic name that has been spelled various ways (e.g. Ruaidhri, Ruaidri, Ruari). Probably the most notable bearer was the last High King of Ireland, Ruaidri Ua Conchobair.
Rory was being used as a boy name in the U.S. long before it first popped up on the SSA’s baby name list in 1933. But this started to change in the late 1940s:
Those 41 baby girls in 1947 made Rory the top debut name for baby girls that year.
So what happened in 1947? The movie Stallion Road, starring actress Alexis Smith as rancher Rory Teller. (It also starred future president Ronald Reagan.)
(Interestingly, in the book Stallion Road, on which the movie was based, the lady rancher was named Fleace Teller. The screenplay was written by William Faulkner — he might have been the one to change it.)
Usage for boys stayed strong during the ’50s and ’60s with the help of actor Rory Calhoun (real name: Francis McCown). But, after Stallion Road faded from memory, usage for baby girls decreased so much that Rory fell off the girls’ list entirely for a few years in the 1960s.
And then, in December of 1968, Rory Kennedy came along.
Rory is the daughter of Ethel Kennedy and the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. She was born six months after her father, a presidential candidate, was assassinated. According to news articles announcing the birth, Ethel liked the name Rory because it was similar to Robert’s name without being “too obvious” (as the name Roberta would have been, she felt).
This time, the female version of Rory was able to hang on until the next pop culture boost: TV series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007).
Character Rory Gilmore was played by Alexis Bledel — yup, another actress name Alexis. (In both cases, though, Alexis was just a stage name. Alexis Bledel’s first name is actually Kimberly, and Alexis Smith was born Gladys Smith.)
And that leads us to today. How has Rory been used lately? It’s a close race:
It’ll be interesting to watch what happens in the next few years. Will usage for girls go back into decline? Will it overtake usage for boys? What do you think?
(Also, feel free to weigh in on Avery, Charlie, Elliot and Peyton.)
Source: “New Kennedy Girl May Be Named.” Schenectady Gazette 14 Dec. 1968: 2.
Actor James Van Der Beek and his wife welcomed a baby girl back in September. They named her Olivia, in part after an olive tree:
“She looks like an Olivia. [Plus] there’s an olive tree in Israel that’s special to us.”
[Wife] Kimberly added: “We spent time under it when we first met in Israel, then we went back to this tree when I was pregnant.”
There are plenty of Olivias being born nowadays — over 17,000 in 2009 — but I don’t think many were named with a specific olive tree in mind. Pretty cool.
Did you know that there have been Miss Americas named Venus (1944), BeBe (1948), Jacque (1949), Vonda (1965) and Leanza (1993)?
Miss America 1926, Norma Smallwood, had the middle name Des Cygne (French for “swans”), which she then passed along to her daughter as a first name (paired with the middle name L’Amour, French for “love”).
In 2000, the Miss America pageant included delegates named Brandee (from New Hampshire), Brandi (from New York) and Brandy (from Arkansas).
Other interesting names I spotted skimming over lists of delegates include…
Which of the above do you like best?
Sources: Titleholders – Miss America Organization, Norma Smallwood – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Lois Delander Miss America 1927
[Latest update: Aug. 2024]
