How popular is the baby name Sevastopol 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 Sevastopol.
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According to Moscow’s civil registration office, the most popular baby names in Moscow in 2014 were Alexander (for the 10th year in a row) and Sofia.
Among the names registered for the first time last year were Byzantium, Jazz, and Sevastopol. (“Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol in March reinvigorated national pride among many Russians.”) Two other unusual names that made headlines last year were Lucifer and Olimpiyada (a baby girl born several weeks before the start of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi).
I don’t believe Russia releases country-wide baby name rankings, but the Mercator media agency has gathered a some data (“the first names of 21 million residents of Moscow and the Moscow region”) and created a cool interactive baby name popularity graph covering the 20th century.
Some observations about the Mercator data:
Lada “became somewhat popular in 1968 when the Soviet Union began production of a car by the same name. The name debuted on the top-100 list at No. 70, then declined to No. 76 a year later before falling off the chart.” Lada was originally the name of a Slavic goddess.
Vladimir “was the second most popular name in 1952 when current President Vladimir Putin was born.”
Ninel “debuted on the chart at No. 66 in 1924, the year that Soviet state-founder Vladimir Lenin died. Ninel slid off the list in the mid-1930s.” (See more Revolutionary Russian Baby Names.)
A great passage about “absurd” baby names, published in London’s Chambers’s Journal way back in 1858:
No names are too absurd for parents to give their children. Here are innocents stamped for life as Kidnum Toats, Lavender Marjoram, Patient Pipe, Tabitha Cumi, Fussy Gotobed, and, strangest of all, here is one called Eli Lama Sabachthani Pressnail! Other parents are more ambitious, and prematurely ennoble their children by designating them Lord, Earl, Princess Charlotte, &c.; whislt, during the Russian war, numbers of poor things were labeled Malakoff, Sebastopol, Redan, Inkermann, and Balaklava. Florence Nightingale, however, seems to have been the greatest favourite, especially amongst the poor, who have shewn their admiration for her by perpetuating her name in their families all over the country. The returns for the last two years would shew that Florence has become a much commoner name lately.
Some thoughts…
Tabitha Cumi “And he took the damsel by the hand, and said to her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say to you, arise.” Mark 5:41
Fussy Gotobed This could be my new favorite baby name of all time. Is it legit? I can’t find anyone named “Fussy Gotobed” specifically, but the surname Gotobed is real, and I’ve found a dozens people named Fussy, so it’s certainly plausible.
Eli Lama Sabachthani Pressnail Jesus’s last words on the cross were “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?” meaning “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Malakoff, Sebastopol, etc. Names inspired by the Crimean War (1853-1856):
In birth records from the mid-19th century, I’ve found all five of the above. I’ve also found variants (e.g., Balaclava, Inkerman, Sevastopol) plus a few other Crimea-inspired names (e.g., Alma, Crimea, Eupatoria).
Several locations (e.g. Inkerman in Renfrewshire, Scotland) were given Crimea-inspired names during the war as well.
Florence Nightingale This one may be the biggest Crimean War name, in a sense. Nightingale first gained fame for treating the injured in the Crimean War. She was known as The Lady with the Lamp.
I don’t have reliable numbers for 19th-century England, but many baby girls in England were named “Florence Nightingale” between the 1850s and the early 1900s.
In the U.S., Florence became popular during the same period, quite possibly for the same reason:
Years
Census of 1850
Census of 1880
Census of 1920
1801-1810
<10 Florences
x
x
1811-1820
<10 Florences
x
x
1821-1830
<10 Florences
x
x
1831-1840
12 Florences (rank: ~95th)
x
x
1841-1850
62 Florences (rank: 52nd)
52 Florences (rank: 52nd)
x
1851-1860
x
240 Florences (rank: 33rd)
x
1861-1870
x
416 Florences (rank: 29th)
x
1871-1880
x
746 Florences (rank: 19th)
584 Florences (rank: 18th)
1881-1890
x
x
931 Florences (rank: 13th)
1891-1900
x
x
1,428 Florences (rank: 9th)
1901-1910
x
x
1,464 Florences (rank: 11th)
1911-1920
x
x
1,366 Florences (rank: 17th)
P.S. That paragraph from 1858 is the second-oldest bit of baby name news I’ve been able to scrounge up so far. The oldest is from 1853.
Sources:
Chambers, William and Robert Chambers. “Births, Deaths, and Marriages.” Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Arts 6 Mar. 1858: 156.
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