How popular is the baby name Sigrid 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 Sigrid.

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Popularity of the baby name Sigrid


Posts that mention the name Sigrid

Popular baby names in Sweden, 2012

Flag of Sweden
Flag of Sweden

The most popular baby names in Sweden were announced a couple of days ago.

According to Statistics Sweden, the country’s top names are William for boys and Alice for girls.

Here are the top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2012:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Alice
2. Elsa
3. Julia
4. Ella
5. Maja
6. Ebba
7. Emma
8. Linnea
9. Molly
10. Alva
11. Wilma
12. Agnes
13. Klara [tie]
13. Nellie [tie]
15. Isabelle
16. Olivia
17. Alicia
18. Ellen
19. Lily
20. Stella		1. William
2. Oscar
3. Lucas
4. Hugo
5. Elias
6. Alexander
7. Liam
8. Charlie
9. Oliver
10. Filip
11. Leo
12. Viktor
13. Vincent
14. Emil
15. Axel
16. Anton
17. Erik
18. Olle
19. Theo
20. Ludvig

Did you know that, back in 1888, Ebba was the top newbie baby name in the U.S.?

But let’s get back to Sweden.

Which Swedish names saw the biggest popularity boosts from 2011 to 2012?

Going up:

Rising Girl NamesRising Boy Names
1. Sigrid
2. Majken
3. Elise
4. Alicia
5. Lykke
6. Ronja
7. Juni
8. Svea
9. Siri [tie]
9. Melissa [tie]		1. Ebbe
2. Henry
3. Elvin
4. Charlie
5. Julian
6. Valter [tie]
6. Matteo [tie]
8. Elton
9. Edward
10. Mohamed

And which names decreased the most in popularity?

Going down:

Falling Girl NamesFalling Boy Names
1. Minna
2. Tove
3. Elin
4. Evelina
5. Thea
6. Tindra
7. Filippa
8. Linnea
9. Tilde
10. Amanda		1. Ville
2. Linus
3. Neo
4. Rasmus
5. Carl
6. Jonathan
7. Simon
8. Viggo [tie]
8. Tim [tie]
10. Joel

Finally, here are the top baby names in Sweden from a couple of years ago.

Sources: Name Statistics – Statistics Sweden, William, Alice top Swedish baby names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)

110+ Hidden gems: Rare baby girl names

gems

Want a girl name that’s not popular, but also not unheard of?

I looked through the names at the bottom of SSA’s 2011 mega-list and found a bunch of hidden gems:

  1. Alberta (9 baby girls)
  2. Alexandrina (6)
  3. Amity (28)
  4. Apollonia (21)
  5. Augusta (31)
  6. Augustina (15)
  7. Avelina (34)
  8. Bernadine (6)
  9. Bertha (45)
  10. Bettina (8)
  11. Blanche (6)
  12. Bryony (5); Briony (16)
  13. Carlotta (20)
  14. Celestina (19)
  15. Celestine (7)
  16. Cicely (14)
  17. Claribel (19)
  18. Clarice (37)
  19. Clarity (17)
  20. Claudette (9)
  21. Claudine (9)
  22. Clementina (7)
  23. Constantina (5)
  24. Coretta (5)
  25. Corinna (37)
  26. Cornelia (17)
  27. Damiana (10)
  28. Davida (10)
  29. Delphine (26)
  30. Dinah (44)
  31. Dolores (39)
  32. Dorothea (15)
  33. Edwina (8)
  34. Eloisa (42)
  35. Enid (15)
  36. Ernestina (5)
  37. Eugenia (29)
  38. Eugenie (8)
  39. Eulalia (25)
  40. Euphemia (5)
  41. Evita (13)
  42. Fabiana (47)
  43. Faustina (21)
  44. Flavia (12)
  45. Floriana (6)
  46. Florina (6)
  47. Georgette (24)
  48. Gertrude (16)
  49. Gloriana (22)
  50. Golda (34)
  51. Goldie (37)
  52. Heloise (8)
  53. Henrietta (34)
  54. Hilda (40)
  55. Imelda (23)
  56. Io (9)
  57. Ione (26)
  58. Isidora (13)
  59. Jeanne (39)
  60. Josette (27)
  61. Junia (17)
  62. Linnaea (12)
  63. Lucette (7)
  64. Lucienne (43)
  65. Lucilla (12)
  66. Marietta (22)
  67. Maude (9)
  68. Mavis (38)
  69. Minerva (38)
  70. Nanette (8)
  71. Nell (32)
  72. Nella (38)
  73. Nicola (30)
  74. Nicoletta (19)
  75. Nicolina (29)
  76. Odette (48)
  77. Olympia (22)
  78. Orla (28); Orlagh (6)
  79. Phillipa (10)
  80. Philomena (41)
  81. Phyllis (20)
  82. Rhoda (28)
  83. Romana (6)
  84. Rosabella (46)
  85. Rosalba (17)
  86. Rosaline (20)
  87. Rosella (26)
  88. Rosetta (25)
  89. Rosette (5)
  90. Rosina (17)
  91. Rowena (15)
  92. Rubina (5)
  93. Rue (13)
  94. Sebastiana (5)
  95. Seraphine (19)
  96. Sigrid (15)
  97. Stephania (32)
  98. Sybilla (5)
  99. Talulla (5)
  100. Therese (47)
  101. Thomasina (6)
  102. Thora (19)
  103. Tova (43)
  104. Ulyssa (8)
  105. Ursula (25)
  106. Vashti (16)
  107. Verity (38)
  108. Violetta (46)
  109. Vita (36)
  110. Wanda (23)
  111. Winifred (30)
  112. Winona (20)
  113. Xanthe (7)
  114. Zenaida (36)
  115. Zenobia (22)
  116. Zillah (9)
  117. Zipporah (41); Tzipporah (12)

(In some cases, a different spelling of the name is more popular than what’s shown here. For instance, Isidora is rare, but Isadora is more common.)

Like any of these?

Did you spot any other great end-of-the-list names?

P.S. Here’s the boys’ list.

Image: Adapted from Birmanian rock crystals by Mauro Cateb under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Will the iPhone 4S give the name Siri a boost?

Time for another baby name prediction!

Apple introduced the iPhone 4S earlier this month, and the first shipments should be arriving any day now.

The phone’s Siri voice recognition/dictation software has got people talking — literally. Because Siri allows you to have a verbal conversation with your iPhone. So far the software has received positive reviews, like this one from Engadget:

The most impressive part was the demo of Siri, the new assistant that lets you do just about anything you can do on your phone — but with your voice. We tried to psych it out with a bunch of random requests, including the history of Chester, Vermont (a lovely town) and the best Ramen places in San Francisco. Siri never faltered, never missed a beat.

Siri was developed by a company called, logically, Siri. The company was a spin-off of SRI International, so I initially guessed that “Siri” might be based upon the acronym SRI (“Stanford Research Institute”). I was wrong, though — it came from Siri’s Norwegian-American co-founder Dag Kittlaus, who explained:

I worked with a lady named Siri in Norway and wanted to name my daughter Siri and the domain was available. And also consumer companies need to focus on the fact that the name is easy to spell, is easy to say…

(The Norwegian name Siri is a short form of Sigrid, which can be traced back to Old Norse elements meaning “victory” and “beautiful.”)

When Dag didn’t end up using the name for a baby — his first child was a boy, named Markus — he decided to use it for a company instead.

Apple acquired Siri in April of 2010, and the rest is history.

The fact that a highly coveted Apple product now features software named “Siri” could be a game-changer for the baby name Siri, which was already on the upswing:

  • 2010: 111 baby girls named Siri [ranked 1,831st]
  • 2009: 120 baby girls named Siri
  • 2008: 115 baby girls named Siri
  • 2007: 108 baby girls named Siri
  • 2006: 105 baby girls named Siri
  • 2005: 72 baby girls named Siri
  • 2004: 55 baby girls named Siri
  • 2003: 44 baby girls named Siri
  • 2002: 36 baby girls named Siri
  • 2001: 29 baby girls named Siri

Do you think the iPhone will give the name Siri a boost? Perhaps nudge it into the top 1,000? (The cut-off in 2010 was 249 baby girls.)

Why or why not?

Update, 10/2020: Looks like the iPhone definitely influenced the baby name Siri — but not in a positive direction! Here are the latest numbers for Siri…

  • 2019: 13 baby girls names Siri
  • 2018: 20 baby girls names Siri
  • 2017: 20 baby girls names Siri
  • 2016: 24 baby girls names Siri
  • 2015: 25 baby girls names Siri
  • 2014: 39 baby girls names Siri
  • 2013: 42 baby girls names Siri
  • 2012: 108 baby girls names Siri
  • 2011: 103 baby girls names Siri

Turns out 2009 was Siri’s best year in terms of usage and ranking (1,806th).

Sources: Steve Jobs wasn’t a fan of the Siri name, Meet Dag Kittlaus, the guy who made Siri and became a millionaire following a personal phone call from Steve Jobs, Siri – Behind the Name

Baby name needed: What do you think of Phineas?

A reader named Virginia is expecting a baby in September. For a boy, she’d selected the name Phineas. She liked “that it was unusual without being bizarre,” and that it started with ph. But now she’s not so sure about the name:

All was fine and dandy until I read an article about violence in the Bible. It vaguely mentioned Phineas as a name from the Bible used as a talisman by white supremacists. What!?!

That was a shock to me too. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Phineas Priesthood is “a violent credo of vengeance that has gained some popularity among white supremacists and other extremists in recent years.” I’d never heard of the Phineas Priesthood before–not even when Julia Roberts named her son Phinnaeus a few years ago.

Virginia doesn’t want to give up her favorite name, but she also “can’t live with such an association,” so she was hoping for some name suggestions. Other names she’s considering include Joel and Samuel (for boys) and Sigrid, Phoebe, Elisabeth, and Anne (for girls). All are family names.

First, a few thoughts:

  • I doubt many people are aware that white supremacists use Phineas as a code word. It’s an odious association, but maybe it’s also obscure enough that it’s not worth worrying about…?
  • I really like Sigrid and Phoebe–they’re both significant and unusual. Especially Sigrid. (Phoebe is being used more and more every year, so it might not be unusual for long.)

And now, name suggestions. Here are some unusual-but-not-bizarre boy names that I think Virginia might like:

Amos
Barnabas
Baxter
Ephraim
Ezra		Felix
Horatio
Humphrey
Lazarus
Matthias		Maximilian
Moses
Peregrine
Ralph
Raphael		Rufus
Silas
Simeon
Ulysses
Zephaniah

And some girl names:

Clotilde
Cybele
Daphne
Dagny
Delphine		Drusilla
Esther
Fabiola
Georgia
Josephine		Lucretia
Ophelia
Penelope
Phyllis
Ruth		Salome
Seraphina
Talulla
Tryphena
Verena

What other names would you suggest to Virginia? (And, what’s your take on the Phineas dilemma?)

Update: The baby has arrived! Click here to learn the baby’s name.