How popular is the baby name Nephele 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 Nephele.

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Popularity of the baby name Nephele


Posts that mention the name Nephele

Popular baby names in Switzerland, 2023

Flag of Switzerland
Flag of Switzerland

Last year, the European country of Switzerland welcomed 80,024 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Mia and Noah.

Here are Switzerland’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Mia, 380 baby girls
  2. Emma, 376
  3. Sofia, 358
  4. Emilia, 313
  5. Elena, 286
  6. Lia, 260 (tie)
  7. Olivia, 260 (tie)
  8. Lina, 259
  9. Nora, 240
  10. Mila, 239
  11. Ella, 208
  12. Lara, 207
  13. Lena, 202
  14. Luna, 200
  15. Lea, 196
  16. Malea, 194
  17. Anna, 192
  18. Alice, 191 (3-way tie)
  19. Sophia, 191 (3-way tie)
  20. Valentina, 191 (3-way tie)
  21. Yara, 188
  22. Elina, 183
  23. Nina, 182
  24. Alina, 181
  25. Leonie, 178
  26. Aurora, 176
  27. Giulia, 172
  28. Chiara, 170
  29. Eva, 164
  30. Elin, 162 (3-way tie)
  31. Julia, 162 (3-way tie)
  32. Laura, 162 (3-way tie)
  33. Amelia, 156 (tie)
  34. Emily, 156 (tie)
  35. Livia, 155
  36. Luana, 154
  37. Sophie, 147
  38. Alma, 145
  39. Maria, 133
  40. Elisa, 131
  41. Juna, 130
  42. Sara, 126
  43. Yuna, 125
  44. Zoé, 124
  45. Dua, 120
  46. Ayla, 118 (tie)
  47. Clara, 118 (tie)
  48. Malia, 117 (tie)
  49. Mara, 117 (tie)
  50. Inaya, 114 (4-way tie)
  51. Jana, 114 (4-way tie)
  52. Lou, 114 (4-way tie)
  53. Victoria, 114 (4-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah, 495 baby boys
  2. Liam, 442
  3. Matteo, 362
  4. Gabriel, 284
  5. Leano, 282
  6. Leo, 273
  7. Luca, 271
  8. Leon, 255
  9. Elias, 246
  10. Lio, 245
  11. Louis, 241
  12. Nino, 201
  13. Leonardo, 196
  14. Aaron, 193
  15. Ben, 189
  16. Elio, 187
  17. Elia, 186
  18. Theo, 182
  19. Luan, 180 (tie)
  20. Samuel, 180 (tie)
  21. David, 173 (tie)
  22. Levi, 173 (tie)
  23. Livio, 172
  24. Malik, 168
  25. Mateo, 166
  26. Nico, 161
  27. Arthur, 160
  28. Adam, 158 (tie)
  29. Lian, 158 (tie)
  30. Leandro, 157
  31. Diego, 155
  32. Julian, 151
  33. Finn, 150 (tie)
  34. Mattia, 150 (tie)
  35. Noé, 146
  36. Emil, 143 (tie)
  37. Enea, 143 (tie)
  38. Nael, 141
  39. Mael, 140
  40. Levin, 138
  41. Oliver, 137
  42. Milo, 133
  43. Kian, 132
  44. Rayan, 131
  45. Enzo, 130
  46. Daniel, 129 (tie)
  47. Robin, 129 (tie)
  48. Emilio, 126 (tie)
  49. Lino, 126 (tie)
  50. Lucas, 124

The girls’ top 100 included Lynn (65th), Amira (76th), Kiara (89th), and Aurelia (94th).

The boys’ top 100 included Laurin (58th), Nevio (72nd), Andrin (88th), and Nils (93rd).

Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top baby names among the speakers of each of these languages:

Girl namesBoy names
German speakers
(62.3% of the population)
1. Mia, 289
2. Emilia, 287
3. Sofia, 249
1. Noah, 323
2. Matteo, 282
3. Liam, 279
French speakers
(22.8% of pop.)
1. Emma, 125
2. Olivia, 103
3. Alice, 94
1. Noah, 143
2. Gabriel, 140
3. Liam, 139
Italian speakers
(8.0% of pop.)
1. Emma, 25
2. Aurora, 24
3. Ginevra/Sofia, 21 each
1. Leonardo, 38
2. Noah, 28
3. Enea, 26
Romansh speakers
(0.5% of pop.)
1. Amalia/Gianna/Hannah, 2 each1. Mauro, 4
2. Luca/Nino, 3 each

And here’s a selection of uncommon names that were given to just two babies each in Switzerland in 2023:

Rare girl names Rare boy names
Aulona, Binja, Colombe, Dorela, Elsi, Flutra, Geraldine, Helbest, Ikonija, Joanna, Katia, Lorenza, Monika, Nephele, Orlane, Palmyre, Rivka, Sira, Théodora, Ursina, Vinia, Winnie, Yma, ZerinAlerio, Brusk, Clovis, Décio, Elimelech, Fiete, Glen, Hanno, Ishan, Jigdel, Kenneth, Lulzim, Matty, Nordhen, Ousmane, Pieter, Rolf, Sherwin, Tristán, Urs, Vinzent, Waylon, Yonah, Zayon

Helbest is a Kurdish word meaning “poem,” while Lulzim is based on an Albanian verb meaning “to bloom,” “to flourish.”

Finally, here are Switzerland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: First names of newborns – Federal Statistical Office, Languages of Switzerland – Wikipedia, Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)

Baby names with PH: Phoenix, Ophelia, Joseph

pheasant

Looking for baby names that feature the appealing letter-pair PH?

I’ve collected hundreds of options for you in this post!

Before we get to the names, though, let’s get one big question out of the way…

Why does PH sound like “F”?

In English, PH is a digraph, which means that it’s a pair of letters that make a single sound. (It’s interesting that the word “digraph” contains a digraph, isn’t it?)

Most of the English words that have PH were derived from Greek — specifically, from Greek words that included the Greek letter phi:

Greek letter phi (uppercase)
Phi (uppercase)

In ancient times, the Greek letter phi made an aspirated p-sound. (The unaspirated p-sound, on the other hand, was made by the Greek letter pi.)

When Greek was transliterated into Latin, the letter phi was written as “ph” to denote this aspiration — that is, to signal that the letter “p” was accompanied by a brief puff of air.

So, what happened?

In the first several centuries A.D., the pronunciation of the Greek letter phi changed. It slowly evolved from an aspirated p-sound into an f-sound.

As a result, the letter-pair “ph” underwent a corresponding (though somewhat illogical) pronunciation change. It, too, came to represent an f-sound — and still does to this day.

Now, on to the names!

Names with PH

Below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter-pair PH. Many of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data. Others are ancient names that aren’t used much (if at all) in modern times.

  • Aleph
  • Alpha
  • Alphaeus
  • Alpharetta
  • Alphie
  • Alphonsa
  • Alphonse
  • Alphonsine
  • Alphonso
  • Alphonsus
  • Amphion
  • Amphirho
  • Amphithea
  • Aphaea
  • Aphra
    • Seventeenth-century writer Aphra Behn was one of the first English women to earn her living by writing.
  • Aphrodite
  • Apphia
  • Asaph
  • Caliph
  • Cephas, Cephus
  • Christoph, Christophe
  • Christopher, Kristopher
  • Christophine
  • Cleopha
  • Cléophée
  • Cleophas, Cleophus
  • Cypher
  • Daphna
  • Daphne, Daphnie, Daphney, Daphni, Daphnee
  • Delpha
  • Delphi
  • Delphia
  • Delphin
  • Delphina
  • Delphine
  • Delphinus
  • Demophon
  • Dolph
  • Dolphus
  • Dymphna
  • Elaphia
  • Eliphalet, Eliphelet
  • Eliphas, Eliphaz
  • Elpha
  • Ephesius
  • Ephraim
  • Ephram
  • Ephratah
  • Ephrem
  • Epiphanius
  • Epiphany
  • Eugraphia
  • Eugraphius
  • Euphemia
  • Euphemius
  • Euphoria
  • Euphranor
  • Euphrasia
  • Euphrasie
  • Euphrasius
  • Glaphyra
  • Gryphon
  • Hephaestus
  • Hephzibah
  • Humphrey
  • Ildephonse
  • Iphigenia
  • Iphis
  • Japheth, Japhet, Yaphet
  • Jehoshaphat
  • Jephthah ,Jephtha
  • Josaphat
  • Joseph, Ioseph
  • Josepha
  • Josephina
  • Josephine
  • Josephus
  • Memphis
  • Morpheus
  • Murphy, Murphie, Murphee, Murphey
  • Mustapha, Moustapha
  • Naphtali, Nephtali
  • Nephele
  • Nephi
  • Nephthys
  • Nicéphore
  • Onuphrius
  • Ophelia
  • Ophélie
  • Ophir
  • Ophira
  • Ophrah
  • Orpha
  • Orpheus
  • Orphia
  • Pamphilus
  • Persephone, Persephonie, Persephony
  • Phaedra
  • Phaedrus
  • Phaenna
  • Phanuel
  • Pharaildis
  • Pharamond
  • Pharaoh
  • Pharez
  • Pharrell
  • Phelan
  • Phelim
  • Philbert, Philibert
  • Phileas
  • Philemon
  • Philetus
  • Philia
  • Philinda
  • Philina, Philena
  • Philine, Philene
  • Philip, Phillip, Philipp
  • Philippa, Phillipa
  • Philippe
  • Philo
  • Philomel
  • Philomela
  • Philomena
  • Philon
  • Philopateer, Philopater
  • Philotera
  • Phineas, Phinehas
  • Phoebe, Phebe
  • Phoenicia
  • Phoenix
  • Photina
  • Photine
  • Photius
  • Phronsie
  • Phryne
  • Phylicia
  • Phyllida
  • Phyllis, Phillis
  • Porphyrius
  • Prophet
  • Ralph
  • Ralphie
  • Ralphine
  • Randolph
  • Rapha
  • Raphael
  • Raphaela
  • Raphaëlle
  • Rodolph
  • Rolph
  • Rudolph
  • Saphina
  • Saphira, Sapphira, Saphyra
  • Sapphire
  • Sephira
  • Sephiroth
  • Sephora
  • Seraph
  • Seraphia
  • Seraphim
  • Seraphin
  • Seraphina, Saraphina
  • Seraphine
  • Shiphrah
  • Sophia, Sophya
  • Sophie, Sophi, Sophee
  • Sophilia
  • Sophina
  • Sophonie
  • Sophonisba
  • Sophron
  • Sophronia
  • Sophronius
  • Sophus
  • Stephania
  • Stephanie, Stephany, Stephani
  • Sylphrena
  • Sypha
  • Symphony
  • Télesphore
  • Theophanes
  • Theophania
  • Theophila
  • Theophilia
  • Theophilus
  • Triumph
  • Tryphena
  • Tryphon
  • Tryphosa
  • Xenophon
  • Zelpha
  • Zephan
  • Zephaniah
  • Zephyr
  • Zephyra
  • Zephyria
  • Zéphyrine
  • Zephyrus
  • Zilpha
  • Zilphia

Which of the PH names above to do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

Sources: Phee-phi-pho-phum – The Grammarphobia Blog, SSA

Image: Adapted from Fasan3 by Ragnhild & Neil Crawford under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2013

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

The top baby names in England and Wales were announced last week.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the most popular baby names last year were Amelia and Oliver.

Here are England and Wales’ top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2013:

Girl Names

  1. Amelia, 5570 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 4598
  3. Emily, 4049
  4. Ava, 3575
  5. Isla, 3526
  6. Jessica, 3507
  7. Poppy, 3422
  8. Isabella, 3246
  9. Sophie, 3013
  10. Mia, 2993
  11. Ruby, 2948
  12. Lily, 2883
  13. Grace, 2799
  14. Evie, 2767
  15. Sophia, 2764
  16. Ella, 2722
  17. Scarlett, 2643
  18. Chloe, 2401
  19. Isabelle, 2287
  20. Freya, 2266

Boy Names

  1. Oliver, 6,949 baby boys
  2. Jack, 6,212
  3. Harry, 5,888
  4. Jacob, 5,126
  5. Charlie 5,039
  6. Thomas, 4,591
  7. Oscar, 4,511
  8. William, 4,268
  9. James, 4,236
  10. George, 4,202
  11. Alfie, 4,138
  12. Joshua, 3,973
  13. Noah, 3,830
  14. Ethan, 3,572
  15. Muhammad, 3,499
  16. Archie, 3,265
  17. Leo, 3,264
  18. Henry, 3,248
  19. Joseph, 3,225
  20. Samuel, 3,188

There were some big moves on the boys’ side: Oscar rose from 17th to 7th, while Riley plummeted from 8th to 21st. (Here are the biggest moves overall for boy names and girl names.)

New to the top 20 are Scarlett, Archie, Henry and Joseph. They replaced Charlotte, Riley, Daniel and Max.

One thing I found interesting? Freya wasn’t on the England top 20. It also wasn’t on the Wales top 20. And yet still it managed to rank 20th on the combined top 20. Very sneaky, Freya.

Here are some of last year’s rare baby names, each given to between 3 and 10 babies (inclusive):

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Akvile, Alaska, Alphonsa, Andromeda, Arena, Arizona, Atlantis, Belinay, Bellatrix, Blousey, Boadicea, Boglarka, Bonnie-Blue, Boo, Boux, Charm, Cressida, Crystal-Rose, Daenerys, Delphie, Disney, Duru, Edwina, Ellery, Eloghosa, Enfys, Enlli,* Eos, Ernestine, Esila, Evan, Frayer, Freshta, Fausta, Garance, Gelila, Gemini, Gerda, Glorious, Halo, Honour, Io, Iole, Ionie, Iseult, Isla-Belle, Izna, Lava, Lleucu, Llinos, Llio, Loveday, Loxy, Mafalda, Man, Maple, Miami, Migle, Milda, Misk, Mirabella, Mirren, Myfi, Myrtle, Nandi, Nephele, Nma, Ottoline, Pebbles, Popi, Purity, Quorra, Quratulain, Rory, Ruby-Tuesday, Salsabeel, Sehrish, Sequoia, Sibel, Sobia, Solveig, Sundus, Tiggi, Tiggy, Tirion, Tulsi, Vespa, Vogue, YiyiAlaric, Bramwell, Cavalli, Ceirion, Denley, Diesel, Diggory, Drin, Eesaa, Eyoel, Fiachra, Finlo, Fyfe, Ghyll, Greatness, Gruff, Hanzala, Haoyu, Heathcliff, Henley-John, Ho, Hocine, Innis, Iori, J, Jai-Jai, Jay-J, Jaygo, Johnboy, Jonjoe, Kebba, Kelly, Khizr, King-David, Klevis, Lebron, Liutaruas, Llyr, Lochie, Messi, Mortimer, Nebi, Nimrod, Noman, Olti, Omarion, Orpheus, Osgar, Oska, Perseus, Ptolemy, Qi, Rhythm, Rozh, Rhon, Sandor, Shady, Shaquille, Sheriff, Shko, Soul, Swayley, T, Tiger, Tirath, Tobenna, Toprak, Tuguldur, Tylah, Tyrion, Ugnius, Viggo, Wentworth, Winter, Wolf, Wolfgang, Wren, Yanky, Yug, Zeus, Zsombor

*Enlli, which debuted last year, comes from the name of the Welsh island Ynys Enlli (called Bardsey Island in English). The island name is usually translated as “island of the current,” with ynys meaning “island,” and enlli meaning “current.” You can hear the proper pronunciation of Ynys Enlli at Forvo.

Finally, all of my previous posts on the popular (and unique) baby names in England and Wales: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008.

Source: Baby Names, England and Wales, 2013 – ONS

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)