How popular is the baby name Maria 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 Maria.

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Popularity of the baby name Maria


Posts that mention the name Maria

The 20 children of Johann Sebastian Bach

German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Johann Sebastian Bach

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.

  1. Catharina Dorothea (1708-1774)
  2. Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-1784)
  3. Maria Sophia [twin] (1713)
  4. Johann Christoph [twin] (1713)
  5. Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788)
  6. Johann Gottfried Bernhard (1715-1739)
  7. Leopold Augustus (1718-1719)

The other 13 he had with his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcke. Six survived to adulthood.

  1. Christiana Sophia Henrietta (1723-1726)
  2. Gottfried Heinrich (1724-1763)
  3. Christian Gottlieb (1725-1728)
  4. Elisabeth Juliana Friderica (1726-1781)
  5. Ernestus Andreas (1727)
  6. Regina Johanna (1728-1733)
  7. Christiana Benedicta Louisa (1730)
  8. Christiana Dorothea (1731-1732)
  9. Johann Christoph Friedrich (1732-1795)
  10. Johann August Abraham (1733)
  11. Johann Christian (1735-1782)
  12. Johanna Carolina (1737-1781)
  13. 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.

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2012

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland


The most popular baby names in Ireland came out a few days ago.

According to the Central Statistics Office, the country’s top names are Emily for girls and Jack for boys.

Here are the top 100 girl names and top 100 boy names of 2012:

Girl Names

  1. Emily
  2. Sophie
  3. Emma
  4. Grace
  5. Lily
  6. Mia
  7. Ella
  8. Ava
  9. Lucy
  10. Sarah
  11. Aoife
  12. Amelia
  13. Hannah
  14. Katie
  15. Chloe
  16. Caoimhe
  17. Saoirse
  18. Kate
  19. Holly
  20. Ruby
  21. Sophia
  22. Anna
  23. Lauren
  24. Leah
  25. Amy
  26. Isabelle
  27. Molly
  28. Ellie
  29. Jessica
  30. Olivia
  31. Roisin
  32. Ciara
  33. Kayla
  34. Julia [tie]
  35. Zoe [tie]
  36. Laura
  37. Niamh
  38. Abbie
  39. Erin
  40. Rachel
  41. Robyn
  42. Aisling
  43. Faye
  44. Rebecca
  45. Eva [tie]
  46. Layla [tie]
  47. Ellen
  48. Cara
  49. Freya
  50. Abigail [tie]
  51. Eve [tie]
  52. Isabella [tie]
  53. Megan
  54. Aine [tie]
  55. Clodagh [tie]
  56. Aoibhinn
  57. Millie
  58. Nicole
  59. Aoibheann
  60. Maja
  61. Sadhbh
  62. Eabha
  63. Charlotte
  64. Amber [tie]
  65. Caitlin [tie]
  66. Sofia [tie]
  67. Alannah
  68. Zara
  69. Alice
  70. Maria
  71. Elizabeth [tie]
  72. Lena [tie]
  73. Mary [tie]
  74. Emilia
  75. Aimee [tie]
  76. Lilly [tie]
  77. Hollie
  78. Aoibhe
  79. Victoria
  80. Eimear [tie]
  81. Maya [tie]
  82. Isabel [tie]
  83. Orla [tie]
  84. Evie
  85. Kayleigh
  86. Brooke [tie]
  87. Clara [tie]
  88. Meabh
  89. Lexi
  90. Tara
  91. Daisy [tie]
  92. Katelyn [tie]
  93. Ailbhe [tie]
  94. Amelie [tie]
  95. Natalia [tie]
  96. Sara [tie]
  97. Hanna [tie]
  98. Laoise [tie]
  99. Ruth [tie]
  100. Madison [tie]
  101. Maeve [tie]
  102. Maisie [tie]
  103. Rose [tie]

Boy Names

  1. Jack
  2. James
  3. Daniel
  4. Sean
  5. Conor
  6. Adam
  7. Harry
  8. Ryan
  9. Dylan
  10. Michael
  11. Luke
  12. Charlie
  13. Liam
  14. Oisin
  15. Cian
  16. Jamie
  17. Thomas
  18. Alex
  19. Noah
  20. Darragh
  21. Patrick
  22. Aaron
  23. Cillian
  24. Matthew
  25. John
  26. Nathan
  27. David [tie]
  28. Fionn [tie]
  29. Evan
  30. Ethan
  31. Jake
  32. Kyle
  33. Rian
  34. Ben [tie]
  35. Max [tie]
  36. Eoin
  37. Tadhg
  38. Finn
  39. Callum
  40. Samuel
  41. Joshua
  42. Rory
  43. Jayden
  44. Joseph
  45. Tyler
  46. Sam
  47. Shane
  48. Mark [tie]
  49. Robert [tie]
  50. Aidan
  51. William
  52. Ronan
  53. Eoghan
  54. Alexander [tie]
  55. Leon [tie]
  56. Cathal
  57. Mason
  58. Tom
  59. Oliver
  60. Andrew
  61. Oscar
  62. Ciaran
  63. Bobby
  64. Jacob
  65. Senan
  66. Rhys
  67. Scott
  68. Benjamin [tie]
  69. Cormac [tie]
  70. Kevin
  71. Lucas
  72. Alan
  73. Donnacha [tie]
  74. Jakub [tie]
  75. Christopher
  76. Filip [tie]
  77. Killian [tie]
  78. Josh
  79. Alfie
  80. Tommy
  81. Ruairi
  82. Odhran
  83. Oran
  84. Leo
  85. Isaac
  86. Dara [tie]
  87. Jason [tie]
  88. Zach
  89. Martin [tie]
  90. Peter [tie]
  91. Brian
  92. Danny
  93. Niall [tie]
  94. Tomas [tie]
  95. Edward [tie]
  96. Stephen [tie]
  97. Logan
  98. Kacper
  99. Anthony
  100. Billy

New to the top 100 list are Isaac, Danny and Logan for boys and Evie, Amelie, Hanna, Maisie and Rose for girls.

Some of the specifically Irish names in the top 100 are…

  • Girls: Aoife, Caoimhe, Saoirse, Roisin, Ciara, Niamh, Aisling, Aine, Clodagh, Aoibhinn, Aoibheann, Sadhbh, Eabha, Aoibhe, Eimear, Meabh, Ailbhe, Laoise, Maeve
  • Boys: Liam, Oisin, Cian, Darragh, Cillian, Fionn, Rian, Eoin, Tadhg, Finn, Callum, Rory, Ronan, Eoghan, Cathal, Ciaran, Senan, Cormac, Donnacha, Ruairi, Odhran, Niall

Sources: Jack and Emily most popular baby names, Irish Babies’ Names – CSO

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

The names of the world’s oldest living siblings

kinderfest

On June 1, 2012, Guinness World Records verified that the nine Melis siblings (six women, three men) of Perdasdefogu, Italy, were the oldest living siblings in the world. That day, their combined age was 818 years and 205 days.

Here are the names of all nine:

  1. Consolata (b. August 22, 1907)
  2. Claudina (b. June 30, 1913)
  3. Maria (b. June 12, 1915)
  4. Antonino (b. May 5, 1919)
  5. Concetta (b. February 24, 1921)
  6. Adolfo (b. October 20, 1923)
  7. Vitalio (b. February 6, 1926)
  8. Fida Vitalia (b. October 5, 1931)
  9. Mafalda (b. June 16, 1934) — nicknamed la piccolina, or “the little one”

Their parents were Francesco and Eleonora Melis, both born in the 1880s.

To what does Alfonso attribute their collective longevity? “We eat genuine food, meaning lots of minestrone and little meat and we are always working. Every free moment I have I am down at my vineyard or at the allotment where I grow beans, aubergines, peppers and potatoes.”

Which of the nine names do you like best?

Sources:

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

[Latest update: Apr. 2025]

The 12 siblings of Ambrose Bierce

Writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-c.1914)
Ambrose Bierce

Versatile American author Ambrose Bierce was born in 1842, the tenth of thirteen children. His parents, Laura and Marcus Aurelius Bierce, gave all their children A-names, curiously. Here are all the siblings, in order of birth:

  1. Abigail Bell
  2. Amelia Josephine
  3. Ann Maria
  4. Addison Byron (who “worked as a strong man in a traveling circus”)
  5. Aurelius
  6. Augustus, nicknamed “Gus”
  7. Almeda Sophia
  8. Andrew, nn “Dime”
  9. Albert Sherwood, nn “Grizzly”
  10. Ambrose Gwinnett
    • “It is possible that Bierce got the names he did because his father may have read Douglas Jerrold’s Ambrose Gwinnett; or, A Sea-Side Story (1828).”
  11. Arthur
  12. twin Adelia (died in infancy)
  13. twin Aurelia (also died in infancy)

Which of the above names do you like best?

Source: Gale, Robert L. An Ambrose Bierce companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.

Image: Ambrose Bierce (public domain)