How popular is the baby name Rudolf 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 Rudolf.

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Popularity of the baby name Rudolf


Posts that mention the name Rudolf

How did Rudolph Valentino influence baby names in the 1920s?

Actor Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926)
Rudolph Valentino

Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla was born in Italy in 1895 and immigrated to America in 1913.

He began getting bit parts in silent films in the mid-1910s. As he progressed to larger parts in the later 1910s, he started being credited as “Rudolph Valentino” or some variant thereof.

He finally achieved fame in 1921 with his breakthrough role as Julio in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the top-grossing film of the year.

He went on to make more than a dozen other films — including The Sheik (1921), which turned Valentino into America’s first sex symbol.

But his superstardom was cut short when, at the age of 31, he died suddenly (of peritonitis, after suffering from a perforated peptic ulcer) soon after the premiere of his final film, The Son of the Sheik (1926).

rudolph valentino, vilma banky, the son of the sheik, movie poster

The death of Valentino not only “caused worldwide hysteria, several suicides, and riots at his lying in state, which attracted a crowd that stretched for 11 blocks,” but also influenced U.S. baby names.

The name Rudolph, which had been on the rise during the early 1920s, saw peak usage in 1927. (So did the spelling Rudolf.)

  • 1929: 1,220 baby boys named Rudolph [rank: 140th]
  • 1928: 1,308 baby boys named Rudolph [rank: 134th]
  • 1927: 1,687 baby boys named Rudolph [rank: 110th]
  • 1926: 1,636 baby boys named Rudolph [rank: 111th]
  • 1925: 1,243 baby boys named Rudolph [rank: 136th]
Graph of the usage of the baby name Rudolph in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Rudolph

Similarly, the name Valentino saw a spike in usage in 1927, reaching a level that wasn’t surpassed until the late 1990s.

  • 1929: 30 baby boys named Valentino
  • 1928: 49 baby boys named Valentino [rank: 991st]
  • 1927: 90 baby boys named Valentino [rank: 682nd]
  • 1926: 49 baby boys named Valentino [rank: 990th]
  • 1925: 43 baby boys named Valentino
Graph of the usage of the baby name Valentino in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Valentino

What are your thoughts on the names Rudolph and Valentino? Would you use either one? (If so, which?)

Sources: Rudolph Valentino – Wikipedia, Rudolph Valentino – Britannica

P.S. One factor — beyond style — that could have contributed to the decreasing usage of the name Rudolph from the mid-20th century onward is the song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It was the top song in the nation at the end of 1949 — a year before “Frosty the Snowman” hit big — and went on to become a holiday classic, cementing the association between the name Rudolph and not just reindeer, but Christmastime in general.

The last intellectual to Latinize his name?

German physicist and mathematician Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888)
Rudolf Clausius (born Rudolf Gottlieb)

German physicist and mathematician Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888) was one of the founders of the science of thermodynamics.

Another interesting thing about Rudolf Clausius? He was born Rudolf Gottlieb.

I couldn’t find a concrete explanation for the name change, but I did find this in a college physics book: “Born with the name Rudolf Gottlieb, he adopted the classical name of Clausius, which was a popular thing to do in his time.”

(Clausius is based on the Latin clausus, meaning “closed, shut off.” Some sources say Clausius is an alternate name for Janus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings and endings.)

Yes, many historical European scholars/artists did adopt Latinized names. Astronomer Tycho Brahe was born Tyge Ottesen Brahe. Artist Jheronimus (Hieronymus) Bosch was born Jeroen van Aken. Violin maker Antonius Stradivarius was born Antonio Stradivari. Map maker Gerardus Mercator was born Gerard de Cremer.

But these folks lived during the 1400s, 1500s and 1600s. It was trendy for Renaissance thinkers, who embraced Classical philosophies and attitudes, to Latinize their names. (Wikipedia has a long list of Latinized names coined during the Renaissance if you want more examples.)

Rudolf Clausius, on the other hand, lived during the 1800s. I can’t think of any other public figure who adopted a Latinized name as late as the mid-19th century.

Was Rudolf Clausius the last European intellectual to Latinize his name? Or do other outliers exist?

(At first I thought Carl Linnæus (1707-1778) might fit the bill, but his surname was the legitimate family name, coined by his father Nils before Carl was born. It’s based on the Småland dialect word “linn,” meaning “linden tree,” in reference to a stately linden tree on the family property.)

Sources:

Image: Rudolf Clausius

Where did the baby name Svetlana come from in 1967?

Josef Stalin with daughter Svetlana (1935)
Josef Stalin with daughter Svetlana

The Russian name Svetlana, which is derived from the Slavic word svet, meaning “light,” debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1967:

  • 1969: unlisted
  • 1968: 11 baby girls named Svetlana
  • 1967: 10 baby girls named Svetlana [debut]
  • 1966: unlisted
  • 1965: unlisted

Why?

Because that was the year that Josef Stalin’s only daughter, Svetlana, defected to the United States.

Her defection from the Soviet Union, which attracted worldwide attention, was the most high-profile defection since Rudolf Nureyev’s in 1961.

Weirdly, her name also led her to a marriage several years later:

The widow of Frank Lloyd Wright, the great architect, invited Svetlana to stay with her. She herself had had a daughter Svetlana, killed in a car crash. She felt a mystical connection to this new and famous Svetlana. Her own Svetlana had been married to Wesley Peters, the architect’s senior apprentice. Mrs. Wright wanted the new Svetlana to meet Peters and like him. She did. They were married in three weeks.

The marriage only lasted 20 months, though.

What do you think of the name Svetlana?

Update, 8/9/16: Though I don’t have any data to back it up, TIME magazine claims that “thousands” of babies in Russia were named after Svetlana:

Svetlana Stalina, the daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, was born on February 28, 1926. Though brutal to the Russian public, Stalin was said to fawn over his daughter; she became a celebrity on the order of Shirley Temple in Russia, with thousands of babies named in her honor.

Sources:

Image: Joseph Stalin with daughter Svetlana, 1935

Mystery baby name: Treasure (Solved!)

"Tango" advertisement (Jan. 1935)
“Tango” advertisement

The baby name Treasure debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1935:

  • 1937: 6 baby girls named Treasure
  • 1936: 18 baby girls named Treasure
  • 1935: 16 baby girls named Treasure [debut]
  • 1934: unlisted
  • 1933: unlisted

Treasure was the top debut name that year, in fact.

And yet, because Treasure (like Memory) is also a vocabulary word, figuring out where it must have been used as a girl name circa 1935 is tricky.

There are a lot of possibilities in the 1930s, actually — movies, literature, radio, comic strips, etc.

Any thoughts on this one?

(And, I wonder whether a baby name alluding to riches wouldn’t have been especially appealing during the era of the Depression? Hm.)

Update, Feb. 2017: I think Becca has figured it out!

Vida Hurst’s novel Tango, which was serialized in various newspapers in 1934 and 1935, featured a female protagonist named Treasure McGuire.

Here’s a description of the story:

Golden-haired Treasure McGuire, who looks like an angel, but who dances the tango with mysterious grace and abandon, is the heroine. She scorns the love of fiery Carlos Bermuda, of kind Oliver Keith, of domineering Rudolf Molinari, but gives her heart to youthful, adoring Anthony Molinari.

They marry secretly and spend a glorious week at Lake Tahoe. But on their return to San Francisco, bitterness and distrust tear them apart. Happy, carefree Treasure is faced with problems that sweep girlhood away forever and change her into a woman fighting for the man she loves.

A movie adaptation of Tango came out in early 1936. This explains why the usage of the name increased slightly the year after it debuted.

Thank you, Becca!

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Indianapolis Times (16 Jan. 1935)

[Latest update: Sept. 2025]