How popular is the baby name Pauline 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 Pauline.

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Popularity of the baby name Pauline


Posts that mention the name Pauline

A smattering of Mormon baby names

Jessie Jensen published her annual Mormon baby names post a few weeks ago. Some highlights:

  • Dallin/Dallen, tied for “Most Mormon name.” Dallin H. Oaks is a prominent member of the LDS church and a former president of BYU.
  • Rexalyn: “Ask your doctor if Rexalyn™ is right for you.”
  • Roczen, which has popped up in Australia recently as well. The influence is probably German motorcycle racer Ken Roczen.
  • Tannin, the “Absolute Worst Name This Year” thanks to the Biblical sea monster association. (For what it’s worth, I thought Zoei was worse.)

One commenter mentioned the historical Malan family of Ogden, Utah. Most of the 16 children were given alphabetical names:

  • Alexis Bartholomew (b. 1873)
  • Claudius Daniel (b. 1875)
  • Ernest Francis (b. 1876)
  • Jeremiah (b. 1878)
  • Gideon Highly (b. 1879)
  • Inez Jane (b. 1881)
  • Kit (b. 1883)
  • Lawrence Maxwell (b. 1884)
  • Nahum Oscar (b. 1886)
  • Parley Quince (b. 1888)
  • Ray Stephen (b. 1890)
  • Teresa Una (b. 1890)
  • Verna Winona (b. 1893)
  • X Y Zella (b. 1895)
  • Benjamin (b. 1896)
  • Louise Pauline (b. 1898)

Another commenter mentioned an aunt “named OE, it was pronounced oh-EEE, just like the letters,” who was born in Utah in early 1900s. (Reminds me of Io.)

Have you come across any interesting Mormon names lately?

Girl name battle: Kathlyn, Helen, Pauline, Elaine, Myra, Ruth

the perils of pauline

Back in the 1910s, serial films with female protagonists were very trendy.

Many of these films had titles that followed the same formula: “The (Plural Noun) of (Female Name).”

Some examples:

  • The Adventures of Kathlyn* (1913-1914)
  • The Hazards of Helen (1914-1917)
  • The Perils of Pauline (1914)
  • The Exploits of Elaine* (1915)
  • The Mysteries of Myra (1916)
  • The Adventures of Ruth (1919)

First question: Using the same formula, can you create a serial title with your own name? (You don’t need to have a female name to play along, of course.) The Enigmas of Nancy, The Nuisances of Nancy, The Entanglements of Nancy, The Nail-Biters of Nancy…not that great, but I’m sure you guys can do better.

Second question: Of the six names listed above, which one do you like best? Why?

*The baby names Kathlyn and Elaine saw jumps in usage in 1914 and 1915, respectively.

Vin Diesel named his baby after Paul Walker

Actors Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in the movie "The Fast and the Furious" (2001).
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker

In March, actor Vin Diesel and his girlfriend Paloma Jiménez welcomed their third child.

The baby girl was named Pauline in honor of Diesel’s longtime Fast & Furious co-star Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in November of 2013.

“He was in the [delivery] room,” Diesel recalled. “There’s no other person that I was thinking about as I was cutting this umbilical cord. I just…knew he was there.”

And Diesel decided that Pauline’s name would be a way to make sure Walker would always be there.

“It felt like, you know, a way to keep his memory a part of my family and a part of my world,” he explained.

The fact that Diesel also happens to have a fraternal twin brother named Paul probably made the decision to select “Pauline” that much easier.

His two older children are a daughter named Hania and a son named Vincent.

(His own birth name is Mark Sinclair. The “Vin” part of his stage name comes from his mother’s married name, Vincent, and “Diesel” was a nickname he picked up while working as a bouncer in New York City during college.)

Sources: Vin Diesel Welcomes Daughter Pauline, Vin Diesel reveals his new baby’s very special name, a tribute to Paul Walker, 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Vin Diesel
Image: © 2001 Universal Pictures

26 Girl names from 1916

Not-Yet Serials, Photoplay Magazine, January 1916

In early 1916, Photoplay Magazine came up with a list of potential titles for serial films using the formula established by The Perils of Pauline (1914), The Exploits of Elaine (1914), and The Hazards of Helen (1914).

(Just a few months after the above was published, The Mysteries of Myra came out.)

Which of those 26 names — Abigail, Bertha, Calpurnia, Delilah, Evangeline, Florence, Garnet, Hazel, Imogene, Jezebel, Kitty, Lizzie, Margaret, Nancy, Orillia, Priscilla, Queenie, Roberta, Sibyl, Theodosia, Ursula, Victoria, Winifred, Xanthippe, Yetta or Zira — do you like best?

And, which of those serials would you be most likely to watch? :)