How popular is the baby name Rooney 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 Rooney.

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Popularity of the baby name Rooney


Posts that mention the name Rooney

Pop culture baby name game results, 2015

Here are the results of Pop Culture Baby Name Game 2015!

Quick disclaimer: Some of these names were already on the rise. Others were likely influenced by multiple pop culture events/people (not just the one listed). So I leave it up to you to judge the degree/nature of pop culture influence for yourself.

Adaline, +737 [ranked 11th on the list of raw-number increases for girl names]

  • Up from 164 baby girls in 2014 to 901 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie The Age of Adaline (2015).

Abel, +659 [ranked 12th on the list of raw-number increases for boy names]

  • Up from 2,557 baby boys in 2014 to 3,216 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: singer Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (stage name The Weeknd).

Finn, +301 [ranked 47th on the list of raw-number increases for boy names]

  • Up from 1,580 baby boys in 2014 to 1,881 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Taya, +180

  • Up from 93 baby girls in 2014 to 273 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie American Sniper (2014).

Lucille, +142

  • Up from 970 baby girls in 2014 to 1,112 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the death of B. B. King (whose guitars were all called “Lucille”).

Margot, +126

  • Up from 377 baby girls in 2014 to 503 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: actress Margot Robbie.

Atticus, +106

  • Up from 852 baby boys in 2014 to 958 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the book Go Set a Watchman (2015).

Canaan, +104

  • Up from 179 baby girls in 2014 to 283 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the news of Oprah Winfrey’s son, Canaan.

Hakeem, +87

  • Up from 72 baby boys in 2014 to 159 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Annalise, +78

  • Up from 699 baby boys in 2014 to 777 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show How to Get Away with Murder (2014-).

Lola, +57

  • Up from 1,386 baby girls in 2014 to 1,443 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Arlo, +54

  • Up from 518 baby boys in 2014 to 572 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie The Good Dinosaur (2015).

Carter, +53

  • Up from 10,674 baby boys in 2014 to 10,727 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: unsure (suggested in the comments).

Carli, +36

  • Up from 110 baby girls in 2014 to 146 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: soccer player Carli Lloyd.

Margo, +36

  • Up from 152 baby girls in 2014 to 188 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Paper Towns (2015). Or, of course, Margot Robbie.

Bjorn, +35

  • Up from 63 baby boys in 2014 to 98 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Vikings.

Roland, +32

  • Up from 437 baby boys in 2014 to 469 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie By The Sea (2015).

Taraji, +30

  • Up from 200 baby girls in 2014 to 230 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Adonis, +29

  • Up from 327 baby boys in 2014 to 356 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Creed (2015).

Sullivan (as a boy name), +29

  • Up from 631 baby boys in 2014 to 660 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: actor Sullivan Stapleton.

Joy, +28

  • Up from 692 baby girls in 2014 to 720 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Inside Out (2015).

Kylo, +27

  • Up from 8 baby boys in 2014 to 35 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Alex (as a girl name), +25

  • Up from 160 baby girls in 2014 to 185 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: soccer player Alex Morgan.

Rebel, +25 (as a girl name), -3 (as a boy name)

  • Up from 58 baby girls in 2014 to 83 in 2015.
  • Down from 48 baby boys in 2014 to 45 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the Confederate flag debate.
  • Update, 5/12/16: The state-by-state data was just released. Of the 83 baby girls named Rebel, 12 were born in Texas, 9 in California, 8 in Arkansas and 6 in Oklahoma. Of the 45 boys, 7 were born in Texas and 5 in Tennessee.

Meghan, +24

  • Up from 214 baby girls in 2014 to 238 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: soccer player Meghan Klingenberg.

Lucious, +18

  • Up from 19 baby boys in 2014 to 37 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Christie, +15

  • Up from 31 baby girls in 2014 to 46 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: soccer player Christie Rampone.

Tobin (as a girl name), re-entered with 14

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 14 baby girls.
  • Pop culture influence: soccer player Tobin Heath.

Alessia, +13

  • Up from 200 baby girls in 2014 to 213 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: singer Alessia Cara.

Lyon, +13

  • Up from 29 baby boys in 2014 to 42 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Kelsea, +12

  • Up from 35 baby girls in 2014 to 47 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: country singer Kelsea Ballerini.

Gigi, +11

  • Up from 27 baby girls in 2014 to 38 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: model Gigi Hadid.

Ragnar, +11

  • Up from 19 baby boys in 2014 to 30 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Vikings.

Rollo, re-entered with 10

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 10 baby boys.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Vikings.

Max (as a girl name), +9

  • Up from 14 baby girls in 2014 to 23 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: Maxima “Max” Chan Zuckerberg, daughter of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

Poe, re-entered with 9

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 9 baby boys.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Denali, +8 (as a boy name) and +7 (as a girl name)

  • Up from 20 baby boys in 2014 to 28 in 2015.
  • Up from 55 baby girls in 2014 to 62 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the renaming of Denali.

Bindi, re-entered with 8

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 8 baby girls.
  • Pop culture influence: Dancing with the Stars contestant Bindi Irwin.

Eilis, re-entered with 6

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 6 baby girls.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Brooklyn (2015).

Trai, re-entered with 6

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 6 baby boys.
  • Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Becky, +5

  • Up from 53 baby girls in 2014 to 58 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: soccer player Becky Sauerbrunn.

Bernie, +5

  • Up from 6 baby boys in 2014 to 11 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Saint, +5

  • Up from 32 baby boys in 2014 to 37 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: Saint West, son of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

Serra, +5

  • Up from 12 baby girls in 2014 to 17 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: the canonization of Junipero Serra.

Taron, +4

  • Up from 31 baby boys in 2014 to 35 in 2015.
  • Pop culture influence: actor Taron Egerton.

Names that went down:

Names not on the SSA’s list in 2015:

  • Aslaug
  • Bryshere
  • Cookie
  • Dameron
  • DuVernay
  • Empire
  • Furiosa
  • Halsey
  • Jeralean
  • Junipero
  • Jussie
  • Lagertha
  • Rey (as a girl name)
  • Sonoya
  • Trump

Did any of these surprise you?

P.S. Some of the names from the 2014 game that have started/continued to do well: Hazel, Amal, Tauriel, and Wyatt (as a girl name). Elsa and Anna, on the other hand, both saw drops in usage.

Popular baby names in the Netherlands, 2015

Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands

According to data from Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB), the most popular baby names in the Netherlands in 2015 were Emma and Liam.

Here are the Netherlands’ top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Baby Girl NamesBaby Boy Names
1. Emma
2. Julia
3. Sophie
4. Anna
5. Mila
6. Eva
7. Tess
8. Lotte
9. Sara
10. Zoë		1. Liam
2. Sem (a form of Shem)
3. Lucas
4. Luuk
5. Noah
6. Milan
7. Daan
8. Levi
9. Finn
10. Jesse

On the girls’ list, Lotte replaced Isa (which fell from 6th place to 20th).

On the boys’ list, Jesse replaced Bram (which fell from 2nd place to 13th).

Another significant mover of the boys’ list was Liam itself. Liam ranked 17th in 2013, then 9th in 2014, and finally 1st in 2015.

Other names bestowed last year in the Netherlands include Goodluck, Dikshit, Lovelace, Genius, Narbys-Lenay, Rooney, Amen, Islam, Jood, Godmother, Eh, and You.

The top names in 2014 were Sophie and Daan. In 2013, they were Tess and Sem.

Sources: Kindernamen top 20 – SVB, Emma and Liam are most popular Dutch kids names, but what about little Eh?

UPDATE, Nov. 2016: According to Amsterdam University researchers, who took combined spellings into account, the top names of 2015 were Sarah and Luuk. My source didn’t offer the researchers’ full top 10 lists, but here’s what I took from the article:

1. Sarah/Sara/Zara
2. Sophie/Sofie
3. Anne/Anna
4. Lisa/Lize/Lise/Liza

1. Luuk/Luc/Luke
2. Lucas/Lukas
[…]
10. Mohamed/Mohammed/Muhammed/Mohammad

Source: Sarah and Luuk are the most popular Dutch baby names, say university researchers

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)

Where did the baby name Ziva come from in 1960?

Actress Ziva Rodann
Ziva Rodann

The exotic name Ziva first showed up in the U.S. baby name data during the 1960s:

  • 1962: 9 baby girls named Ziva
  • 1961: 8 baby girls named Ziva
  • 1960: 6 baby girls named Ziva [debut]
  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted

What was the influence?

Israeli-born actress Ziva Rodann, who appeared in movies and on TV from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s.

Her movies included the The Story of Ruth* (1960) and The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960) with Mickey Rooney. In terms of television, she could be seen on episodes of shows like Bonanza, Have Gun – Will Travel, and Batman (on which she twice played the role of Nefertiti).

Her first name is a feminine form of the Hebrew name Ziv, which means “bright, radiant.”

The name dropped out of the data after that initial run, but returned in 2005 — the year the popular TV series NCIS introduced an Israeli character named Ziva David (played by Chilean actress Cote de Pablo†). Usage of the name increased quite a bit starting in 2009 — the year Ziva David was held captive in Somalia.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Ziva?

Sources: Ziva Rodann – IMDb, Ziv – Behind the Name

*The star of the movie was fellow Israeli actress Elana Eden, and the baby name Elana correspondingly saw an uptick in usage in 1960.
†Cote/Coté is a common Chilean nickname for María José.

Where did the baby name Rooney come from?

Actor Mickey Rooney in the movie "The Human Comedy" (1943).
Mickey Rooney in “The Human Comedy“

The baby name Rooney has been given to dozens of baby girls lately thanks to the influence of actress Rooney Mara, but it first popped up in the data as a boy name in 1943:

  • 1945: unlisted
  • 1944: unlisted
  • 1943: 5 baby boys named Rooney [debut]
  • 1942: unlisted
  • 1941: unlisted

Why?

The obvious answer would be Mickey Rooney, though it’s hard to pinpoint a reason, as he’d been appearing in movies since the 1920s.

My best guess is the film The Human Comedy (1943), in which Rooney played Homer Macauley, a teenager who became the man of house after his older brother went off to war. It was one of Rooney’s first dramatic roles, and it earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule, Jr., in 1920. (His vaudevillian father was technically named Ninian Ewell, but went by the stage name Joe Yule.) After starring in a series of “Mickey McGuire” movies as a kid, Rooney not only began using the name Mickey McGuire professionally, but his legal name was also changed to Mickey McGuire.

When he signed with Universal to make Fast Companions (1932), the studio asked him to use a different stage name. His mother, remembering vaudevillian Pat Rooney, suggested Mickey Rooney. And, again, both his stage and legal names were changed.

Here’s what Rooney thought about the name changes (from his 1991 autobiography, Life Is Too Short):

This is the kind of world I was born in, one in which I had only one reason for existence: pleasing others. This was very clear, now, with a second legal name change: Even my name, even that, was designed to please others.

What are your thoughts on Rooney as a baby name?

Sources: