How popular is the baby name Marie 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 Marie.

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Popularity of the baby name Marie


Posts that mention the name Marie

Where did the baby name Sacheen come from in 1973?

Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather (at the Oscars in 1973)
Sacheen Littlefeather

Marlon Brando won an Oscar for his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972).

But he didn’t accept it.

Instead, he sent a Native American woman named Sacheen (pronounced sah-SHEEN) Littlefeather to the Academy Awards ceremony, which was held in early 1973. Sacheen refused the Oscar on Brando’s behalf, citing “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.”

Right on cue, over two dozen babies are named Sacheen in 1973:

  • 1975: 14 baby girls named Sacheen
  • 1974: 25 baby girls named Sacheen
  • 1973: 26 baby girls named Sacheen [debut]
  • 1972: unlisted
  • 1971: unlisted

Where does the name come from?

According to Sacheen’s website, she was born Marie Cruz to an Apache father and a mother of mixed European descent. (She was named Marie after her maternal grandmother.)

While participating in the Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-1971), her “Navajo friends nicknamed her “Sacheen,” a word she says means “little bear.” She liked the name and took it.”

Several online sources tell me that the Navajo word for “bear” is commonly written shash or shush, and these are similar to the Sach- of Sacheen’s name. But the Navajo words for “little” are yaz (yáázh) and yazzie (yázhí), neither of which resemble -een, so I’m not sure where the second part of her name comes from.

How do you feel about the name Sacheen?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of the TV broadcast of the 45th Academy Awards

Baby name story: Burgess

Snow & Burgess (sailing ship)
Snow & Burgess

On September 5, 1902, Captain A. H. Sorensen of the five-masted schooner Snow & Burgess and his wife Marie welcomed a baby girl while at sea. Their location at the time was 10°N 117°W — in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles west of Central America.

Sorensen named the baby girl Burgess, after the ship.

The schooner, built in Maine in 1878, had been named after the New York shipping firm Snow & Burgess (est. 1853), which had in turn been named after founders Ambrose Snow and Joseph S. Burgess.

The surname Burgess, used in England and Scotland, means “freeman” (much like the name Charles) and refers to the social status of the original bearer.

P.S. The couple’s second daughter, born in 1903, was named Dagmar after Princess Dagmar of Denmark (Capt. Sorensen’s home country).

Sources:

Image: Snow & Burgess (public domain)

Edgar Allan Poe names: Lenore, Ligeia, Prospero

Writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe

The godfather of Gothic fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, was born 202 years ago today.

He may have been master of the macabre, but he wrote widely — far beyond horror. His other works fall into genres such as humor/satire, science fiction, detective fiction, and adventure fiction.

To celebrate Poe’s birthday, let’s check out some of the character names he used in his short stories, poetry, and longer works:

Girl Names

  • Ada, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Alessandra, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Annabel Lee, from the poem “Annabel Lee” (1849)
  • Annie, from the poem “For Annie” (1849) and the short story “Landor’s Cottage” (1849)
  • Arabella, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Berenice, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Camille, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Eleonora, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Ermengarde, from the short story “Eleonora” (1842)
  • Estelle, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Eugenie, from the short stories “The Spectacles” (1844) and “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” (1845)
  • Eulalie, from the poem “Eulalie – A Song” (1845)
  • Evangeline, from the poem “Evangeline” (1848)
  • Fanny, from the poem “Fanny” (1833)
  • Grettel, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Helen, from the poems “To Helen” (1831) and “To Helen” (1849)
  • Ianthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Isabel, from the poem “Fairy-Land” (1829)
  • Jacinta, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Jane, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Kate, from the short story “Three Sundays in a Week” (1841)
  • Kathleen, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Lalage, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Lenore, from the poems “Lenore” (1843) and “The Raven” (1845)
  • Ligeia, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829) and the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Madeline, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Marian, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Marie, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • Miranda, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Morella, from the short story “Morella” (1835)
  • Pauline, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Psyche, from the short story “A Predicament” (1838)
  • Rowena, from the short story “Ligeia” (1838)
  • Stephanie, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Tabitha, from the piece “How to Write a Blackwood Article” (1838) and the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Ulalume (rhymes with tomb), from the poem “Ulalume” (1847)
  • Una, from the short story “The Colloquy of Monos and Una” (1841)
  • Zanthe, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
"The Cask of Amontillado" illustration by Harry Clarke
“The Cask of Amontillado”

Boy names

  • Adolphe, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Adolphus, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Alberto, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alexander, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Alexandre, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Alfonzo, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Andrew, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Angelo, from the poem “Al Aaraaf” (1829)
  • Arthur, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “Some Words with a Mummy” (1845)
  • Auguste, from the short stories “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842), and “The Purloined Letter” (1844)
  • Augustus, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” (1844)
  • Baldazzar, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Barnabas, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Benito, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Charles, from the short story “Thou Art the Man” (1844)
  • Cornelius, from the short story “The Oblong Box” (1844)
  • Dirk, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Egaeus, from the short story “Berenice” (1835)
  • Emmet, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Ernest, from the short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845)
  • Ethelred, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Fortunato, from the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846)
  • Frank, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Frederick, from the short story “Metzengerstein” (1832)
  • Gordon, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Hans, from the short story “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835)
  • Henri, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Isidore, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Israfel, from the poem “Israfel” (1831)
  • Jacques, from the short story “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842)
  • James, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • John, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jules, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Julius, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Jupiter, from the short story “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Meredith, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Napoleon, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • Paul, from the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Pedro, from the short story “The Oval Portrait” (1842)
  • Peter, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the short story “The Business Man” (1840)
  • Pierre, from the short story “Bon-Bon” (1832), the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840), and the short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841)
  • Poindexter, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Politian, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Prospero, from the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842)
  • Richard, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
  • Robert, from the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)
  • Roderick, from the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)
  • Rupert, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Tamerlane, from the poem “Tamerlane” (1827)
  • Theodore, from the short story “The Man That Was Used Up” (1839)
  • Toby, from the unfinished novel The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840) and the short story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” (1841)
  • Ugo, from the play Politian (1835)
  • Victor, from the short story “The Spectacles” (1844)
  • William, from the short stories “William Wilson” (1839), “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), and “The Gold-Bug” (1843)
  • Zoilus, from the short story “Shadow – A Parable” (1835)

Though they aren’t character names, Raven and Poe could be added to this list as well, as both are closely associated with Edgar Allan Poe. And both are bird-related, incidentally: the surname Poe can be traced back to the Middle English word for “peacock.”

Which of the above names do you like best? Which would you considering using in real life?

Sources:

[Latest update: Oct. 2022]

Baby name mash-ups: Abdrew, Jeffifer, Ryatt, Tiffanique

Here are some oddball baby names I found while scanning the SSA’s baby name lists. They look like creative combinations of other names. (My guesses as to what those “other names” might be are in parentheses.)

Boy names:

Girl names:

Which is your favorite? (Mine is Franchester!)

Have you come across any other baby name mash-ups recently?

P.S. Don’t forget Craphonso. :)

[Last update: 5/2019]