How popular is the baby name Reuben 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 Reuben.
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Tuesday’s post about the Victorian-style Tylney Hall Hotel reminded me of a list of Victorian-era names that I’ve had bookmarked forever.
The list was created by amateur genealogist G. M. Atwater as a resource for writers. It contains names and name combinations that were commonly seen in the U.S. from the 1840s to the 1890s. Below is the full list (with a few minor changes).
| Victorian Era Female Names | Victorian Era Male Names |
|---|---|
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Which female name and male name do you like best?
We’ve all seen the top 1,000 boy names of 2010 by now, but have you had a chance to look at the names beyond the top 1,000?
Here they are, down to the names that were given to 100 babies each last year. The 1,000th most popular boy name was Crew, given to 193 babies, and after Crew comes…
Here’s the equivalent girls’ list for 2010.
Update, Aug. 2023: “Boy names beyond the top 1,000 of 2022” is a more recent version of this list.
Source: SSA
Image: Adapted from Scattered stars in Sagittarius by ESA/Hubble under CC BY 4.0.
A reader named Marissa, who has a daughter named Beatrix Penelope (nn Bea), is expecting twins–one boy, one girl. She’s got their middle names narrowed down (Anthony or Alexander for the baby boy, Daphne or Jillian for the baby girl) but she’d like some help with their first names.
Here’s what she’s looking for in a boy name:
For the boy I’d like names that are two syllables long and start and end in a consonant. So far I like Robert, Patrick, Daniel and Fabian. The only one he likes is Fabian, but we’re still not sure.
And here’s what she’s looking for in a girl name:
For the girl I’d like names that are three or four syllables long, and start and end in a vowel. So far I like Anastasia, Ophelia, Elena and Ursula, but he likes none of them.
The babies’ last name will sound something like Thisbe.
Here are some of the boy names I came up with:
| Calvin Clement Chester Conrad Curtis David Declan Dexter Duncan Felix | Franklin Holden Howard Jasper Kenneth Lincoln Linus Lucas Malcolm Martin | Maxwell Miles Mitchell Nathan Nelson Nigel Nolan Philip Raymond Reuben | Roland Roman Silas Simon Stuart Thomas Victor Vincent William Winston |
And here are some ideas for the girl name:
| Acantha Adela Adelina Adriana Agatha Alexandra Alexina Alicia Allegra Althea | Amelia Annabella Andrea Angela Antonia Arabella Araminta Athena Augusta Aurelia | Aurora Azalea Eleanora Eliana Elisa Eloisa Estella Eugenia Eulalia Imelda | Iona Irena/Irina Isabella Isidora Octavia Odelia Odessa Olivia Olympia Ottilia |
Which of the above do you like best with Beatrix? (And which ones make the best boy/girl pairings, do you think?)
What other names would you suggest to Marissa?
Estelle wrote to me recently with a tall order:
I’m having quads (!!!) in 4 weeks and I need names! I’m having one boy and three girls. My 4 year old son’s name is Cosmo. My husband and I like spacey, whimsical and weird names.
In fact, they “don’t have any limits on how weird a name can be.”
One girl name they’re considering is Ione, which is a family name.
The combination of Cosmo and the adjective “spacey” made me think of star and constellation names right off the bat:
| Adhara Aldebaran Altair Aludra Antares Antlia Aquarius Aquila Aries Auriga Azha Carina Corvus | Cygnus Deneb Denebola Hamal Kastra Lacerta Libra Lyra Meissa Musca Nashira Norma Orion | Pavo Polaris Rana Rigel Shaula Sheratan Sirius Sirrah Suhail Taurus Thuban Vega Vela |
One nice thing about these is that several together probably wouldn’t scream “star names” to the average person. Unlike, say, a group of flower names. (Though I’m sure stargazers would catch on pretty quickly.)
And here’s what we have for non-galactic suggestions:
| Allegra Althea Apollonia Artemis Aurora Briony Calypso Clio Danae Demetria | Echo Eulalia Freya Hestia Imelda Imogen Isis Lucasta Luna Jonquil | Minerva Olympia Rhea Sapphira Severina Ursula Vita Xanthe Zelda Zenobia |
Those were the girl names, these are the boy names:
| Agni Aldous Barnaby Casper Cyril Elan Evander Erasmus Fabio Gideon | Horatio Ignatius Isidore Jethro Leander Loki Magnus Milo Nigel Odin | Pascal Peregrine Reuben Rémy Silas Taliesin Theron Tycho Ulysses Zenon |
What other whimsical names can you come up with for Estelle? And, can you put together any good combinations of 1 boy and 3 girl names?
Update: The babies have arrived! Scroll down to see what names Estelle selected.
