How popular is the baby name Paula 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 Paula.

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Popularity of the baby name Paula


Posts that mention the name Paula

Popular baby names in Spain, 2017

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

According to Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, the most popular baby names in the country in 2017 were Lucia and Lucas.

Here are Spain’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names
1. Lucia, 4,410 baby girls
2. Sofia, 4,206
3. Maria, 3,874
4. Martina, 3,814
5. Paula, 3,085
6. Julia, 2,998
7. Daniela, 2,959
8. Valeria, 2,856
9. Alba, 2,678
10. Emma, 2,525

Boy Names
1. Lucas, 4,209 baby boys
2. Hugo, 4,141
3. Martin, 3,838
4. Daniel, 3,717
5. Pablo, 3,426
6. Alejandro, 3,220
7. Mateo, 3,124
8. Adrian, 2,841
9. Alvaro, 2,794
10. Manuel, 2,517

Lucas replaced Hugo as Spain’s #1 boy name.

In the boys’ top 10, Manuel replaced David.

In the girls’ top 10, Emma replaced Noa.

Finally, here are the 2016 rankings.

Sources: Nombres de los recién nacidos – INEbase, Lucía and Lucas, the most popular baby names in Spain in 2017

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)

Where did the baby name Chata come from in 1953?

"Letter to Loretta," original title of the TV series "The Loretta Young Show" (1953-1961)
“Letter to Loretta”

The name Chata made a modest debut in the U.S. baby name data in 1953:

  • 1955: unlisted
  • 1954: unlisted
  • 1953: 5 baby girls named Chata [debut]
  • 1952: unlisted
  • 1951: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Very early television. “The Faith of Chata” was an episode from the first season of the anthology TV series Letter to Loretta, later renamed The Loretta Young Show. The episode aired in December of 1953.

The episode, set in a Mexican village, tells the story of a little girl called Chata who is gravely ill with pneumonia. (Chata’s mother Paula is played by Young.) After receiving an overnight vision of her patron saint, Santa Inés, Chata makes a miraculous recovery.

“Chata” is not a name, but an affectionate nickname. It comes from a Spanish term for “pug nose” or “button nose.” John Wayne’s second wife, Mexican actress Esperanza Baur, went by Chata for instance.

The child actress who played Chata was Nancy Gilbert, who several years later played another TV character (Calamity Jane) that also had an influence on baby names.

Sources: Nancy Gilbert – IMDb, Letter to Loretta (1953-1954) – Loretta Young Fan Website

Popular baby names in Spain, 2016

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

According to data released on June 22nd by Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, the most popular baby names in Spain in 2016 were (again) Lucia and Hugo.

Here are Spain’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Lucia, 4,672 baby girls
2. Martina, 4,308
3. Maria, 4,143
4. Sofia, 4,047
5. Paula, 3,439
6. Daniela, 3,151
7. Valeria, 3,110
8. Alba, 3,042
9. Julia, 2,992
10. Noa, 2,888

Boy Names
1. Hugo, 4,870 baby boys
2. Daniel, 4,195
3. Martin, 4,050
4. Pablo, 3,776
5. Alejandro, 3,774
6. Lucas, 3,730
7. Alvaro, 3,030
8. Adrian, 2,989
9. Mateo, 2,845
10. David, 2,818

In the girls’ top 10, Valeria and Noa replaced Sara and Carla.

In the boys’ top 10, Mateo replaced Mario.

Here are the 2015 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Source: Nombres de los recién nacidos – INEbase

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)

Baby born in England, named after entire soccer team (1965)

soccer game

In mid-1965, Peter and Pat O’Sullivan of Staffordshire, England, welcomed a baby girl.

Peter, a bricklayer who called himself a “fanatical Liverpool fan” — inspired by the team’s recent victory in the FA Cup — took it upon himself to give his daughter the following name: Paula St John Lawrence Lawler Byrne Strong Yeats Stevenson Callaghan Hunt Milne Smith Thompson Shankly Bennett Paisley O’Sullivan.

Those 15 middle names honored 15 members of the Liverpool Football Club: 12 players, the team manager, and two assistants:

NamePlayer/Manager
St John
Lawrence
Lawler
Byrne
Strong
Yeats
Stevenson
Callaghan
Hunt
Milne
Smith
Thompson
Shankly
Bennett
Paisley		Ian St John
Tommy Lawrence
Chris Lawler
Gerry Byrne
Geoff Strong
Ron Yeats
Willie Stevenson
Ian Callaghan
Roger Hunt
Gordon Milne
Tommy Smith
Peter Thompson
Bill Shankly (manager)
Reuben Bennett (asst.)
Bob Paisley (asst.)

All 15 middle names appear on her birth certificate, but her name had to be shortened to “Paula St J L L B S Y S C H M S T S B P O’Sullivan” on the birth register.

Unfortunately, Paula’s mother Pat was not very enthusiastic about the situation: “The first I knew about it was when I saw the birth certificate, and I don’t mind saying I was furious. It’s a real shock to learn your baby’s been named after a whole football team.”

Here a photo of baby Paula with the Liverpool team taken in April of 1966.

And here are two earlier posts about English babies named after entire soccer teams: the 1992 Leeds United team, and the 2011 Burnley team.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Portugal 2-3 Denmark, Football by José Goulão under CC BY-SA 2.0.