How popular is the baby name Luka 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 Luka.
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Some recent (and not-so-recent) baby names from the news…
Azzurra: A baby girl born to a Scots-Italian family in Scotland on July 11, 2021 — the day the Italian national football team (nicknamed gli Azzurri, “the blues”) won the Euro 2020 Championship — was named Azzurra. (Daily Record)
Heights: The baby boy born to movie director Jon M. Chu in July of 2019 was named Jonathan Heights — middle name in honor of Chu’s film In The Heights, which he was shooting at that time. (MSN, via Abby)
Lisbon: The baby boy born to British TV personality Dr. Zoe Williams and her partner in June of 2021 was named Lisbon because the couple “met by chance at a bar in Lisbon, Portugal.” (Hello)
Luka Modric: A baby boy born in Peru in July of 2018 — the day after Croatia beat England in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup — was named Luka Modric after Croatia’s captain, Luka Modric. (Croatia Week)
According to Croatia’s Ministry of Justice and Administration, the most popular baby names in the country last year were (again) Mia and Luka.
Here are Croatia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2020:
Girl Names
Mia (531 baby girls)
Lucija
Sara
Ema
Nika
Marta
Rita
Mila
Petra
Ana
Boy Names
Luka (870 baby boys)
David
Jakov
Ivan
Petar
Roko (the Croatian form of Rocco)
Matej
Noa
Filip
Mateo
In the girls’ top 10, Mila replaced Iva.
In the boys’ top 10, Noa and Filip replaced Karlo and Borna.
Finally, here are some insights about Croatian baby-naming trends from sociologist Ivan Balabanic:
Today, parents give their children names that are more pleasing to the ear and in accordance with their own taste, because new generations have moved away from the traditional obligation to give names of other family members to children […] Today’s names are also a reflection of greater freedoms, individualism and personalism because parents are no longer so attached to tradition and extended families.
He noted that modern Croatian parents are moving away from names that were popular during the Yugoslavian era (1945-1991) — names like Milan, Dražen, Mladen, Zdravko — and also away from the names of historical Croatian princes, such as Krešimir, Trpimir, Branimir and Domagoj.
Henry and Alexander replaced Mason (now ranked 11th) and Ethan (13th).
The boy names that saw the largest increases in usage in terms of absolute numbers of babies were…
Kobe, increased by 998 babies
Theodore, 685
Luka, 618
Asher, 592
Enzo, 490
Adriel, 471
Archer, 451
Kylo, 424
River, 410
Beau, 398
Kobe was influenced by the untimely death of basketball great Kobe Bryant (whose daughter, Gianna, had an equally strong influence on girl names.)
Theodore and Luka were also among the fastest risers of 2019.
The boy names that saw the largest increases in usage in terms of relative numbers of babies were…
Omere, increased by 460%
Ripp, 342%
Hardin, 300%
Vardaan, 280%
Rip, 260%
Alekai, 260%
Sharvil, 255%
Evian, 253%
Neizan, 243%
Barkon, 240%
Omere could be from Omere Harris, son of YouTubers (and former Love & Hip Hop-ers) Mendeecees Harris and Yandy Smith.
Ripp was a debut name just one year earlier. Speaking of debuts…
Here are the boy names that debuted most impressively in the 2020 data:
Aarnik, debuted with 14 baby boys
Itzan, 14
Azhir, 13
Carin, 13
Jahkor, 13
Krown, 13
Amavi, 12 (a double-debut with 30 girls as well)
Deluka, 12
Ezrin, 12
Hardyn, 12
Some explanations…
Itzan is probably from Spanish actor Itzan Escamilla, who stars in the Netflix series Élite.
Carin could be from Mexican singer Carin Leon (whose real name is Oscar; “Carin” is a shortening of his nickname, Oscarin.)
Jahkor was the name of a character in the Netflix movie All Day and a Night (2020).
The boy names that saw the largest decreases in usage in terms of absolute numbers of babies were…
Ethan, decreased by 1,801 babies
Jacob, -1,525
Logan, -1,434
Mason, -1,407
Matthew, -1,170
Lucas, -1,164
Carter, -1,141
Jaxon, -1,132
Isaac, -1,121
Alexander, -1,113
The boy name that saw the largest decrease in usage in terms of relative numbers of babies was Daer (-80%), and the boy name that saw the steepest drop off the list was Montae (from 20 babies in 2019 to fewer than 5 in 2020).
If you can explain any of these rises (or drops), please leave a comment!
In places like Italy and Spain, Nico (pronounced nee-ko) is a masculine name. It’s used most often for baby boys in the United States as well, but was trendier for girls from the late ’60s to the mid-’70s:
Girls named Nico
Boys named Nico
1976
11
18
1975
12
10
1974
8
9
1973
18
14
1972
15
14
1971
22
15
1970
19
12
1969
18
11
1968
7
10
1967
7*
7
1966
.
6
*Debut
Why?
Because of mononymous singer Nico, who became famous during the late ’60s thanks to her performances in various Andy Warhol projects. She starred in the hit film Chelsea Girls (1966), for instance, and in 1967 she was featured on the albums The Velvet Underground & Nico and Chelsea Girl.
One factor that no doubt helped “Nico” catch on as a girl name (at least temporarily) was the trendiness of the name Nicole during the ’60s and ’70s. (I should mention that the late ’60s is also when the name Chelsea started taking off.)
Nico’s real name was Christa Päffgen. She began using her stage name (which was inspired by an ex-boyfriend named Nikos) while modeling as a teenager.
A few decades later, the male usage of “Nico” rose sharply thanks to the All My Children character Nico Kelly, who was on the soap opera from 1987 to 1989. In fact, Nico was the fastest-rising boy name of 1988. (The name of his girlfriend Cecily also saw much higher usage around that time.)
Girls named Nico
Boys named Nico
1990
9
266 [rank: 621st]
1989
8
314 [rank: 548th]
1988
5
96 [rank: 989th]
1987
.
10
What are your thoughts on the name Nico? Do you like it better as a girl name, or as a boy name?
P.S. A similar thing happened to the name Luka two decades later…
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