How popular is the baby name Pearl 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 Pearl.

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Popularity of the baby name Pearl


Posts that mention the name Pearl

What gave the baby name Elaine a boost in 1915?

The character Elaine Dodge from the motion picture serial "The Exploits of Elaine" (1914)
Elaine Dodge from “The Exploits of Elaine”

The baby name Elaine, which was already on the rise in the early 1900s, more than doubled in usage in 1915 specifically:

  • 1917: 1,281 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 160th]
  • 1916: 1,236 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 161st]
  • 1915: 1,212 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 155th]
  • 1914: 568 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 221st]
  • 1913: 411 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 238th]

Why?

Because of fictional character Elaine Dodge — the protagonist of a trio of weekly Hearst-Pathé serials that came out one after the other:

  • The Exploits of Elaine (14 installments released from December of 1914 to March of 1915),
  • The New Exploits of Elaine (10 installments released from April to June of 1915), and
  • The Romance of Elaine (12 installments released from June to August of 1915).

Just like The Perils of Pauline, the three “Elaine” serials could be read in print and seen on film concurrently. Installments were published in the newspapers on Sundays, then premiered at the motion picture houses on Mondays.

Elaine Dodge, an adventurous young woman, teamed up with scientist/detective Craig Kennedy and reporter Walter Jameson to track down various bad guys — a shadowy criminal called “the Clutching Hand” in the first serial, a Chinese gang leader named Wu Fang in the second, and a foreign agent named Marcius Del Mar in the third.

In all three pictures, Elaine was played by actress Pearl White (who’d become famous as the star of The Perils of Pauline).

What are your thoughts on the name Elaine?

P.S. In mid-1915, The Exploits of Elaine was published as a standalone book. The second and third serials were combined into a single volume in 1916.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Moving Picture World (16 Jan. 1915)

Mississippi quadruplets: Kenleigh, Kristen, Kayleigh, Kelsey

quadruplets and stork

In February of 2014, Kimberly Fugate of Mississippi went into labor. She was expecting triplets, but learned in the delivery room that she would be having quadruplets.

What did she name the four identical baby girls?

Kenleigh Rosa, Kristen Sue, Kayleigh Pearl, and Kelsey Roxanne. (Kelsey was the “hidden surprise.”)

Kimberly’s first child, a daughter named Katelyn, was 10 when the quads were born.

(I’ve also blogged about quads with Sh-names and quads with Ch-names.)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Multiplication (1905) by Gordon Ross

What gave the baby name Pauline a boost in 1915?

The character Pauline from the film serial "The Perils of Pauline" (1914)
Pauline from “The Perils of Pauline“

The rise of the baby name Pauline during the early decades of the 20th century accelerated in the mid-1910s. Pauline reached its highest-ever ranking in 1915, in fact:

  • 1917: 6,896 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 33rd]
  • 1916: 6,655 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 33rd]
  • 1915: 6,334 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 32nd]
  • 1914: 4,698 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 34th]
  • 1913: 3,636 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 35th]
  • 1912: 3,163 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 38th]

What was drawing attention to the name around that time?

Fictional character Pauline Marvin, protagonist of the story The Perils of Pauline, which was serialized in print and on film concurrently throughout most of 1914 (from March to December).

The co-serialization came about through a collaboration between newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and motion picture company Pathé.

Hearst had commissioned Charles Goddard to write the story, in which the main character, a young heiress, set out to “have thrills, adventures, see people, [and] do daring things” before settling down with her sweetheart, Harry. Pauline’s escapades kept going awry, though, due to the scheming of a murderous man intent on stealing her fortune.

The serial’s twenty installments were released biweekly — every other Sunday in the newspapers, and every other Monday in the motion picture houses.

Notably, marketing for the serial included a weekly contest in which Hearst newspaper readers could win sizeable cash prizes for correctly guessing upcoming plot twists.

"The Perils of Pauline" advertisement (Mar. 1914)
“The Perils of Pauline” advertisement

The motion picture version of The Perils of Pauline quickly became the most famous of all movie serials. It didn’t utilize cliffhangers to the degree that The Adventures of Kathlyn did, but each episode featured exciting footage such as “the wrecking of a real aeroplane” (in episode 2), a ride in a sabotaged hot air balloon (episode 6), a car crash during a cross-country automobile race (episode 15), and an escape from a sunken submarine (episode 18).

The star of the picture was Missouri-born actress Pearl White, who performed most of her own stunts. The worldwide success of The Perils of Pauline turned White into one of the first international movie stars.

What are your thoughts on the name Pauline? (Do you like it more or less than Pearl?)

P.S. The Perils of Pauline was published as a standalone book in early 1915.

Sources:

Images: Screenshot of The Perils of Pauline (1914), clipping from the New York Times (14 Mar. 1914)

Popular baby names in the Channel Islands, 2024

Flag of Jersey
Flag of Jersey

The Channel Islands, located in the English Channel, are divided into two territories: Jersey and Guernsey.

Jersey consists of the archipelago’s largest and most populous island, Jersey, while Guernsey consists of the next-largest and next-most-populous island, Guernsey, along with several smaller islands.

What were the most popular baby names in each territory last year?

Jersey

Last year, Jersey welcomed a total of 716 babies — 330 girls and 386 boys. Here are Jersey’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Isla
  2. Olivia
  3. Isabella
  4. Grace
  5. Elodie
  6. Bella
  7. Ruby
  8. Clara
  9. Mia
  10. Pearl

Boy names

  1. Theodore
  2. Luca
  3. James
  4. Alfie
  5. Leo
  6. Finley
  7. Henry
  8. William
  9. Arlo
  10. Alexander

A year earlier, the top names were Olivia and Oliver.

Guernsey

Last year, Guernsey welcomed a total of 422 babies. Here are Guernsey’s top girl names and top boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Charlotte, 4 baby girls (tie)
  2. Isla, 4 (tie)
  3. Amelia, 3 (7-way tie)
  4. Evie, 3 (7-way tie)
  5. Harper, 3 (7-way tie)
  6. Isabella, 3 (7-way tie)
  7. Mila, 3 (7-way tie)
  8. Olivia, 3 (7-way tie)
  9. Pippa, 3 (7-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Charlie, 5 baby boys
  2. Reggie, 4

A year earlier, the top names were Mia and Harry. (And there were four boys named Lando! I wish Guernsey had released more of 2024’s top boy names — I’m curious to know if Lando still ranks inside the top 10.)

Finally, here’s a link to the Channel Islands’ 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Jersey (public domain)