How popular is the baby name Ledgen 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 Ledgen.

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Popularity of the baby name Ledgen


Posts that mention the name Ledgen

Baby names with DG: Ledger, Bridger, Judge

hedgehog

Feeling nudged to choose a baby name that contains the letter-pair DG?

It’s an uncommon combination, but I’ve tracked down a few dozen options for you in this post!

Before we get to the names, though, let’s learn…

Where did -DGE come from in English?

French scribes, essentially.

In Old English, the “soft g” sound was rare, and it only occurred at the end of a word. When it did pop up, it was spelled with the digraph CG.

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the ruling class of England spoke Anglo-Norman French. Over time, “the French-educated scribes [began] imposing traditional French spelling rules on English.”

The Normans had brought with them “soft g” words that utilized the letters G and I (which later evolved into J), but for native English words that contained the same sound, they decided to swap out CG for the trigraph DGE.

Some examples…

Old EnglishModern English
brycgbridge
ecgedge
hecghedge
hrycgridge
wecgwedge

Words derived from Anglo-Norman that happen to have the same ending include judge, pledge, and badge, and budge.

Now, on to the names!

Names with DG

Below are names that feature either DGE or the letter-pair DG (if it represents the same “soft G” sound). All of these names come from the SSA’s baby name data.

  • Adger
  • Adgie
  • Aldridge
  • Bridge
  • Bridger
  • Bridges
  • Bridget, Bridgett, Bridgette, Bridgete
  • Bridgetta
  • Bridgid
  • Bridgit, Bridgitt, Bridgitte
  • Cambridge
  • Coleridge
  • Condredge
  • Coolidge, Cooledge
  • Dandridge
  • Dodge
  • Dodger
  • Edge
  • Edgel
  • Edger
  • Edgerrin, Edgerin
  • Edwidge
  • Elbridge
  • Eldredge
  • Eldridge
  • Elridge
  • Etheridge
  • Ethridge
  • Gadge
  • Gidget, Gidgette
  • Hodge
  • Hodges
  • Judge
  • Knowledge
  • Ledgen
  • Ledgend
  • Ledger
  • Madge
  • Madgel
  • Madgie
  • Midge
  • Midgie
  • Milledge
  • Naledge
  • Padgett
  • Pledger
  • Redge
  • Redgie
  • Redginald
  • Ridge, Rydge
  • Ridger
  • Ridgely
  • Ridgeway
  • Ridgway
  • Rodger
  • Rodgerick
  • Rodgers
  • Rutledge
  • Sedgie
  • Sedgwick
  • Talmadge

Which DG name do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Igel by Mi chaela under CC BY 2.0.

The top boy-name debuts of 2017

lotus bud

Asahd was the top debut name on the boys’ side of the list in 2017.

The boy names that debuted most impressively last year were…

1. Asahd, 58 baby boys
2. Kashdon, 30
3. Kassian, 22
4. Draxler / Ikeni / Noctis, 17 each (3-way tie)
5. Dakston, 13

In order for a rare baby name to make the cut and appear in the SSA’s baby name data for the first time, it has to be given to at least 5 babies (of either one gender or the other) within a given year.

The other names that debuted with ten-or-more baby boys in 2017 were Amunra, Arjunreddy, Irtaza, Ledgen, Gurbaaz, Caspen, Meliodas, Sreyan, Tewodros, and Yeziel.

Debuts lower down on the list include: Aarushreddy, Imronbek, Benjen, Kadafi, Killiam, Agambir, Almighty, Bamlak, Kuiper, Munther, Owsley, Slayer, Tolkien, Tuguldur, Vandawt, Zage, Zealous, Aoto, Bender, Bodhisattva, Cerulean, Go.

If you know what the explanations are for any of them, please leave a comment!

Here are the top boy name debuts of 2016.

[Note: I’ll be updating this post throughout the day.]

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri