How popular is the baby name Mo 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 Mo.

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Popularity of the baby name Mo


Posts that mention the name Mo

Where did the baby name Sacario come from in 2002?

Rapper Sacario in the music video for "If I Could Go!" (2002)
Sacario

The name Sacario appeared in the U.S. baby name data for three years straight, then dropped back below the 5-baby threshold:

  • 2005: unlisted
  • 2004: 6 baby boys named Sacario
  • 2003: 14 baby boys named Sacario [peak]
  • 2002: 12 baby boys named Sacario [debut]
  • 2001: unlisted

What put it there?

A rapper named Sacario, who was featured (along with Lil’ Mo) in one of 2002’s catchiest songs: “If I Could Go!” by Angie Martinez.

“If I Could Go!” [vid] was released in May of 2002. In September, it peaked on several different Billboard charts — most notably the Hot 100 chart (at #15), but also the Hot Rap Songs chart (#11) and the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart (#26).

Sacario, whose real name is Jamar Austin, co-wrote the track. His featured part is fairly extensive, and he even name-checked himself in one line:

Sacario, the name awaits the whole issue

His rap name may be based on the Spanish word sicario, meaning “hitman.”

What are your thoughts on the name Sacario?

P.S. Angie Martinez had a second career as a rapper in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but she’s better known as a longtime NYC radio personality. She was recently inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, in fact.

Sources: Angie Martinez – Billboard, If I Could Go! – Wikipedia, Angie Martinez – If I Could Go | Genius Lyrics, SSA

Image: Screenshot of the music video for “If I Could Go!”

Where did the baby name Ellesse come from in 1986?

Ellesse advertisement featuring U.S. tennis player Chris Evert (1988)
Ellesse advertisement

The name Ellesse started popping up in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1980s:

  • 1988: 12 baby girls named Ellesse
    • 6 born in California
  • 1987: 12 baby girls named Ellesse
    • 8 born in California
  • 1986: 10 baby girls named Ellesse [debut]
  • 1985: unlisted
  • 1984: unlisted

Where did it come from?

The Italian sportswear brand Ellesse (pronounced el-ES), the name of which was derived from the initials of the founder, Leonardo Servadio (“L. S.”).

The brand grew popular during the 1970s and 1980s thanks to close associations with the sports of skiing and tennis. Tennis stars Guillermo Vilas, Chris Evert, and Boris Becker were all sponsored by Ellesse. In fact, Becker was wearing Ellesse outfits when he won Wimbledon in both 1985 and 1986.

Advertisements and tennis sponsorships may have been enough to boost “Ellesse” into the baby name data in 1986, but two more things that might have helped as well include:

  • Ellesse’s sponsorship of the New York City Marathon from 1984 to 1986, and/or
  • Ellesse’s partnership with Philadelphia 76ers player Maurice “Mo” Cheeks — at that time, a recent NBA champion and recent All-Star — to create Maurice Cheeks basketball shoes in 1985.

All that said…I can’t account for the particularly high usage of Ellesse in California. Any ideas? (Is there a telenovela I’m missing here?)

What do you think of “Ellesse” as a baby name?

P.S. Brittania and Generra are two other sportswear brands that became baby names…

Sources:

Image: Detail of an advertisement for Ellesse Sunmirrors (1988)

Which baby names can be split in two?

baby names split in two

In 1916, the London Globe mentioned twins named Jere and Miah:

There lived for many years in the village of Twerton, Bath, one named Miah. He was born a twin, and his parents thriftily divided the predestined name of Jeremiah between them, the other babe being christened Jere.

What other names could we divide into two usable mini-names like this?

Here are a few ideas to kick things off…

Abigail, Abi + Gail
Anastasia, Ana + Stasia
Calista, Cal + Ista
Drusilla, Dru + Silla
Elizabeth, Eliza + Beth
Mozelle, Mo + Zelle
Valentina, Valen + Tina		Alexander, Alex + Ander
Christopher, Chris + Topher
Denzel, Den + Zel
Donovan, Dono + Van
Joseph, Jo + Seph
Rexford, Rex + Ford
William, Wil + Liam

…what others can you think of?

Source: “Some Odd Christian Names.” Bee [Earlington, KY] 8 Dec. 1916: 8.

Taiwanese baby names vs. Chinese baby names

According to an article I spotted a few days ago in a Singaporean newspaper, Taiwanese baby names are more traditionally Chinese than Chinese baby names are, thanks to the Cultural Revolution. Here’s an excerpt:

In Taiwan, housing agents I met had words like meng or lun in their names, linking them to Mencius and Confucius. (Meng for Meng Zi or Mencius; Lun, as in lun li, or ethics, often used to refer to Confucian ethics).

In China, there is no sign of the sages in names so far. Rather, a guest on a TV show is named Zhou Mo, which means “weekend”. “My mum said a name only had to be easy to remember,” she explained.

Instant recall is not a quality that Taiwanese parents would normally look for in choosing baby names. By far more important is the hope that their children would grow up under the positive influence of the ancient philosophers they are named after.

In many ways, the Taiwanese are more “Chinese” than their compatriots on the mainland, where age-old traditions went up in flames in the bonfire of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Much was lost as young Red Guards set fire to books, including the classics, and smashed altars in the chaos of those years.

In contrast, Taiwan under the Kuomintang (KMT) went the other way, stressing the learning of the classics to show that the island represented the true China.

For anyone who’s lived in Taiwan and/or China: What names did you encounter there? Did they follow this pattern?

Source: Ho Ai Li. “Taipei a woman, Beijing a man.” Straits Times [Singapore] 12 Sept. 2010.