How popular is the baby name Sandra 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 Sandra.

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Popularity of the baby name Sandra


Posts that mention the name Sandra

Popular baby names in Estonia, 2014

Flag of Estonia
Flag of Estonia

According to data from Estonia’s Ministry of the Interior the most popular baby names in the country in 2014 were Sofia and Rasmus.

Here are Estonia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2014:

Girl Names

  1. Sofia, 102 baby girls
  2. Eliise, 74
  3. Maria, 73
  4. Mia, 71
  5. Lisandra, 60
  6. Mirtel, 59
  7. Sandra, 58
  8. Emma, 55 (tie)
  9. Laura, 55 (tie)
  10. Darja, 50

Boy Names

  1. Rasmus, 91 baby boys
  2. Artjom, 89
  3. Robin, 83
  4. Martin, 80
  5. Oliver, 74
  6. Romet, 71
  7. Sebastian, 70
  8. Robert, 68
  9. Artur, 64
  10. Maksim, 63

In the boys’ top 10, Robert, Artur and Maksim replaced Markus, Nikita and Sander.

In the girls’ top 10, Eliise, Sandra, Emma and Darja replaced Anna, Milana, Viktoria and Liisa.

Eliise has “undergone a great rise,” according to my source, thanks to the song “Für Elise” — not the one by Beethoven, but the one by Estonian band Traffic. Here’s the video:

Here are the 2013 rankings for Estonia.

Source: Most popular baby names of 2014

Image: Adapted from Flag of Estonia (public domain)

Popular girl names: Biblical vs. Non-Biblical

The ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names in the girl’s top 20 is about the same today as it was 100 years ago, though the ratio did change a bit mid-century.

(In contrast, there’s been a steady increase in the number of Biblical-origin names among the top boy names.)

Here’s the color-coded table — Biblical names are in the yellow cells, non-Biblical names are in the green cells, and several borderline names (which I counted as non-Biblical) are in the orange cells:

Popular girl names: Biblical vs. non-Biblical.
Popular girl names over time: Biblical (yellow) vs. non-Biblical. Click to enlarge.
  • Biblical names: Abigail, Anna, Betty (via Elizabeth), Chloe, Danielle, Deborah, Debra, Elizabeth, Hannah, Isabella (via Elizabeth), Janet, Jean, Joan, Judith, Judy, Julie, Lillian (via Elizabeth), Lisa (via Elizabeth), Lois, Marie, Marilyn, Mary, Mia (via Maria), Michelle, Nancy (via Anne), Rachel, Rebecca, Ruth, Sandra (via Alexander), Sarah, Sharon, Stephanie, Susan, Tammy (via Tamar/Tamara)
  • Non-Biblical names: Alexis, Alice, Alyssa, Amanda, Amber, Amelia, Amy, Angela, Ashley, Aubrey, Avery, Barbara, Brenda, Brianna, Brittany, Carol, Carolyn, Catherine, Charlotte, Christina, Christine, Crystal, Cynthia, Diane, Donna, Doris, Dorothy, Edna, Ella, Emily, Emma, Evelyn, Florence, Frances, Gladys, Grace, Harper, Heather, Helen, Irene, Jennifer, Joyce, Karen, Kathleen, Kayla, Kelly, Kimberly, Laura, Lauren, Linda, Lori, Louise, Madison, Margaret, Marjorie, Megan, Melissa, Mildred, Natalie, Nicole, Olivia, Pamela, Patricia, Rose, Shannon, Shirley, Sofia, Sophia, Taylor, Tiffany, Victoria, Virginia
  • Borderline names:
    • Ava (could be based on the Germanic root avi or the Biblical name Eve)
    • Jessica (literary invention, but Shakespeare may have based it on the Biblical name Iscah)
    • Samantha (possibly inspired by the Biblical name Samuel)

Again, feels pretty weird to put overtly Christian names like Christina and Christine in the non-Biblical category, but oh well.

Here are the year-by-year tallies:

YearTop 20 names
given to…		# Biblical# Non-Biblical
191431% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
192431% of baby girls7 (35%)13 (65%)
193432% of baby girls9 (45%)11 (55%)
194435% of baby girls8 (40%)12 (60%)
195434% of baby girls9 (45%)11 (55%)
196424% of baby girls9 (45%)11 (55%)
197424% of baby girls8 (40%)12 (60%)
198426% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
199419% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
200414% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
201412% of baby girls5 (25%)15 (75%)

Just like with the boy names, though, there’s a big difference between the 1914 and 2014 sample sizes — 31% and 12%. So let’s also look at the 2014 top 100, which covers 31% of female births.

By my count, last year’s top 100 girl names were about a quarter Biblical, three-quarters non-Biblical:

Biblical names (27)Non-Biblical/Borderline names (73)
Isabella (via Elizabeth), Mia (via Maria), Abigail, Elizabeth, Chloe, Addison (via Adam), Lillian (via Elizabeth), Hannah, Anna, Leah, Gabriella, Sadie (via Sarah), Sarah, Annabelle, Madelyn (via Magdalene), Lucy (via Lucius), Alexa (via Alexander), Genesis, Naomi, Eva, Lydia, Julia, Khloe, Madeline (via Magdalene), Alexandra, Gianna (via Joanna), Isabelle (via Elizabeth)Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Ava, Emily, Madison, Charlotte, Harper, Sofia, Avery, Amelia, Evelyn, Ella, Victoria, Aubrey, Grace, Zoey, Natalie, Brooklyn, Lily, Layla, Scarlett, Aria, Zoe, Samantha, Audrey, Ariana, Allison, Savannah, Arianna, Camila, Penelope, Claire, Aaliyah, Riley, Skylar, Nora, Hailey, Kaylee, Paisley, Kennedy, Ellie, Peyton, Caroline, Serenity, Aubree, Alexis, Nevaeh, Stella, Violet, Mackenzie, Bella, Autumn, Mila, Kylie, Maya, Piper, Alyssa, Taylor, Eleanor, Melanie, Faith, Katherine, Brianna, Ashley, Ruby, Sophie, London, Lauren, Alice, Vivian, Hadley, Jasmine

Faith, Grace, Angela, Nevaeh, Natalie…all technically non-Biblical.

27%-73% is remarkably similar to both 25%-75% (smaller 2014 sample) and 30%-70% (1914 sample).

So here’s the question of the day: If you had to choose all of your children’s names from either one group or the other — Biblical names or non-Biblical names — which group would you stick to, and why?

The name Brunonia

I don’t remember when I first came across author Brunonia Barry, but I do remember being instantly curious about her name.

My first guess was botanical. Maybe “brunonia” was some sort of brown flower? (Do brown flowers even exist?) And I did find an Australian herb called brunonia. (Not brown-colored, but discovered by botanist Robert Brown.)

Turns out the Australian herb wasn’t the answer, but there was indeed a “brown” connection. Here’s how Brunonia Barry explains her name:

Brunonia is my middle name. I was named by my grandfather who was an overly enthusiastic alumnus of Brown University. Evidently Brown in Latin is Brunonia. He loved his alma mater so much that he named his summer house, his canoe, and his cat Brunonia. Then he decided that all of his grandchildren should take Brunonia as their middle names. […] My first name is really Sandra, but my pen name is Brunonia in honor of my grandfather.

So why did Brunonia Barry use her middle name as her pen name?

She chose to use her middle name as her professional name because of the strength it conveyed; her husband points out that there are several “Sandy Barry”s returned on a Google search, but only one “Brunonia Barry”!

What do you think of the name Brunonia?

Sources: Author event: Brunonia Barry and The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry (Author of The Lace Reader), The Lace Reader: Questions for Brunonia Barry

P.S. Here’s an interesting NPR piece on how Brunonia self-published her book The Lace Reader.

Popular baby names in Estonia, 2013

Flag of Estonia
Flag of Estonia

Estonia’s top baby names of 2013 were published in the newspaper Postimees at the end of 2012.

The paper didn’t explicitly mention the source of the information (the Ministry of the Interior?) but reported that the country’s most popular names from January to November, 2013, were Maria and Rasmus.

Here are Estonia’s projected top 15 girl names and top 15 boy names of 2013:

Girl Names

  1. Maria*
  2. Sofia
  3. Laura
  4. Anna*
  5. Mia/Miia
  6. Milana
  7. Lisandra
  8. Mirtel
  9. Viktoria
  10. Liisa
  11. Arina
  12. Darja
  13. Aleksandra
  14. Sandra
  15. Adeele/Adele

Boy Names

  1. Rasmus
  2. Artjom*
  3. Martin
  4. Robin
  5. Oliver
  6. Markus
  7. Nikita*
  8. Romet
  9. Sebastian
  10. Sander
  11. Kristofer
  12. Robert
  13. Oskar
  14. Maksim
  15. Daniel

(The names with asterisks (*) are particularly popular among Russian-speakers in Estonia.)

Names that increased in popularity last year include Rasmus, Gregor and Mia.

Kevin, Kristjan and Kristina, on the other hand, decreased in popularity “significantly.”

Mirtel, 8th on the girls’ list, was rare until Estonian actress Mirtel Pohla came along.

The name Lenna was similarly uncommon until Estonian singer Lenna Kuurmaa hit the scene, and now Lenna is “quite popular,” though not in the top 15.

Robin, 4th on the boys’ list, is a curious one. It’s not an Estonian name, but simply the English male name Robin. And yet it’s trending in Estonia right now. (The last time Robin was trendy in the U.S. was a half century ago, and most of those baby Robins were female.) Could the inspiration be “Blurred Lines” singer Robin Thicke? I know it’s a long shot, but that’s all I can think of.

Postimees also published the following list of Estonia’s most popular baby names from 1992 to 2004. (They did say the Ministry of the Interior was the source for this one.)

Top Girl Names, 1992–2004Top Boy Names, 1992–2004
1. Anna
2. Laura
3. Kristina
4. Maria
5. Diana
6. Sandra
7. Anastassia
8. Jekaterina
9. Karina
10. Alina
11. Kristiina
12. Aleksandra
13. Viktoria
14. Darja
15. Liis
16. Anastasia
17. Kätlin
18. Julia
19. Valeria		1. Martin
2. Sander
3. Aleksandr
4. Kristjan
5. Kevin
6. Nikita
7. Markus
8. Artur
9. Maksim
10. Karl
11. Dmitri
12. Daniil
13. Siim
14. Rasmus
15. Aleksei
16. Andrei
17. Artjom
18. Mihkel
19. Ilja

I’m guessing 2004 was picked as an endpoint because Estonia enacted a name law in early 2005 that regulates baby name orthography (to start weeding out foreign letters such as x, y and c). The full list has 677 names; at the bottom are names like Sirje, Raina, Raneli and Patricia.

Sources: And This Year’s Most Popular Baby Names Are…, These are the days of Rasmus, Artjom, Maria and Sofia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Estonia (public domain)