How popular is the baby name Sharon 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 Sharon.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Sharon


Posts that mention the name Sharon

Where did the baby name Kiz come from in 1961?

The character Kiz Bouchet from the TV series "Maverick" (1957-1962).
Kiz Bouchet from “Maverick“

A while back we talked about the name Maverick, which was put on the onomastic map thanks to the TV western Maverick (1957-1962).

Since then, I’ve discovered that a handful of minor female characters from Maverick also influenced baby names in the late ’50s and early ’60s. I’ll go in chronological order…

First there’s Samantha, which saw higher usage around the time recurring character Samantha Crawford (played by Diane Brewster) was on the show. She appeared a total of four times: once in 1957, three more times in 1958. (This was still a few years before Bewitched came along.)

  • 1959: 111 baby girls named Samantha
  • 1958: 109 baby girls named Samantha [rank: 999th]
  • 1957: 38 baby girls named Samantha
  • 1956: 29 baby girls named Samantha
  • 1955: 27 baby girls named Samantha

Second there’s Modesty, which debuted around the time recurring character Modesty Blaine was on the show. She appeared a total of three times. In her first two appearances, in 1959 and 1960, she was played by Mona Freeman.

  • 1962: unlisted
  • 1961: unlisted
  • 1960: 5 baby girls named Modesty [debut]
  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted

Third there’s Kiz, which debuted the year after character Kiz Bouchet (played by Kathleen Crowley) appeared in the episode “Kiz” (December, 1960).

  • 1963: 5 baby girls named Kiz
  • 1962: 7 baby girls named Kiz
  • 1961: 21 baby girls named Kiz [debut]
  • 1960: unlisted
  • 1959: unlisted

Fourth there’s Caprice, which doubled in usage the year the character Caprice Rambeau (played by Dawn Wells) appeared in the episode “The Deadly Image” (March, 1961).

  • 1963: 31 baby girls named Caprice
  • 1962: 43 baby girls named Caprice
  • 1961: 48 baby girls named Caprice
  • 1960: 24 baby girls named Caprice
  • 1959: 15 baby girls named Caprice

And finally there’s Tawney, which saw higher usage the year the Native American character Tawney (played by Sharon Hugueny) appeared in the 2-part episode, “The Devil’s Necklace” (April, 1961).

  • 1963: 6 baby girls named Tawney
  • 1962: 9 baby girls named Tawney
  • 1961: 27 baby girls named Tawney
  • 1960: 5 baby girls named Tawney
  • 1959: unlisted

Which one of these names — Samantha, Modesty, Kiz, Caprice, or Tawney — do you like best?

Sources:

The trio in Rio: Leila, Liina, Lily

Leila and Liina Luik running at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Leila Luik (with Liina behind)

Next Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, 30-year-old identical (and alliterative) triplets Leila, Liina, and Lily Luik of Estonia are expected to run the women’s marathon. This will make the “Trio in Rio,” as they call themselves, the first set of triplets to compete in an Olympics.

In comparison, about 200 sets of twins have competed in the Olympics over the years. Here are some of the Olympic twins with similarly alliterative names:

  • Åke & Arne (Sweden) – not technically alliterative; see JJ’s comment
  • Catarina & Christina (Sweden)
  • Darius & Donatas (Lithuania)
  • Darrin & Dan (USA)
  • Dennis & Duane (USA)
  • Dionísio & Domingos (Portugal)
  • Jean-Jacques & Jean-Marc (France)
  • Jodie & Julie (Canada)
  • Jules & Julian (Belgium)
  • Katalin & Krisztina (Hungary)
  • Katrine & Kristine (Norway)
  • Lívia & Lucia (Slovakia)
  • Madeline & Margaret (Puerto Rico)
  • Marianne & Mildred (Netherlands)
  • Sandy & Sonia (Zimbabwe)
  • Malcolm “Mal” & Melville “Mel” (Jamaica)
  • Mark & Michael (Canada)
  • Maureen & Melanie (Netherlands)
  • McJoe & McWilliams (Puerto Rico)
  • Mikuláš & Miloslav (Slovakia)
  • Pascal & Patrick (France)
  • Paula & Peta (Bermuda)
  • Paulo Miguel & Pedro Miguel (Portugal)
  • Pavol & Peter (Slovakia)
  • Randolph & Robert (USA)
  • Rhoda & Rhona (Canada)
  • Ricardo & Rodrigo (Chile)
  • Sharon & Shirley (Canada)
  • Stanley & Sydney (Great Britain)
  • Tami & Toni (USA)
  • Terry & Tom (USA)
  • Valeriy & Volodymyr (Ukraine)
  • Valj & Vita (Ukraine)
  • Veronika & Viktoriya (Belarus)
  • Vida & Vidette (South Africa)
  • Zlatko & Zoran (Yugoslavia)

You can see a full list of Olympic twins in the OlympStats post Twins at the Olympics.

Have you been tuning in to the Olympics? If so, have you spotted any interesting names so far?

Source: “Racing in Triplicate.” Tampa Bay Times 30 Jun. 2016.
Image: Leila Luik Rio 2016 by Citizen59 under CC BY 3.0.

What gave the baby name Christa a boost in 1986?

Astronaut and school teacher Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)
Christa McAuliffe

On January 28, 1986 — thirty years ago today — the space shuttle Challenger broke apart moments after takeoff.

All seven of the people on board were killed.

One of those people was (Sharon) Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire.

She’d been selected from more than 11,000 U.S. teachers to participate in the Challenger‘s tenth mission, and she would have been the first teacher in space had the mission succeeded. She’d even planned to teach two short lessons from space.

Because of Christa, millions of Americans — particularly children — were paying close attention to the Challenger mission and were devastated when the accident happened.

Mental health experts say…many children experienced the death of Christa McAuliffe, the schoolteacher-astronaut, as the symbolic loss of a mother and that they may have been more deeply disturbed by this loss than they let on otherwise.

Unsurprisingly, usage of the baby name Christa more than doubled that year:

  • 1988: 925 baby girls named Christa [rank: 272nd]
  • 1987: 1,018 baby girls named Christa [rank: 251st]
  • 1986: 1,513 baby girls named Christa [rank: 178th]
  • 1985: 683 baby girls named Christa [rank: 343rd]
  • 1984: 740 baby girls named Christa [rank: 319th]

In fact, 178th is the highest Christa has ever ranked on the U.S. baby name charts.

Now I’m wondering…what proportion of these extra baby Christas were named to commemorate Christa McAuliffe specifically (and how many of these commemoration-names were first suggested by sad older siblings), and what proportion got the name simply because Americans were hearing the name Christa over and over again that year (the same thing that happens to hurricane names)?

What do you think?

Finally, I did find two U.S. baby girls with the first-middle combo “Christa McAuliffe.” Neither was born in 1986 specifically, but they weren’t born longer after (in 1987 and 1990, respectively).

Sources:

Image: Sharon Christa McAuliffe, NASA

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?