How popular is the baby name Leopold 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 Leopold.
The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.
New York City lawyer and businessman Isaac Leopold Rice is best remembered as the founder of the Electric Boat Company, which built the first modern submarine commissioned by the U.S. Navy (in 1900).
Before he did that, though, he had a family. He married his wife Julia in 1885, and the wealthy couple welcomed six children in the late 1880s and early 1890s. All six went by nicknames, and all four of the girls had rhyming nicknames:
Name
Nickname
Muriel
Dolly
Dorothy
Polly
Isaac Leopold, Jr.
Tommy
Marion
Molly
Marjorie
Lolly
Julian
Baby/Babe
Dorothy and Marion both went on to become aviators (among other things).
What are your thoughts on these names/nicknames?
P.S. In the 1930s and ’40s, actor Don Ameche similarly had six kids with (mostly) rhyming nicknames…
The image above, of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, was captured in early 1838 by Louis Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype.
It may be the earliest surviving photograph of a person. Two people, actually. Both are in the lower left.
Here’s a close-up:
The standing man is getting his shoe shined, and the other man (partially obscured) is doing the shoe-shining.
Of all the people on the sidewalk that day, these were the only two to stay still long enough (about 10 minutes) to be captured in the image.
Now for the fun part!
What would you name these two Frenchmen?
Let’s pretend you’re writing a book set in Paris in the 1830s, and these are two of your characters. What names would you give them?
Here’s a long list of traditional French male names, to get you started:
Abel Absolon Achille Adam Adolphe Adrien Aimé Alain Alban Albert Alexandre Alfred Alphonse Amaury Amroise Amédée Anatole André Anselme Antoine Antonin Apollinaire Ariel Aristide Armand Arnaud Arsène Arthur Aubert Aubin Auguste Augustin Aurèle Aurélien Baptiste Barnabé Barthélémy Basile Bastien Benjamin Benoit Bernard Bertrand Blaise Boniface Bruno Calixte Camille Céleste Célestin Césaire César Charles Christian Christophe
Clair Claude Clément Clovis Constant Constantin Corentin Corin Corneille Cosme Cyril Damien Daniel David Denis Déodat Désiré Didier Dieudonné Dimitri Diodore Dominique Donat Donatien Edgar Edgard Edmé Edmond Édouard Élie Eloi Émeric Émile Émilien Emmanuel Enzo Éric Ermenegilde Ernest Ethan Étienne Eugène Eustache Évariste Évrard Fabien Fabrice Félicien Félix Ferdinand Fernand Fiacre Firmin Florence Florent
Florentin Florian Francis François Frédéric Gabriel Gaël Gaëtan Gaspard Gaston Gaubert Geoffroy Georges Gérard Géraud Germain Gervais Ghislain Gilbert Gilles Gratien Grégoire Guatier Guillaume Gustave Guy Hector Henri Herbert Hercule Hervé Hilaire Hippolyte Honoré Horace Hubert Hugues Humbert Hyacinthe Ignace Irénée Isidore Jacques Jason Jean Jérémie Jérôme Joachim Jocelyn Joël Jonathan Joseph Josse Josué Jourdain
Jules Julien Juste Justin Laurent Laurentin Lazare Léandre Léo Léon Léonard Léonce Léonide Léopold Lionel Loïc Lothaire Louis Loup Luc Lucas Lucien Lucrèce Ludovic Maël Marc Marcel Marcellin Marin Marius Martin Mathieu Mathis Matthias Maurice Maxence Maxime Maximilien Michaël Michel Modeste Narcisse Nathan Nathanaël Nazaire Nicéphore Nicodème Nicolas Noé Noël Norbert Odilon Olivier Onésime Pascal
Patrice Paul Philippe Pierre Placide Pons Prosper Quentin Rainier Raoul Raphaël Raymond Régis Rémy René Reynaud Richard Robert Roch Rodolphe Rodrigue Roger Roland Romain Rosaire Ruben Salomon Samuel Sébastien Séraphin Serge Sévère Séverin Simon Sylvain Sylvestre Télesphore Théodore Théophile Thibault Thierry Thomas Timothée Toussaint Urbain Valentin Valère Valéry Vespasien Victor Vincent Vivien Xavier Yves Zacharie
For some real-life inspiration, here are lists of famous 19th century and 20th century French people, courtesy of Wikipedia. Notice that many of the Frenchman have double-barreled, triple-barreled, even quadruple-barreled given names. (Daguerre himself was named Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre.)
German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) had a total of 20 children.
He had seven with his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach (who was his 2nd cousin). Four of these children survived to adulthood.
Catharina Dorothea (1708-1774)
Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-1784)
Maria Sophia [twin] (1713)
Johann Christoph [twin] (1713)
Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788)
Johann Gottfried Bernhard (1715-1739)
Leopold Augustus (1718-1719)
The other 13 he had with his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcke. Six survived to adulthood.
Christiana Sophia Henrietta (1723-1726)
Gottfried Heinrich (1724-1763)
Christian Gottlieb (1725-1728)
Elisabeth Juliana Friderica (1726-1781)
Ernestus Andreas (1727)
Regina Johanna (1728-1733)
Christiana Benedicta Louisa (1730)
Christiana Dorothea (1731-1732)
Johann Christoph Friedrich (1732-1795)
Johann August Abraham (1733)
Johann Christian (1735-1782)
Johanna Carolina (1737-1781)
Regina Susanna (1742-1800)
Do you like any of these names? If so, which ones?
Sources:
David, Hans T., Arthur Mendel and Christoph Wolff. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.
Schulenberg, David. Bach. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Wondering which names were the most popular in Austria, say, 116 years ago? Of course you are!
Luckily, the New York Times has the answer. In 1895, the paper reported that the most popular names in Austria “according to the last census” were these:
Male Names
Female Names
Franz (1,834,000 males) Johann (1,380,000) Josef (1,085,000) Leopold (584,000) Wenzel (448,000)
Anna (1,780,000 females) Maria (1,632,000) Elizabeth (1,260,000)
The name Wenzel comes (via Wenceslaus, via Václav) from the Slavic name Veceslav, made up of elements meaning “more” and “glory.”
In 1895, Austria was actually part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a dual monarchy ruled by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. (The 1914 assassination of his nephew/heir presumptive, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, is what kicked off WWI.)
Sources:
“Austria’s Most Popular First Names.” New York Times 28 Aug. 1895: 4.
This website or its third-party tools process personal data.In case of sale of your personal information, you may opt out by using the link Do not sell my personal information.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
