How popular is the baby name Morningstar 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 Morningstar.

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Popularity of the baby name Morningstar


Posts that mention the name Morningstar

Baby names with STAR: Starling, Castara, Alastar

stars

Looking for a name that’s the STAR of the show?

If so, you’re in luck!

Below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter sequence “s-t-a-r.”

Some of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data, but — because the data only includes about five dozen STAR names — I augmented the list with names gathered from U.S. vital records, censuses, and headstones.

  • Alastar, Alistar
  • Aristarchus
  • Armstard
  • Astar
  • Astara
  • Astaria
  • Astarte
  • Daystar
  • Estarlin
  • Gustar
  • Kristara
  • Nestar
  • Nestara
  • Ostara
  • Star, Starr
  • Stara, Starra
  • Starann
  • Starasia
  • Starbella
  • Starbelle
  • Starboard
  • Starbrina
  • Starbuck
  • Starburn
  • Starby
  • Starcia
  • Starcie, Starcy
  • Starden
  • Stardette
  • Stardust
  • Starel, Starell
  • Starella
  • Staren
  • Starene
  • Staresha
  • Staretta
  • Starfield
  • Starford
  • Stari, Starie, Starri, Starry
  • Staria
  • Starina
  • Starine
  • Starion
  • Staris
  • Starisha
  • Starita
  • Stark, Starke
  • Starkeisha
  • Starkes, Starks
  • Starkesha
  • Starkey, Starkie
  • Starkisha
  • Starla, Starrla, Starlah
  • Starlan
  • Starland
  • Starleana
  • Starlen
  • Starlena
  • Starlene, Starleen, Starlean, Starrleen
  • Starlet, Starlette, Starlett, Starrlette
  • Starletta
  • Starley, Starlee, Starlie, Starleigh, Starly
  • Starlight, Starlite
  • Starlin
  • Starlina
  • Starling
  • Starlisa
  • Starlisha
  • Starlit
  • Starlita
  • Starlon
  • Starlotta
  • Starlus
  • Starlyn, Starlynn, Starrlyn, Starrlynn, Starlin
  • Starlyne
  • Starna
  • Starnella
  • Starnell, Starnelle
  • Starner
  • Starnes
  • Starnisha
  • Staron
  • Starquasia
  • Starrett, Starett, Starette
  • Starritt, Staritt
  • Starsha
  • Starshema, Starshemah
  • Starsia
  • Starsie
  • Starsky
  • Startasia
  • Startina
  • Starton
  • Starwood
  • Staryl
  • Starza
  • Starzy
  • Sylvestar
  • Wistar

Some of the more whimsical STAR names I spotted while doing research include…

  • Starchild, Starbird, Starfire, Starfawn
  • Eveningstar, Fallingstar, Risingstar, Shiningstar, Dancingstar
  • Stardancer, Starwalker, Stargazer, Starhunter, Starcatcher

(And I’ve previously blogged about combinations like Northstar, Bluestar, Sunstar, Starfinder, Starblanket, and Starship.)

Which STAR name do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

Sources: SSA, FamilySearch.org, Find a Grave

Image: Adapted from “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula (by NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

Baby born during pipeline protest, named Mni Wiconi (“water is life”)

Sacred Stone Camp, North Dakota (Aug. 2016)
Sacred Stone Camp, North Dakota

From April of 2016 to February of 2017, indigenous people representing hundreds of Native American tribes gathered in temporary camps at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatened the region’s water supply.

The movement’s rallying cry was the Lakota expression “Mni Wiconi” (pronounced m’NEE wee-CHOH-nee), meaning “water is life.”

On October 12, in the early morning, a baby girl was born at one of the camps to Lakota woman Zintkala Mahpiya Wi Blackowl (Sky Bird Woman Blackowl), who had traveled from Oregon to take part in the protest.

Although her husband and family were sleeping in the same tipi, the birth was a private event. In the traditional Lakota way, the mother gives birth alone.

The baby — who was the first (and perhaps only?) baby born at a Standing Rock camp — was named Mni Wiconi.

P.S. An earlier Native American protest in the Dakotas may have been behind the debut of the name Morningstar in 1973…

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Sacred Stone Camp North Dakota (29167637232) by Tony Webster under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Where did the baby name Morningstar come from in 1973?

Wounded Knee poster (AIM, 1973)

In 1973, from February 27 until May 8, American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and Oglala Lakota occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The standoff lasted 71 days, and both the activists and the federal government were armed. Gunfire wounded several people on each side and ultimately killed two of the occupiers.

The first victim was 48-year-old activist Frank Clearwater, who had hitchhiked to Wounded Knee with his pregnant wife Morning Star, 37. They arrived on April 16, Frank was shot in the head on April 17, and he died in the hospital on April 25. The news of his death was widely reported.

The same year, the baby name Morningstar appeared in the U.S. baby name data for the very first time:

  • 1976: unlisted
  • 1975: 9 baby girls named Morningstar
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: 8 baby girls named Morningstar [debut]
  • 1972: unlisted
  • 1971: unlisted

(The SSA data omits spaces, so some these babies may have been named “Morning Star.”)

Supporters of the Indian movement extolled Frank. The 1973 folk song “The Ballad of Frank Clearwater,” for instance, refers to Frank as an “Apache who longed to be free.”

But Frank’s background remains unclear. Some sources said he was Apache, while others said he was Cherokee. Some sources said he was from North Carolina, while others said he was from from Oklahoma.

One thing that is clear about Frank is his legal name: “Frank J. Clear.”

Morning Star’s name may have similarly been invented. And it’s possible that neither she nor Frank was Native American — that they were simply people who (like Marlon Brando) supported the American Indian Movement, and who chose to go by Indian-sounding names as a sign of solidarity.

We may never know Morning Star’s true identity, or what became of her (or her baby) after 1973. But her name — be it real or assumed — lives on in the U.S. baby name data…

Sources:

Image: Prevent a 2nd massacre at Wounded Knee (LOC)

The name Sakakawea

Statue of Sakakawea and baby in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Sakakawea with baby Pomp

While we were in Bismarck recently, my husband and I checked out the North Dakota State Heritage Center Museum.

One of the exhibits was all about Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their travels westward during the first decade of the 1800s (immediately following the Louisiana Purchase).

Except…”Sacagawea” is not what they call her in North Dakota. There, they prefer the name Sakakawea. And that’s not just a preference; it’s the official spelling.

Here’s how the name discrepancy was explained in one of the exhibits:

What’s in a Name?

Two hundred years after Sakakawea was mentioned by name in the journals of Lewis and Clark, the debate over the spelling and pronunciation of her name continues. This issue was confused from the beginning, since the journals spell her name almost a dozen ways, and all are phonetic translations of an unwritten language. There is also debate over whether her name is Shoshone or Hidatsa. Some argue that she would have been given a new name when adopted into the Hidatsa tribe. Some have adopted the spelling Sacajawea, a translation of the Shoshone name Boat Launcher. Other groups, such as the federal government, endorse the spelling Sacagawea from the Hidatsa name for “Bird Woman.” Since the early 1900s, North Dakota has used the alternative spelling of Bird Woman, Sakakawea. These are all imperfect approximations of her real name. Captain Clark avoided the pronunciation issue by calling her Janey.

The only version of the name that’s ever been popular enough to appear in the SSA data is Sacajawea, which popped up twice in the mid-1970s:

  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: 7 baby girls named Sacajawea
  • 1975: 5 baby girls named Sacajawea [debut]
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: unlisted

Perhaps it was inspired by the American Indian Movement (AIM), which also had an influence on names like Morningstar.