How popular is the baby name Lou 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 Lou.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Lou


Posts that Mention the Name Lou

Popular baby names in Switzerland, 2022

Switzerland

Mountainous, landlocked Switzerland is located in the middle of Europe and surrounded by five other countries: Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, and France.

Last year, Switzerland welcomed 82,371 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Noah.

Here are Switzerland’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 361 baby girls
  2. Mia, 356
  3. Sofia, 318
  4. Emilia, 292
  5. Lina, 289
  6. Elena, 280
  7. Mila, 267
  8. Nora, 258
  9. Malea, 249
  10. Lia, 230 (tie)
  11. Olivia, 230 (tie)
  12. Ella, 222
  13. Anna, 219 (tie)
  14. Giulia, 219 (tie)
  15. Alice, 218 (tie)
  16. Lea, 218 (tie)
  17. Alina, 212 (tie)
  18. Lena, 212 (tie)
  19. Nina, 210
  20. Chiara, 208 (tie)
  21. Lara, 208 (tie)
  22. Luna, 195
  23. Leonie, 194
  24. Elina, 193
  25. Sophia, 192
  26. Yara, 186
  27. Julia, 185
  28. Laura, 182
  29. Elin, 178
  30. Valentina, 176
  31. Sara, 175
  32. Emily, 170
  33. Aurora, 168
  34. Amelia, 167
  35. Luana, 166
  36. Sophie, 165
  37. Livia, 151
  38. Elisa, 143
  39. Eva, 141 (tie)
  40. Juna, 141 (tie)
  41. Zoé, 138
  42. Mara, 133
  43. Victoria, 131
  44. Jana, 129
  45. Ronja, 128
  46. Lou, 127 (tie)
  47. Maria, 127 (tie)
  48. Ava, 126
  49. Charlotte, 124
  50. Alma, 123 (tie)
  51. Malia, 123 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 540 boy names
  2. Liam, 428
  3. Matteo, 353
  4. Leon, 293
  5. Luca, 291
  6. Gabriel, 286
  7. Elias, 281
  8. Leo, 256
  9. Louis, 251
  10. Leano, 242
  11. Lio, 233
  12. Leonardo, 224
  13. Lian, 210
  14. Nino, 208
  15. Elio, 205
  16. Julian, 201
  17. Aaron, 199
  18. Nico, 197
  19. Elia, 196 (tie)
  20. Levi, 196 (tie)
  21. Samuel, 191
  22. Finn, 184
  23. Malik, 177
  24. Luan, 176
  25. David, 174 (tie)
  26. Leandro, 174 (tie)
  27. Mattia, 169
  28. Diego, 168 (tie)
  29. Milo, 168 (tie)
  30. Adam, 157
  31. Ben, 156
  32. Levin, 155
  33. Dario, 152 (tie)
  34. Nael, 152 (tie)
  35. Arthur, 151 (tie)
  36. Noé, 151 (tie)
  37. Jonas, 150 (tie)
  38. Lenny, 150 (tie)
  39. Mateo, 149
  40. Livio, 148
  41. Lucas, 145
  42. Robin, 144
  43. Enea, 138
  44. Nathan, 137
  45. Kian, 136
  46. Nelio, 134
  47. Mael, 128
  48. Tim, 127
  49. Theo, 126
  50. Enzo, 123 (tie)
  51. Laurin, 123 (tie)

The name Malea has risen significantly (among German-speakers almost exclusively) over the last twenty years. Malea debuted in the Swiss data in 2003, vaulted from outside the girls’ top 1,000 all the way to 261st in 2009, rose to the top 100 a few years later, and finally entered the top 10 in 2022. No doubt this rise was fueled by the trendiness of Mia, Emilia, and Mila. (Mia has ranked either #1 or #2 in Switzerland ever since 2011.)

The girls’ top 100 included Yuna (59th), Dua (66th), Melissa (84th), and Ida (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Nevio (55th), Fabio (71st), Romeo (85th), and Timo (94th).

Switzerland, which is home to about 8.7 million people, has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top baby names among the speakers of each of these languages:

Girl NamesBoy Names
German speakers
(62.3% of the population)		1. Emilia, 273
2. Mia, 272
3. Malea, 243
4. Emma, 238 (tie)
5. Lina, 238 (tie)		1. Noah, 353
2. Liam, 266
3. Leon, 264 (tie)
4. Matteo, 264 (tie)
5. Leano, 241
French speakers
(22.8% of pop.)		1. Alice, 125
2. Emma, 107
3. Olivia, 86
4. Eva, 85
5. Sofia, 83		1. Noah, 168
2. Gabriel, 137
3. Liam, 136
4. Arthur, 102
5. Louis, 94
Italian speakers
(8.0% of pop.)		1. Sofia, 30
2. Aurora, 22 (tie)
3. Emily, 22 (tie)
4. Ginevra, 20
5. Nina, 17		1. Leonardo, 44
2. Liam, 26
3. Alessandro, 20
4. Noah, 19
5. Enea, 18
Romansh speakers
(0.5% of pop.)		1. Lia, 3 (tie)
2. Sofia, 3 (tie)
3. Elin, 2		1. Jan, 3 (tie)
2. Mauro, 3 (tie)
3. Andrin, Gian, Joel, Levi, Lino, Lio, 2 each (6-way tie)

And here’s a selection of names from the other end of the spectrum — names that were given to just two babies each in Switzerland in 2022:

Rare Girl Names Rare Boy Names
Airi, Berfin, Catalia, Demiana, Elikia, Franka, Gini, Hevi, Ilirida, Jemina, Kemilly, Lamia, Maluna, Nainika, Ornella, Pema, Qiana, Rhéa, Sinja, Tringa, Ursina, Vinia, Wilda, Xenja, Yanna, ZerinAthos, Bosco, Cuno, Divico, Eleano, Filmon, Gauthier, Hansueli, Ilio, Janic, Kauã, Lirim, Menzo, Nart, Orfeas, Pharell, Qamil, Rexhep, Surafiel, Tamino, Unejs, Vid, Wayne, Xhan, Yori, Zidane

Some definitions/explanations:

  • Hansueli is a Swiss-German combination of Hans (equivalent to John) and Ueli (a diminutive of Ulrich).
  • Lirim is based on the Albanian word liri, meaning “freedom, liberty.”
  • Maluna may have been inspired by a German children’s book series featuring a fairy character named Maluna Mondschein. (Her first name is an elaboration of luna, Latin for “moon,” while her last name is German for “moonshine.”) The six books, written by Andrea Schütze, were published from 2014 to 2019.

Finally, here’s a link to Switzerland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: First names of newborns – Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland – Wikipedia, Languages of Switzerland – Wikipedia, Behind the Name

Image by Claudia Beyli from Pixabay

Popular baby names in France, 2022

France

The country of France — which was the most populous country in Europe from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, and still ranks within the top five today — shares land borders with eight other countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain.

Last year, France welcomed about 723,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Jade (pronounced zhahd) and Gabriel.

Here are France’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Jade, 3,420 baby girls
  2. Louise, 3,412
  3. Ambre, 3,380
  4. Alba, 3,280
  5. Emma, 3,158
  6. Rose, 2,692
  7. Alice, 2,520
  8. Romy, 2,409
  9. Anna, 2,380
  10. Lina, 2,355
  11. Léna, 2,266
  12. Mia, 2,173
  13. Lou, 2,114
  14. Julia, 2,056
  15. Chloé, 2,004
  16. Alma, 1,974
  17. Agathe, 1,958
  18. Iris, 1,904
  19. Inaya, 1,875
  20. Charlie, 1,834
  21. Juliette, 1,802
  22. Léa, 1,791
  23. Victoire, 1,772
  24. Luna, 1,751
  25. Giulia, 1,745
  26. Adèle, 1,718
  27. Jeanne, 1,699
  28. Nina, 1,669
  29. Eva, 1,630
  30. Olivia, 1,546
  31. Zoé, 1,523
  32. Léonie, 1,511
  33. Romane, 1,481
  34. Victoria, 1,452
  35. Nour, 1,372
  36. Inès, 1,284 (tie)
  37. Lya, 1,284 (tie)
  38. Lucie, 1,261
  39. Lyana, 1,235
  40. Lola, 1,205
  41. Alix, 1,182
  42. Charlotte, 1,176
  43. Mila, 1,173
  44. Sofia, 1,168
  45. Louna, 1,163
  46. Ava, 1,153 (tie)
  47. Margaux, 1,153 (tie)
  48. Elena, 1,149
  49. Emy, 1,118
  50. Mya, 1,115

Boy Names

  1. Gabriel, 4,889 baby boys
  2. Léo, 4,078
  3. Raphaël, 3,798
  4. Maël, 3,571
  5. Louis, 3,560
  6. Noah, 3,325
  7. Jules, 3,308
  8. Arthur, 3,284
  9. Adam, 3,212
  10. Lucas, 2,774
  11. Liam, 2,715
  12. Sacha, 2,613
  13. Isaac, 2,590
  14. Gabin, 2,561
  15. Eden, 2,460
  16. Hugo, 2,447
  17. Naël, 2,325
  18. Aaron, 2,287
  19. Mohamed, 2,237
  20. Léon, 2,203
  21. Paul, 2,200
  22. Noé, 2,154
  23. Marceau, 1,970
  24. Ethan, 1,963
  25. Nathan, 1,899
  26. Théo, 1,872
  27. Tom, 1,843
  28. Nino, 1,825
  29. Marius, 1,751
  30. Ayden, 1,717
  31. Malo, 1,715
  32. Mathis, 1,636
  33. Gaspard, 1,606
  34. Martin, 1,559
  35. Lyam, 1,549
  36. Victor, 1,537
  37. Rayan, 1,484
  38. Elio, 1,432
  39. Timéo, 1,424
  40. Eliott, 1,420
  41. Milo, 1,416
  42. Robin, 1,393
  43. Tiago, 1,383
  44. Valentin, 1,378
  45. Ibrahim, 1,359
  46. Axel, 1,350
  47. Augustin, 1,317
  48. Amir, 1,305
  49. Enzo, 1,270
  50. Imran, 1,246

The girls’ top 100 included Alya (53rd), Diane (81st), Maddy (90th), and Suzanne (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Camille (61st), Mahé (66th), Basile (78th), and Andrea (91st).

Charlie is still rising on the girls’ side — which could explain why the parents of baby boys slightly prefer the spelling Charly (73rd) over the spelling Charlie (80th) these days.

In the capital city of Paris last year, the top boy name was also Gabriel, but the top girl name was Alma instead of Jade. (Jade was tied with Léa for 10th/11th place in Paris.)

Finally, here are France’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Classement des prénoms en France depuis 1900 – Insee, Demographic report 2022 – Insee, Demographics of France – Wikipedia

Image by Rafael K. Streit from Unsplash

Popular baby names in Paris, 2022

Paris, France

Paris, the capital of France, has an area of 41 square miles and a population of about 2.1 million — making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world.

Last year, Paris’ most popular baby names were Alma and Gabriel.

Here are the city’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Alma, 211 baby girls
  2. Louise, 210
  3. Emma, 152
  4. Jeanne, 150
  5. Anna, 144
  6. Adèle, 138
  7. Rose, 136
  8. Gabrielle, 133
  9. Chloé, 131
  10. Jade, 128 (tie)
  11. Léa, 128 (tie)
  12. Victoria, 126
  13. Alice, 120 (tie)
  14. Lina, 120 (tie)
  15. Sofia, 117
  16. Iris, 115 (tie)
  17. Olivia, 115 (tie)
  18. Juliette, 114 (tie)
  19. Victoire, 114 (tie)
  20. Romy, 113
  21. Eva, 111
  22. Joséphine, 106
  23. Ava, 104
  24. Fatoumata, 103
  25. Alba, 98
  26. Diane, 96
  27. Ambre, 94 (3-way tie)
  28. Nina, 94 (3-way tie)
  29. Zoé, 94 (3-way tie)
  30. Charlotte, 92
  31. Mia, 90
  32. Alix, 89 (tie)
  33. Julia, 89 (tie)
  34. Léonie, 88
  35. Sarah, 87
  36. Ella, 86
  37. Lou, 83
  38. Suzanne, 82
  39. Charlie, 81
  40. Nour, 78
  41. Héloïse, 75
  42. Mariam, 74
  43. Romane, 72
  44. Inaya, 68
  45. Agathe, 64
  46. Inès, 63 (tie)
  47. Maya, 63 (tie)
  48. Madeleine, 62
  49. Céleste, 59
  50. Aminata, 57 (tie)
  51. Fatima, 57 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Gabriel, 332 baby boys
  2. Adam, 254
  3. Raphaël, 250
  4. Louis, 223
  5. Mohamed, 209
  6. Arthur, 199
  7. Isaac, 190
  8. Noah, 180
  9. Gaspard, 175
  10. Léon, 173
  11. Léo, 158
  12. Joseph, 154
  13. Paul, 150
  14. Lucas, 145
  15. Victor, 139
  16. Hugo, 119
  17. Alexandre, 118
  18. Jules, 116
  19. Sacha, 115
  20. Ibrahim, 109
  21. Noé, 103
  22. Augustin, 101
  23. Liam, 95
  24. Oscar, 94
  25. Samuel, 92
  26. Maël, 91
  27. Marceau, 89 (3-way tie)
  28. Simon, 89 (3-way tie)
  29. Timothée, 89 (3-way tie)
  30. Nathan, 88
  31. Basile, 81
  32. Côme, 80
  33. Aaron, 79
  34. Ethan, 78
  35. Auguste, 77 (4-way tie)
  36. Eliott, 77 (4-way tie)
  37. Moussa, 77 (4-way tie)
  38. Naël, 77 (4-way tie)
  39. Marius, 75
  40. Eden, 74
  41. Mathis, 72 (tie)
  42. Rayan, 72 (tie)
  43. Achille, 71 (3-way tie)
  44. Andrea, 71 (3-way tie)
  45. Valentin, 71 (3-way tie)
  46. Antoine, 70
  47. Charles, 69
  48. Ismaël, 68
  49. Léonard, 66 (tie)
  50. Martin, 66 (tie)

And here’s a selection of names from lower down in the rankings, which includes all names given to at least five Parisian babies (of one gender or the other) per year.

Girl namesBoy names
Aliénor (40 baby girls), Mahaut (26), Louison (17), Mahault (15), Cassandre (10), Kimia (9), Solène (8), Bertille (7), Astrée (6), Bamby (5)Gaston (34 baby boys), Mathéo (27), Ruben (23), Ambroise (21), Célestin (16), Camil (13), Louison (7), Thaddée (7), Barthélémy (5), Ennio (5)

The female names Mahaut and Mahault are Middle French forms of Mathilde, and the gender-neutral name Louison is a diminutive of both Louise and Louis.

Finally, here’s a link to Paris’ 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Prénoms déclarés – Paris Data, Paris – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, Mathilda – dmnes.org

Image by philriley427 from Pixabay

What gave the baby name Marylou a boost in 1961?

Ricky Nelson's single "Hello Mary Lou" (1961).
“Hello Mary Lou” single

The baby name Marylou was generally on the decline during the second half of the 20th century, but there was a conspicuous spike in usage in 1961 specifically:

  • 1963: 207 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 708th]
  • 1962: 207 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 719th]
  • 1961: 300 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 580th]
  • 1960: 227 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 675th]
  • 1959: 223 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 670th]

You can see it on the graph:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Marylou in the United States since 1880
Usage of the baby name Marylou

What caused the spike?

The Ricky Nelson song “Hello Mary Lou” (1961), which peaked at #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in May of 1961.

It was written by Gene Pitney, but sounded enough like the earlier song “Merry, Merry Lou” [vid] by Cayet Mangiaracina that the two musicians are now credited as co-authors.

Here’s “Hello Mary Lou”:

The song was released as the B-side to Nelson’s #1 hit “Travelin’ Man.” It was also included on his sixth studio album, Rick Is 21.

That album title is notable because, on his 21st birthday, Nelson — born Eric Hilliard Nelson in 1940 — officially changed his recording name from “Ricky Nelson” to “Rick Nelson.”

The name change was a hard sell, though, because audiences had known him for so long as Ricky. He’d gone by “Ricky” on his family’s long-running sitcom, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (on radio and/or television from 1944 to 1966), and he’d continued to use “Ricky” when he launched his recording career in 1957. (His first five albums were called Ricky, Ricky Nelson, Ricky Sings Again, Songs by Ricky, and More Songs by Ricky.)

One of the ways he promoted his songs — “Hello Mary Lou” included — was by performing them at the end of weekly Ozzie and Harriet TV episodes. (Elvis Presley was a fan of these musical segments, incidentally.)

Getting back to Mary Lou…what are your thoughts on the compound name Marylou? Would you consider using it?

And, which song you like better: “Hello Mary Lou” from 1961, or “Mary Lou” from 1926?

Sources:

P.S. In April of 1963, Rick Nelson married 17-year-old Kristin Harmon. Later the same year, she began appearing regularly (as “Kris”) on Ozzie and Harriet. As a result, the names Kristin and Kris both saw increased usage in 1963.