How popular is the baby name Richard 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 Richard.

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Popularity of the baby name Richard


Posts that mention the name Richard

Baby born to jockey, named after horse

horse

On February 7, 2010, with over 20,000 people watching, Irish jockey Richard Hughes won the McDowell Signature Indian Derby at Mahalaxmi Race Course in Mumbai. He was riding a filly named Jacqueline.

After the race, he was quoted as saying:

“You know what, my wife gave birth a couple of days back and I named the baby Phoebe Jacqueline. I knew she was going to win today. It’s so special. Jacqueline is now a part of my life.”

Reminds me of Bindi Sue, daughter of the late Steve Irwin, a.k.a. The Crocodile Hunter. She was named after both a crocodile (Bindi) and a dog (Sui).

Sources: Hughes win for Shroff, Jacqueline it is!, Jacqueline takes McDowell Signature Indian Derby

Image: Adapted from Dealer’s pic without lead rope by Cjambla under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Have you ever wanted to change your child’s name?

A friend of mine almost changed the name of her second daughter. While she didn’t end up making the change, it’s not unheard of for parents to legally change the names of their children–even years after the fact.

That’s what Johnny Carson did. According to all the biographies, Johnny’s three sons are named Christopher (b. 1950), Richard (b. 1952) and Cory (b. 1953). But Richard and Cory weren’t born Richard and Cory. They were born Kim and Barry.

In 1957, Johnny and his wife changed the names of their two youngest sons. Kim Arthur, who was five at the time, became Richard (nickname Ricky). Barry William, who was three, became Cory. Kim had been having “a little trouble over his name being mistaken for a girl’s” (actress Kim Novak was hitting it big in the late 1950s) and Barry simply preferred the name Cory to his own.

Have you ever been tempted to change the names of your child(ren)?

If so, please tell us more. Why did you want to make the change? What names were involved? Did you end up going through with it?

Sources:

  • “Carson Boys Get ‘Real Guy’ Names.” Sun [Baltimore] 13 Sept. 1957: 3.
  • “Johnny Carson Changes Names of Two Sons.” Los Angeles Times 13 Sept 1957: B1.

Baby name story: Jeep Gilbert

Peace Corps volunteer Richard Gilbert was stationed in the Philippines in the early 1960s.

At one point during his stay, he attempted to drive a woman in labor to a hospital over 30 miles away.

Gilbert’s jeep broke down en route, so the baby boy was born in the back seat.

In honor of both the vehicle and the volunteer, the baby was named Jeep Gilbert Ragay.

Sources:

  • “Philippine Baby Named For Peace Corps Man.” Hartford Courant 18 Aug. 1963: 7A.
  • Shriver, Sargent. Address. Hadassah Convention. Sheraton Park Hotel, Washington, D. C. 28 Oct. 1963.

(Want to see other car names?)

Popular baby names in 17th- and 18th-century New England

Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary (early 1670s)

Caitlin GD Hopkins posted lists of historically popular baby names in Boston, MA, and Windsor, CT, at her blog Vast Public Indifference earlier today.

Using a book of birth records for Boston, she came up with the top male and female names given to babies born in Boston in 1710:

Girl names (Boston, 1710)Boy names (Boston, 1710)
1. Mary
2. Elizabeth
3. Sarah
4. Abigail
5. Susanna
6. Hannah
7. Ann/Anna
8. Rebecca, Lydia (2-way tie)
9. Jane, Martha (2-way tie)
10. Johanna, Katherine, Lucy, Margaret, Mercy, Ruth (6-way tie)		1. John
2. William
3. Thomas
4. James
5. Samuel, Joseph (2-way tie)
6. Nathaniel
7. Jonathan
8. Richard, Henry, Daniel (3-way tie)
9. Abraham, Benjamin, Ebenezer, Edward, Francis, Josiah, Robert (7-way tie)

Then she used church records from 1635 to 1680 to come up with a similar list for Windsor, CT (which is about 100 miles southwest of Boston):

Girl names (Windsor, 1600s)Boy names (Windsor, 1600s)
1. Mary
2. Sarah
3. Elizabeth
4. Abigail
5. Hanna
6. Rebecca
7. Ann/Anna, Deborah (2-way tie)
8. Joanna, Martha (2-way tie)
9. Esther/Hester, Mindwell (2-way tie)
10. Hepzibah		1. John
2. Samuel
3. Thomas
4. Nathaniel
5. Joseph
6. Josiah
7. Benjamin
8. Jonathan
9. Isaac
10. Daniel, William (2-way tie)
11. Timothy
12. James

Caitlin noted an interesting “secular/Biblical divide” between baby names chosen at the two locations.

Update: Hopkins just posted a follow-up post with more interesting name commentary.