How popular is the baby name Nathalie 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 Nathalie.

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Popularity of the baby name Nathalie


Posts that mention the name Nathalie

How did the movie “The Birds” influence baby names in the 1960s?

Actress Tippi Hedren in the movie "The Birds" (1963)
Tippi Hedren in “The Birds“

Last month, HBO released an original movie called The Girl, which tells the story of director Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with actress Nathalie “Tippi” Hedren.

It reminded me that The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964) — the two Hitchcock films that feature Hedren — both had an effect on U.S. baby names in the 1960s.

The horror movie The Birds, which was set in a seaside town being attacked by various types of birds, brought about the emergence of two new names in the SSA data. The first was Tippi in 1963, and the second was Pleshette (from the surname of fellow Birds actress Suzanne Pleshette) a year later:

Girls named TippiGirls named Pleshette
196689
196512†.
1964107*
19636*.
1962..
*Debut, †Peak usage

How did Hedren, who was born in Minnesota in 1930, come to have the nickname Tippi?

My father gave it to me. My baptismal name is Nathalie Kay Hedren, and he thought that was too much, so he started calling me Tupsa, a Swedish term of endearment. It went from Tupsa to Tips to Tippi. I’ve never been called Nathalie.

Actress Tippi Hedren in the movie "Marnie" (1964)
Tippi Hedren in “Marnie“

The psychological thriller Marnie — which revolved around a deeply troubled woman named Margaret “Marnie” Edgar — wasn’t behind any debuts, but it did make the name Marnie trendy for several years:

  • 1966: 246 baby girls named Marnie [rank: 604th]
  • 1965: 266 baby girls named Marnie [rank: 584th]
  • 1964: 112 baby girls named Marnie
  • 1963: 38 baby girls named Marnie
  • 1962: 31 baby girls named Marnie

The name entered the top 1,000 for the first time in 1965. It reached peak usage in 1969.

Marnie was based on a book of the same name by English author Winston Graham (who also wrote the Poldark novels).

Which of these three names — Tippi, Pleshette, or Marnie — do you like most?

P.S. Did you know that Tippi Hedren was the person who first taught Vietnamese refugees in the U.S. how to do nails?! The Vietnamese Heritage Museum in California calls Tippi the “Godmother of the Vietnamese Nail Industry.”

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of The Birds and Marnie

[Latest update: Feb. 2026]

What gave the baby name Athalie a boost in the 1910s?

The book "Athalie" (1915) by Robert W. Chalmers
“Athalie“

The rare name Athalie first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1915. The very next year, it reached peak popularity:

  • 1917: 5 baby girls named Athalie
  • 1916: 23 baby girls named Athalie
  • 1915: 26 baby girls named Athalie [peak]
  • 1914: 7 baby girls named Athalie [debut]
  • 1913: unlisted
  • 1912: unlisted

We see a similar pattern of usage in the Social Security Death Index data:

  • 1917: 9 people named Athalie
  • 1916: 16 people named Athalie
  • 1915: 30 people named Athalie
  • 1914: 9 people named Athalie
  • 1913: 3 people named Athalie
  • 1912: 3 people named Athalie

What was drawing attention to the name Athalie around this time?

The story Athalie (subtitled: “A Romance of a Girl with a Strange Power”) by Robert W. Chambers. It was serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine from November of 1914 to August of 1915, and published as a standalone book in mid-1915.

The main character, Athalie Greensleeve, was a young, working-class woman who happened to be clairvoyant. Her love interest was a wealthy man named Clive (whose mother wanted him to marry a girl of their own social set — not Athalie).

I’m not sure how the author coined the name “Athalie” — maybe it’s based on Nathalie, the French form of Natalie? — but he does begin the story with the character’s birth, followed by her naming:

“What are you going to name her, papa?”

“Athalie, I believe,” he said absently.

“Athalie! What kind of name is that?” demanded Jack.

“I dunno. Your mamma wanted it in case the baby was a girl.”

What are your thoughts on the name Athalie?

Source: Chambers, Robert W. “Athalie.” Cosmopolitan Nov. 1914: 725-740.

Image: Adapted from the cover of Athalie