How popular is the baby name Ska 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 Ska.

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Popularity of the baby name Ska


Posts that mention the name Ska

Popular baby names in the Netherlands, 2016

Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands

According to data released by Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) in mid-January, the most popular baby names in the Netherlands in 2016 were Anna and Daan.

Here are the Netherlands’ top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Anna, 665 baby girls
2. Emma, 664 (tie)
2. Tess, 664 (tie)
4. Sophie, 644
5. Julia, 639
6. Zoë, 558
7. Evi, 557
8. Mila, 549
9. Sara, 542
10. Eva, 526

Boy Names
1. Daan, 681 baby boys
2. Noah, 679
3. Sem, 663
4. Lucas, 651
5. Jesse, 645
6. Finn, 640
7. Milan, 630
8. Max, 617
9. Levi, 597
10. Luuk, 595

On the girls’ list, Anna replaced Emma as the #1 name and Evi replaced Lotte in the top 10.

And on the boys’ list? All kinds of drama! Liam, which rose very quickly over the last few years to reach the top spot in 2015, not only lost that top spot to Daan, but dropped out of the top 10 entirely (!), replaced by Max. Liam now ranks unlucky 13th.

And what about unique names in the Netherlands? Here are a whole bunch, each used just once last year:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Aimée-Amélie
Alien
Alouette
Annephine
Anthillia
Aprilmoon
Aunorin
Ayudissa
Bardot
Bellefien
Berfu
Berilinci
Bixx
Blue-Ivy
Cacharell
Carovienne
Cephei
Cleodie
Coco-Chloè
Comfort
Cortana
Daxana
Daylite
Dimphey
Djoody
Dorka
Ecrin Ans
Egberdina
El’genneallèe
Eliflina
Emily-Vespii
Fairlychiona
Farangis
Faten
Faybe
Floore
Foxx
Frozan
Gigi-Ice
Gilviëntelly
Gynniva
Hillegonda
Indivancely
Ismini
Jochempje
Joomony
Kicky
Kricheliënne
Lammerdina
Lemon
Lilly-Phylou
Marryth
Medellín
Medusa
Meritxell
Nawprisca
Ot
Peggy-Sue
Pidoux
Pippilotta
Pluk
Ponyo
Quby
Quvenshané
Raidiënsheanix
Riva-Beaugeane
Ro-Quennety
Rover
Safrinza
Sensabelle
Seven
Sharvienshelly
Shomookh
Similiza
Ska
Smadar
Spogmay
Stin-cay
Swendelyn
Sybrecht
Tanzilla
Tippie-Tipper
Tulp
Umm
Utopia
Valexiane
Vellizar
Vilouella
Wesseldina
Xee’D
Yesmae
Yf
Ypie
Yucki
Zeltia
Zwanny		Aizeyosabor
Alain-Rainièr
Alaith
Alpcan
Amazing
Andrianiaina
Apache
Avestan
Bentivolio
Boef (“crook”)
Bonifacius
Bowdy
C-cayden
Casey-Chase
Chyrome
Cimarrón
Cornelis-Wilhelmus
Criff
D’Har-Chenoo
Daex
Dandy
Day-sravencio
Depp
Diablo
Digentley
Divinepraise
Djesco
Dubbele
Earlysean
Exegese
Ferdixon
Fince
Floki
G-Wendley
Gantulga
Ghevently
Ginuwine
Givenchy
Guevara
Guswently
Haliltalha
Heavenly-ion
Hunk
Iody
Jaap-Joost
Jacquill
Jill-Qiano
Jinx
Kainoa
Kiff
King-Maldive
Laiphanara
Largo
Marcus-Aurelius
Mcnelly
Mees-Senn
Motomichi
Mowgli
Mylox
Myway
Niamh
Ntsinzi
Oovy
Phat
Pit
Poppy
Pux
Q’ZHN
Quintyliano
Rafflow
Ridge
Rowinio
S’Lienio
Scato
Sergiovanni
Sicco
Solve
Splinther
Stork
Sunnery
T’cxzayneau
Tamonry
Taverdu
Thaividley
Trelawny
Typhoon
Vishnu
Wagdy
Wart
Xuze
Ymt
Yucca
Zbigniew
Zhyphienyoh
Zjurvendell
Zweder

At first I thought Sergiovanni might be an epic mash-up of Sergio and Giovanni, but then I found out that it’s just an Italian surname — Giovanni prefixed by ser, an occupational word for a notary.

Sources: Kindernamen – SVB, Daan and Anna top the list of most popular Dutch baby names – DutchNewsn.nl

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)

Lakota names: Wicahpi, Wakinyan, Mahpiya

Lakota chief Touch the Clouds (c.1838-1905)
Touch the Clouds

Wicahpi, Wakinyan, and Mahpiya are a several of eye-catching names I spotted in some of the recent SSA baby name data. They’re all Lakota words:

  • Wicahpi means “star.” So far it has appeared just once, in 2005, as a girl name. Nearly all of the Wicahpis accounted for in that year were born in South Dakota specifically.
  • Wakinyan means “thunder,” though it also has ties to mythology. Another definition is “the cause and source of thunder and lightning, once supposed by the Dakotas to be a great bird” (i.e., a thunderbird). Wakinyan has appeared several times in the data during the 2000s, always as a boy name.
  • Mahpiya means “clouds.” It was also “the word the missionaries chose to translate the Christian concept Heaven and can mean the night sky or the heavens in an astronomical sense.” It has appeared just once in the data, in 2018, as a girl name.

I don’t think they were traditionally used as standalone personal names among the Lakota, but they were certainly used as elements in personal names, such as:

  • Star Face (Wic’ahpi Itet’un)
  • Walks with Stars Woman
  • White Thunder (Wakinyan Ska)
  • Fire Thunder (P’eta Wakinyan)
  • Thunder Horse (Wakinyan T’asunke)
  • Thunder Face (Ite Wakinyan)
  • Big Thunder (Wakinyan T’anka)
  • Little Thunder (Wakinyan Cik’ala)
  • Red Cloud (Mahpiya Luta)
  • Touch the Clouds (Mahpiya Icahtagya)

Which of the three do you like best?

Sources:

  • Buechel, Eugene, and Paul Manhart, eds. Lakota Dictionary: Lakota-English/English-Lakota. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
  • Hollabaugh, Mark. The Spirit and the Sky: Lakota Visions of the Cosmos. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2017
  • Ingham, Bruce. English-Lakota Dictionary. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001.

[Latest update: 7/2022]

Pop culture baby name game results, 2014

Here are the results of Pop Culture Baby Name Game 2014!

Some of the names below were already on their way up, so I’ll leave it to you guys to decide just how much of an effect pop culture had on each one.

Hazel, +828

  • Up from 2,049 baby girls in 2013 to 2,877 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie The Fault in Our Stars (2014).

Elsa, +567

  • Up from 564 baby girls in 2013 to 1,131 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Frozen (2013).

Anna, +287

  • Up from 5,352 baby girls in 2013 to 5,639 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Frozen (2013).

Margaret, +168

  • Up from 1,765 baby girls in 2013 to 1,933 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the television show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

Augustus, +153

  • Up from 346 baby boys in 2013 to 499 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie The Fault in Our Stars (2014).

Azalea, +139

  • Up from 443 baby girls in 2013 to 582 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: rapper Iggy Azalea.

Peter, +53

  • Up from 1,846 baby boys in 2013 to 1,899 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: Peter Pan (both the live-action TV event and the upcoming movie).

Robin (as a boy name specifically), +33

  • Up from 155 baby boys in 2013 to 188 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the death of Robin Williams.

Zarina, +32

  • Up from 42 baby girls in 2013 to 74 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie The Pirate Fairy (2014).

Benedict, +29

  • Up from 108 baby boys in 2013 to 137 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

Annalise, +28

  • Up from 665 baby girls in 2013 to 693 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the television show How To Get Away With Murder.

Judith, +28

  • Up from 251 baby girls in 2013 to 279 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the television show The Walking Dead.

Kristoff, +25

  • Up from 7 baby boys in 2013 to 32 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Frozen (2013).

Shailene, +23

  • Up from 6 baby girls in 2013 to 29 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: actress Shailene Woodley, from the movie The Fault in Our Stars (2014).

Tauriel, debuted with 20

  • Debuted with 20 baby girls (the 5th highest debut!) in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: two of the Hobbit movies (2013 & 2014).

Amal, +17

  • Up from 69 baby girls in 2013 to 86 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: George Clooney’s marriage to Amal Alamuddin in 2014.

Odessa, +13

  • Up from 47 baby girls in 2013 to 60 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: rapper Dessa.
  • The name Dessa itself, though, actually decreased in popularity in 2014.

Scotlyn, +13
Scotland, +4 & +4

  • Scotlyn: Up from 50 baby girls in 2013 to 67 in 2014.
  • Scotland: Up from 8 baby girls and 32 baby boys in 2013 to 12 and 36 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the Scottish independence referendum.

Iselle, debuted with 13

  • Debuted with 13 baby girls (the 11th highest debut) in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: Hurricane Iselle.

Vale, re-entered with 12 & 8

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 12 baby girls and 8 baby boys.
  • Pop culture influence: a celebrity baby name (daughter of Savannah Guthrie).

Murphy (as a girl name specifically), +11

  • Up from 31 baby girls in 2013 to 42 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Interstellar (2014).

Mandela, +10

  • Up from 6 baby boys in 2013 to 16 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the death of Nelson Mandela.

Rosamund, re-entered with 9

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 9 baby girls.
  • Pop culture influence: actress Rosamund Pike.

Noni, re-entered with 8

  • After an absence, returned to the list with 8 baby girls.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie Beyond the Lights (2014).
  • But another character name, Kaz, decreased in popularity in 2014.

Ansel, +7

  • Up from 101 baby boys in 2013 to 108 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the movie The Fault in Our Stars (2014).

Kaiser, +7

  • Up from 62 baby boys in 2013 to 69 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: a celebrity baby name (son of Teen Mom Jenelle Evans).

Pharrell, +6

  • Up from 16 baby boys in 2013 to 22 in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: musician Pharrell Williams.

Madiba, debuted with 5

  • Debuted with 5 baby boys in 2014.
  • Pop culture influence: the death of Nelson Mandela.

Lucas, unknown in NYC specifically, +55 in NY state, +564 nationally

  • The New York City 2014 data isn’t out yet.
  • Up from 975 baby boys in 2013 to 1,030 in 2014, in New York state.
  • Up from 11,514 baby boys in 2013 to 12,078 in 2014, nationally.
  • Pop culture influence: Venmo’s “Lucas” Ads in the NYC subway.

Names that went up by 4 or fewer:

Names that went down:

Names still not on the SSA’s list in 2014:

  • Arendelle
  • Diren
  • Ellar
  • Ferguson
  • Floribeth
  • Idina
  • Keke
  • Ledisi
  • Maleficent (despite the pro-Maleficent comments I’ve been getting)
  • Odeya
  • Peaches
  • Philae
  • Rust
  • Seanix
  • Sibel
  • Ska
  • Vitruvius
  • Wyldstyle

Did any of these surprise you?

I’m particularly surprised that Lupita Nyong’o has had no effect on the usage of her name so far.

P.S. Some of the names from the 2013 game that have started/continued to do well: Cressida (re-entered list in 2014), Finnick, Llewyn (the top debut name of 2014), Neymar, Nori, Primrose, Sochi (debuted in 2014), Tessanne (debuted in 2014) and Zoella.

Pop culture baby name game, 2014

pop culture baby name game 2014

Every year on December 2 (happy birthday Britney Spears!) we start another round of the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game. It’s not a “game” really, but more of a group brainstorm. Between today and next May, we try to guess which baby names saw increased usage in 2014 thanks to popular culture — music, movies, television, video games, sports, politics, current events, products/advertising, and so forth.

Here are all the 2014 predictions we’ve made so far. Many of the below come from longtime commenters elbowin and Julie — thanks you guys!

Which names would you add to this list? (Please remember to add a reason, so we all know the context!)

New Predictions as they come in:

  • Urban – from Diana (12/2)
  • Peter – from Abby (12/2)
  • Noni – from Becca (12/2)
  • Kaz – from Becca (12/2)
  • Murphy (for girls specifically) – from Becca (12/2)
  • Scotland/Scotlyn – from Becca (12/2)
  • Lupita – from Becca (12/2)
  • Benedict – from Becca (12/2)
  • Diem – from Becca (12/2)
  • Rosamund – from Becca (12/2)
  • Annalise – from Julie (12/2)
  • Azalea – from Gina (12/3)
  • Kaiser – from Gina (12/3)
  • Aman – from me (12/4)
  • Judith – from Dellitt (12/5)
  • Margaret – from jaime (12/6)
  • Vale – from Gwen (12/10)
  • Diren – elbowin (12/18)
  • Amal – from me (1/15)
  • Ledisi – from me (2/12)
  • Keke – 2/25

Previous rounds of the Pop Culture Baby Name Game: 2013, 2012, 2011 #1, 2011 #2, 2010.