How popular is the baby name Stan in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Stan.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Stan


Posts that Mention the Name Stan

Contrarian baby names: Cliff, Janet, Steve, Wanda…

corn

“Everly” is hot…”Beverly” is not. It’s a one-letter difference between fashionable and fusty.

If you’re sensitive to style, you’ll prefer Everly. It fits with today’s trends far better than Beverly does.

But if you’re someone who isn’t concerned about style, or prefers to go against style, then you may not automatically go for Everly. In fact, you may be more attracted to Beverly because it’s the choice that most modern parents would avoid.

If you’ve ever thought about intentionally giving your baby a dated name (like Debbie, Grover, Marcia, or Vernon) for the sake of uniqueness within his/her peer group — if you have no problem sacrificing style for distinctiveness — then this list is for you.

Years ago, the concept of “contrarian” baby names came up in the comments of a post about Lois. Ever since then, creating a collection of uncool/contrarian baby names has been on my to-do list.

Finally, last month, I experimented with various formulas for pulling unstylish baby names out of the SSA dataset. Keeping the great-grandparent rule in mind, I aimed for names that would have been fashionable among the grandparents of today’s babies. The names below are the best results I got.

Contrarian Baby Names: Girls

Alberta
Anita
Ann
Annetta
Annette
Bambi
Becky
Benita
Bertha
Bessie
Beth
Betty
Beverley
Beverly
Blanche
Bobbie
Bobby
Bonita
Candy
Caren
Carlene
Carol
Carole
Cary
Caryn
Cathleen
Cathy
Charla
Charlene
Charmaine
Cheri
Cherie
Cheryl
Chris
Christi
Cindy
Claudette
Coleen
Colleen
Connie
Dale
Danette
Danita
Darlene
Dawn
Dawna
Deanne
Debbie
Debora
Debra
Deirdre
Delores
Denice
Denise
Diane
Dianna
Dianne
Dollie
Dolores
Dona
Donna
Doreen
Dori
Doris
Dorthy
Eddie
Edwina
Ernestine
Ethel
Gail
Gayle
Gena
Geralyn
Germaine
Gilda
Glenda
Glenna
Harriett
Jackie
Janet
Janice
Janis
Jayne
Jean
Jeanette
Jeanie
Jeanine
Jeanne
Jeannette
Jeannie
Jeannine
Jeri
Jerri
Jerry
Jill
Jimmie
Jo
Joan
Joann
Joanne
Jodi
Jody
Joellen
Joni
Juanita
Judi
Judy
Juli
Kandi
Karin
Kathie
Kathy
Kay
Kaye
Kerrie
Kerry
Kim
Kimberley
Kitty
Kris
Kristi
Ladonna
Laureen
Lauretta
Laurie
Lavonne
Lee
Leesa
Lois
Lorene
Lori
Lorie
Lorinda
Lorna
Lorraine
Lorrie
Lou
Louann
Lu
Luann
Luanne
Lucretia
Lupe
Lyn
Lynda
Lynn
Lynne
Madonna
Marcia
Marcy
Margie
Mariann
Marianne
Marla
Marsha
Maryjo
Maureen
Meg
Melba
Melinda
Melva
Michele
Migdalia
Mitzi
Myrna
Nanette
Nelda
Nicki
Nita
Norma
Pamela
Patrice
Patsy
Patti
Patty
Pauline
Peggy
Pennie
Phyllis
Randy
Reba
Rene
Rhonda
Rita
Robbie
Robbin
Roberta
Robin
Rochelle
Ronda
Rosanne
Roseann
Roxane
Roxann
Sandy
Saundra
Sharon
Sheila
Shelia
Shelley
Shelly
Sheri
Sherri
Sherry
Sheryl
Shirley
Sondra
Sue
Susanne
Suzan
Suzanne
Tammie
Tammy
Tena
Teri
Terri
Terry
Thelma
Theresa
Therese
Tina
Tonia
Tonya
Tracey
Traci
Tracie
Tracy
Treva
Trina
Trudy
Velma
Verna
Vicki
Vickie
Vicky
Wanda
Wendy
Willie
Wilma
Yolanda
Yvonne

Contrarian Baby Names: Boys

Adolph
Al
Alford
Alphonso
Arne
Arnie
Arnold
Artie
Barry
Barton
Bennie
Bernard
Bernie
Bert
Bill
Billie
Bob
Bobbie
Brad
Bradford
Brent
Bret
Britt
Bud
Buddy
Burl
Burt
Butch
Carey
Carleton
Carlton
Carmen
Carroll
Cary
Cecil
Chester
Chuck
Clarence
Claude
Cletus
Cleveland
Cliff
Clifford
Clifton
Columbus
Curt
Curtiss
Dale
Dan
Dana
Dannie
Darrel
Darryl
Daryl
Dave
Davie
Del
Delbert
Dell
Delmer
Denny
Derwin
Dewey
Dirk
Don
Donnie
Donny
Doug
Douglass
Doyle
Duane
Dudley
Duwayne
Dwain
Dwaine
Dwane
Dwight
Earl
Earnest
Ed
Edsel
Elbert
Ernie
Farrell
Floyd
Fred
Freddie
Fredric
Gale
Garland
Garry
Garth
Gene
Geoffrey
Gerard
Gerry
Gilbert
Glen
Glenn
Greg
Gregg
Greggory
Grover
Guy
Hal
Haywood
Herbert
Herman
Homer
Horace
Howell
Hubert
Irwin
Jackie
Jame
Jeff
Jefferey
Jeffry
Jerald
Jerold
Jess
Jim
Jimmie
Jodie
Jody
Johnie
Johnnie
Karl
Kelly
Ken
Kenney
Kennith
Kent
Kermit
Kerry
Kim
Kirk
Kraig
Kurt
Laurence
Lawrance
Len
Lenard
Lennie
Les
Leslie
Lester
Lindell
Lindsay
Lindsey
Linwood
Lloyd
Lonnie
Lonny
Loren
Lorin
Lowell
Loyd
Lynn
Marion
Marty
Matt
Maxie
Mel
Merle
Merrill
Mickel
Mickey
Millard
Milton
Mitch
Mitchel
Monty
Neal
Ned
Nicky
Norbert
Norman
Norris
Orville
Perry
Pete
Phil
Ralph
Randal
Randel
Randell
Randolph
Rayford
Rick
Rickey
Rickie
Rob
Robby
Robin
Rock
Rodger
Rogers
Rojelio
Rolf
Ron
Roosevelt
Rudolfo
Rudolph
Rufus
Russ
Rusty
Sal
Sammie
Sandy
Sanford
Scot
Sherman
Sherwood
Skip
Stan
Stanford
Steve
Stevie
Stewart
Stuart
Sylvester
Tad
Ted
Terence
Thurman
Tim
Timmothy
Timmy
Tod
Todd
Tom
Tommie
Toney
Tracey
Tracy
Val
Vernell
Vernon
Waymon
Wendell
Wilbert
Wilbur
Wilford
Wilfred
Willard
Willis
Winfred
Woody

Interestingly, thirteen of the names above — Bobbie, Cary, Dale, Jackie, Jimmie, Jody, Kerry, Kim, Lynn, Robin, Sandy, Tracey, Tracy — managed to make both lists.

Now some questions for you…

Do you like any of these names? Would you be willing to use any of them on a modern-day baby? Why or why not?

Name quotes #49: Stan, Alessia, Nanu

From “Dido: My Son Is Not Named After My Hit Song” at People‘s Celebrity Babies blog:

Dido’s duet with Eminem…”Stan,” [was] a collaboration which she never imagined fans would connect to her son’s moniker.

“Stanley was actually our favorite name, coincidentally both of our favorite names. He could never have been called anything else to be honest,” Dido shares. “I’m so stupid, I didn’t think anyone would make the connection.”

Proud of her choice, Dido jokes the name game in her family is always a fun affair. “It’s fine,” she says of her final decision. “I was named after a crazy queen who threw herself on a fire.”

(Here’s more on Dido’s name.)

From “An Open Letter to Anyone Considering a Unique Name For Their Baby” by Alessia Santoro at PopSugar:

I’m 26 years old and I can probably count on two hands the number of times a person has gotten the pronunciation of my name right on the first go — a surprising minority, considering it has the word “less” right in it. Whenever someone does get it right, my jaw drops, because these moments are few and very far between — I often consider hugging the person for making me feel so normal. But the other 99 percent of the time, people get my name wrong.

From the Kent City Council’s online timeline of the First World War:

Raida Margaret Fanny Collins…was born on the night of an air raid over Newington in September.

Her christening on 4th November 1917 is recorded in the diary of Florence Fitch Palmer, organist at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Newington.

From the chapter about Clara Louise Burnham in the 1918 book The Women who Make Our Novels by Grant Martin Overton:

The beginning of this capital story [The Opened Shutters] was not with Tide Mill, however, but with the name Thinkright Johnson. Like certain persons whose appearance before Mrs. Burnham’s mind’s eye has compelled her to write about them, this New Englandish appellation gave birth to a book. Thinkright Johnson–Thinkright Johnson; the name haunted Mrs. Burnham for days and weeks, “till I knew that the only way I could have any peace was to write something about him.”

From “A Puppy Called Marvin” by Julie Lasky in the New York Times:

Clara is my 2-year-old Wheaten terrier and one of several dogs in my neighborhood with a name that sounds as if it came from a shuffleboard tournament on a golden-years cruise. Among her pals, Fern is red-nose pit bull, Alfie is (mostly) a black lab and Eleanor is a mix of Bernese mountain dog and poodle.

This pack has led me to conclude that whereas we look back to remote centuries when giving children trendy names like Emma, Sebastian, Julian or Charlotte, we name our dogs after our grandparents.

[…]

This means that future generations of dogs should be prepared to be called the mom-and-dad names of today. Names like Kimberly, Jason and Heather.

From “If it’s forbidden to call a baby Cyanide, should Chardonnay be allowed?” by Charles Moore in The Spectator:

The country nowadays is full of children burdened with grotesque names. Are we to ban them? If you forbid Cyanide, should you permit Chardonnay? A further complication is that the little girl is a twin, and her mother wanted to call her twin brother Preacher. This too Lady Justice King forbade because, although Preacher ‘might not be an objectionable name’, ‘there was considerable benefit for the boy twin to be in the same position as his sister’ and for both to be named, as was proposed, by their half-siblings. We are not told what names the half-siblings want. I do hope it is something kind and simple, like Jack and Jill.

From “France names row: Politician hits back over criticism of daughter’s name” at the BBC:

Rachida Dati reacted angrily after journalist Eric Zemmour criticised her choice of name for seven-year-old daughter Zohra.

He said it was unpatriotic because it did not come from an official list of French Christian names.

[…]

He added: “I consider that by giving Muslim first names, you are refusing to accept the history of France.”

[…]

“Do you find it scandalous to give your mother’s name to your children?” [Rachita Dati] asked, in a vigorous defence of her choice of name.

“I loved my mother. I have a little girl, and I called her after my mother. Like millions of French people do every day.”

From the 2013 book The Lahu Minority in Southwest China: A Response to Ethnic Marginalization on the Frontier by Jianxiong Ma:

When a baby is born, his or her name is decided by the birthday tiled by the twelve zodiac days together with gender, so he or she will normally be named Za Birthday for male or Na Birthday for female. For example, if two babies were born on the rat day (fa ni) and the ox day (nu ni) respectively, if they are boys, their names should be Zafa and Zanu, but if they are girls, their names should be Nafa and Nanu, and so on. […] In general, there are about 45 names that can be used in the village for individual persons, even though the very basic names total 24, twelve days for both male and female members.

(The extra baby names used by the Lahu are essentially replacement names used in case of childhood sickness. These replacement names also follow specific formulas.)

Popular baby names in Belgium, 2014

belgium

According to data from Statistics Belgium, the country’s most popular baby names in 2014 were Emma and Louis.

Here are Belgium’s top 10 baby names:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emma, 653 baby girls
2. Louise, 584
3. Elise, 480
4. Olivia, 459
5. Lina, 383
6. Marie, 376
7. Lucie, 359
8. Ella, 348
9. Alice, 347 (tie)
10. Juliette, 347 (tie)
1. Louis, 622 baby boys
2. Lucas, 619
3. Arthur, 610
4. Adam, 575
5. Noah, 562
6. Liam, 513
7. Mohamed, 468
8. Nathan, 455
9. Jules, 442
10. Mathis, 428

In the girls’ top 10, Ella and Alice replaced Léa and Mila.

The boys’ top 10 includes the same 10 names.

But there’s more! Like Switzerland, Belgium breaks name data down by region. So let’s also check out the top names within each region.

About 58% of Belgians live in the northern region, Flanders, where the official language is Dutch. Here are the top 10 baby names in Flanders:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emma, 381 baby girls
2. Elise, 351
3. Louise, 344
4. Ella, 329
5. Marie, 309
6. Noor, 269
7. Lena, 251
8. Julie, 246
9. Lotte, 231
10. Mila, 227
1. Lucas, 329 baby boys
2. Liam, 316
3. Vince, 309
4. Arthur, 307
5. Noah, 300
6. Finn, 298
7. Mathis, 276
8. Louis, 274
9. Seppe, 248
10. Jules, 244 (tie)
10. Stan, 244 (tie)

In the girls’ top 10, Lena replaced Fien (short for Jozefien, the Dutch form of Josephine).

In the boys’ top 10, Seppe and Jules replaced Lars and Alexander.

I would have guessed that Seppe was a diminutive of Joseph (akin to the German name Sepp). According to a Behind the Name contributor, though, Seppe is a West Frisian name that can be traced back to Sibe, a “Frisian short form of masculine names that have sigu or sigis for a first element” and a second element begins with the letter b (e.g., Sibald, Sibert).

About 32% of Belgians live in the southern region, Wallonia, where the official language is French (and, in some areas, German). Here are the top 10 baby names for Wallonia:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Léa, 263 baby girls
2. Lucie, 244
3. Chloé, 218
4. Zoé, 216
5. Emma, 208
6. Louise, 200
7. Alice, 200
8. Camille, 198
9. Olivia, 191
10. Jade, 154
1. Hugo, 314 baby boys
2. Louis, 308
3. Gabriel, 255
4. Arthur, 245
5. Nathan, 242
6. Théo, 235
7. Lucas, 225
8. Ethan, 213
9. Noah, 208
10. Tom, 195

In the girls’ top 10, Jade replaced Manon.

The boys’ top 10 includes the same 10 names.

About 10% of Belgians live in the Brussels Capital Region, where the official languages are Dutch and French. Here are the top top 10 baby names for Brussels:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Lina, 119 baby girls
2. Aya, 84
3. Sarah, 78
4. Sofia, 77
5. Nour, 70
6. Yasmine, 67
7. Malak, 66
8. Emma, 64
9. Sara, 62
10. Anna, 56
1. Adam, 233 baby boys
2. Mohamed, 195
3. Rayan, 94
4. Gabriel, 82
5. David, 81
6. Imran, 69
7. Amir, 66
8. Lucas, 65 (tie)
9. Youssef, 65 (tie)
10. Yanis, 59

In the girls’ top 10, Malak and Anna replaced Ines and Louise. In the boy’s top 10, Amir, Lucas and Yanis replaced Ayoub, Nathan and Anas.

Morocco World News notes that “heavy immigration from Morocco and other Muslim countries has left its traces, as Mohamed has been the most common male name in the Brussels Region recently.” Mohamed was the #1 boy name in Brussels from the late 1990s until 2011, in fact. And the same wave of immigration has given a big boost to many other Arabic names (Amir, Bilal, Hamza, Imran, Malak, Nour, Rayan, Yousra, etc.) within the last few decades.

Sources: Steeds meer verschillende voornamen, maar Emma en Louis houden stand, Lina, Aya, and Mohamed Among Most Popular Baby Names in Brussels

What would you name Chrome’s T-rex?

My husband and I have been traveling a lot recently, so we’re often dealing with not-so-great internet connections, and I’m often seeing (and playing) that T-Rex game on Chrome’s “This webpage is not available” error page.

T-Rex before the Chrome game begins.
T-Rex, before the game begins.

In the vintage-style video game you have to keep an endlessly running T-Rex alive by making him/her jump or duck to avoid obstacles (cacti & pterodactyls).

It’s not the most mentally stimulating game in the world, but it’ll take your mind off your connectivity issues for a few minutes.

T-Rex after the Chrome game is over. Impaled by a pterodactyl!
T-Rex impaled by a pterodactyl — game over!

Whenever I play, I can’t help but wonder: Does this dino have a name?

Weirdly, Google already has a named T-Rex. There’s a life-sized T-Rex skeleton called Stan on display at Googleplex. It’s possible that he was the inspiration behind this miniature digital dino.

Even if this is the case, though, I don’t think the Chrome T-Rex should be “Stan, Jr.” I think he/she needs a unique name.

So here’s the question of the day: What would you name Chrome’s cute little T-Rex? Why?