How popular is the baby name Mike 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 Mike.

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Popularity of the baby name Mike


Posts that mention the name Mike

Mamie Eisenhower was named after a song

Sheet music for "Lovely Lake Geneva" (1885)
“Lovely Lake Geneva”

Mamie Eisenhower, wife of Dwight D. Eisenhower, was born Mamie Geneva Doud in 1896 to John and Elivera Doud of Iowa. She was the second of four daughters.

Where did her middle name come from? Her mother was a fan of the popular song “Lovely Lake Geneva,” written by Charles B. Holmes and published in 1885.

Mamie’s older sister was named Eleanor. Her younger sisters were Eda Mae and Mabel Frances, but her father was “so disappointed that he had not yet had a son that he nicknamed his two younger daughters “Buster” and “Mike,” respectively.” They were known as Buster and Mike their entire lives.

Source: Eisenhower, Susan. Mrs. Ike: Portrait of a Marriage. Sterling, Virginia: Capital Books, 2002.

Mouseketeer names: Annette, Dennis, Karen, Lonnie

The Mickey Mouse Club (1950s)

Annette Funicello, the most popular member of the original Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1959), passed away a couple of days ago.

Seeing her name in the news made me think about the other original Mouseketeers, most of whom were born in the early to mid-1940s (making them teens in the late 1950s). If you’re looking for a baby name reminiscent of sock hops and soda fountains, the first batch of Mouseketeers is not a bad place to start:

  • Annette Funicello (b. 1942)
    • Thanks to Funicello’s fame, the baby name Annette saw a drastic rise in usage during the latter half of the 1950s.
  • Billie Beanblossom (b. 1944)
  • Bonita “Bonnie” Lynn Fields (b. 1944)
  • Bonni Lou Kern (b. 1941)
  • Bronson Scott (b. 1947) – who was a girl, despite her name
  • Charles “Charlie” Laney (b. 1943)
  • Cheryl Holdridge (b. 1944) – who went on to marry Lance Reventlow
  • Carl “Cubby” O’Brien (b. 1946)
  • Dallas Johann (b. 1944)
  • Darlene Gillespie (b. 1941)
    • The baby name Darlene also saw a steep rise in usage while The Mickey Mouse Club was on the air.
  • Dennis Day (b. 1942)
  • Joseph Richard “Dickie” Dodd (b. 1945)
  • Don Agrati (b. 1944)
  • Donald “Don” Underhill (b. 1941)
  • Doreen Tracey (b. 1943)
  • Eileen Diamond (b. 1943)
  • John “Johnny” Crawford (b. 1946)
  • John Joseph “Jay-Jay” Solari (b. 1943)
  • (John) Lee Johann (b. 1942)
  • Judy Harriet (b. 1942)
  • Karen Pendleton (b. 1946)
  • Larry Larsen (b. 1939)
  • Linda Hughes (b. 1946)
  • Leonard “Lonnie” Burr (b. 1943)
  • (Lowrey) Lynn Ready (b. 1944)
  • Margene Storey (b. 1942)
  • Mark Sutherland (b. 1944)
  • Mary Espinosa (b. 1945)
  • Mary Sartori (b. 1943)
  • Mickey Rooney, Jr. (b. 1945)
  • Michael “Mike” Smith (b. 1945)
  • Nancy Abbate (b. 1942)
  • (William) Paul Petersen (b. 1945)
  • Robert “Bobby” Burgess (b. 1941)
  • Ronald “Ronnie” Steiner (b. 1942)
  • Sharon Baird (b. 1942)
  • Sharyn “Sherry” Alberoni (b. 1946)
  • Timothy “Tim” Rooney (b. 1947)
  • Thomas “Tommy” Cole (b. 1941)

Which of the above names do you like the most?

Sources: Girl next door Annette Funicello dies at 70, The Original Mickey Mouse Club Show

Image: Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers 1957 (public domain)

Baby named for Gibson guitars

Mike and Crystal Weber of Waukesha, Wisconsin — the birthplace of pioneering guitarist Les Paul — named their newborn son Gibson after the guitar brand.

Mike is a guitar enthusiast, and the name was picked out well in advance:

Mike Weber told the Waukesha Freeman newspaper, “I was talking to some co-workers about baby names before we even started trying for a baby and someone suggested Gibson — I loved it.”

Mike even wore his Gibson Les Paul shirt for the delivery on February 8.

“Growing up in Waukesha, you always hear about Les Paul, and this is such a cool way to honor him,” he said.

Source: Waukesha Couple Name Their New Baby Gibson

Baby born on 6/6/06, named Damien

Happy Halloween!

Here’s a scary name story for you:

Mike and Susan Cooper of Bristol, England, welcomed a 6lb, 6oz baby boy on 06/06/06 and named him Damien after Damien Thorn, the devil-child in the movie The Omen (1976).

Why did screenwriter David Seltzer choose the name Damien for his five-year-old Antichrist? I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that Damien reminded him of the word “demon.”

(Despite the similarity, Damien isn’t related to “demon.” It comes from the ancient Greek name Damianos, which was derived from a word meaning “to tame.”)

Source: Smith, Richard. “Born at 6am on 06/06/06, his Mum was induced for 6 days, he weighs 6lbs 6oz and he’s called…Damien.” Mirror 7 Jun. 2006.