How popular is the baby name Susan 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 Susan.

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Popularity of the baby name Susan


Posts that mention the name Susan

Where did the baby name Sherida come from in 1945?

The character Sherida (Phyllis Thaxter) in the 1948 movie "The Sign of the Ram."
Sherida in “The Sign of the Ram” (1948)

The name Sherida first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in the middle of the 1940s. In fact, Sherida was the top debut name of the year in 1945.

  • 1950: 34 baby girls named Sherida
  • 1949: 71 baby girls named Sherida [peak]
  • 1948: 67 baby girls named Sherida
  • 1947: 21 baby girls named Sherida
  • 1946: 20 baby girls named Sherida
  • 1945: 26 baby girls named Sherida [debut]
  • 1944: unlisted
  • 1943: unlisted

What put it there?

A mystery/suspense novel called The Sign of the Ram by Margaret Ferguson. It was published in 1944 became a best-seller.

It was set in pre-World War II Cornwall and the central character was Leah St. Aubyn, a wheelchair-bound poet who was the (young) matriarch of the well-off St. Aubyn family. Leah became increasingly vengeful and manipulative over the course of the story, and one of her targets was her secretary Sherida Binyon, who Leah thought was having an affair with her husband Mallory.

In 1948, the novel was made into a movie — mainly as a vehicle for actress Susan Peters, who had been a rising star in Hollywood before becoming a paraplegic due to a hunting accident. Actress Phyllis Thaxter played the part of Sherida. The movie didn’t do well in theaters, but it boosted the usage of Sherida to peak levels.

Also interesting: This usage of Sherida seemed to negatively affect the (female) usage of Sheridan, which slipped in both 1945 and 1948. Americans were probably using Sheridan as a girl name in the ’40s thanks to actress Ann Sheridan.

Do you like the name Sherida? Do you like it more or less than Sheridan?

Source: The Sign of the Ram – TCM

Classics on the decline: Rebecca, Carol, Susan

girl names falling out of fashion

In last week’s “lowest ever” boy names post, I mentioned that reader Caitlin had shared her research on downward-trending baby names with me recently. While many girl names hit relative lows in 2017, for instance…

  • Sarah, now ranked 62nd — lowest ranking since 1970.
  • Rachel, now ranked 195th — lowest ranking since 1960.
  • Melissa, now ranked 273rd — lowest ranking since 1949.

…a couple of the names on her list, Rebecca and Catherine, hit their “lowest ever” rankings last year. (Plus there was Katherine, a borderline case of a lowest-ever tie.)

So I set out to find other “lowest ever” girl names.

Many of the names I checked (like Clare, Lea, and Bridget) hit a low in 2017, but it wasn’t their all-time low. Many others (like Pauline, Sara, and Mary) hit a low recently, but not as recently as 2017. Still others (like Yvonne) had to be disqualified because, even though they hit their lowest ranking on record in 2017, they didn’t appear in the data for all 138 years (1880-2017)…an issue I didn’t encounter with any of the boy names.

In the end, I was able to add a dozen thirteen names to the list:

  • Ann. Ranked 1,023rd in 2017; peak was 28th in the 1930s.
  • Barbara. Ranked 908th in 2017; peak was 2nd in the 1930s/1940s.
  • Carol. Ranked 1,814th in 2017; peak was 4th in the 1940s.
  • Catherine. Ranked 198th in 2017; peak was 18th in the 1910s.
  • Celia. Ranked 857th in 2017; peak was 141st in the 1880s.
  • Cynthia. Ranked 637th in 2017; peak was 7th in the 1950s.
  • Elisabeth. Ranked 775th in 2017; peak was 286th in the 2000s.
  • Katherine. Ranked 105th in 2017 + 1938; peak 25th in the 1990s.
  • Kathleen. Ranked 871st in 2017; peak was 9th in the 1940s. (Late addition–thanks Kelly!)
  • Linda. Ranked 708th in 2017; peak was 1st in 1940s/1950s.
  • Priscilla. Ranked 527th in 2017; peak was 127th in the 1940s.
  • Rebecca. Ranked 216th in 2017; peak was 10th in the 1970s.
  • Rosa. Ranked 672nd in 2017; peak was 52nd in the 1880s.
  • Susan. Ranked 963rd in 2017; peak was 2nd in the 1950s/1960s.
  • Teresa. Ranked 720th in 2017; peak was 18th in the 1960s.
  • Tressa. Ranked 9242nd in 2017; peak was 761st in the 1960s.

That makes 15 (or 16, if you count Katherine). I certainly could have missed a few, though, so if you can think of a good candidate, please let me know in the comments and I’ll take a look.

Mystery baby name: Zeline (Solved!)

Graph of the usage of the baby name Zeline in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Zeline

Time for another mystery baby name! Today’s stumper is Zeline, which charted in 1957 with a dozen baby girls:

  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted
  • 1957: 12 baby girls named Zeline
  • 1956: unlisted
  • 1955: unlisted

The name Zelene debuted the same year, with half as many baby girls.

I’ve done all my standard research, which includes looking at newspapers and periodicals of the era, and so far I haven’t found any notable people/characters/products named Zeline (or Zelene) in 1956-1957.

These names don’t appear to be a variant of a more popular name, though I should mention that Celine saw an uptick in usage in ’58, which is interesting.

At least three of the Zelines and two of the Zelenes were born in California, but this probably isn’t much of a clue, given the relative population of California.

Anyone have a theory about the origin of this one?

Update, Apr. 2025: I think Anonymous has figured it out!

Synopsis of "Ten Minutes to Curfew"
“Zeline”

A character named Zeline was featured in a late 1956 episode of the popular TV anthology series Climax! (1954-58).

The episode, “Ten Minutes to Curfew,” which was set in the French Quarter of New Orleans, was broadcast on December 27. The main character was ex-convict George Slattery (played by Dewey Martin), and George’s love interest was Zeline Marie Preval (played by Susan Kohner).

“Ten Minutes to Curfew” was based on a story by William Fay called “The Outcasts,” which had been published in The Saturday Evening Post just three months earlier. (In Fay’s version, the setting was New York City, and the female character was named Rose Bruno.)

Thank you again, Anonymous!

Sources:

Second image: Clipping from The Daily Reporter (27 Dec. 1956)

Unusual Irish name: Breifne

Here’s an Irish name you might not know about: Breifne.

Just like Tara, Breifne is an old Irish place name. The medieval kingdom of Bréifne was where the ancestors of today’s O’Reilly and O’Rourke families lived. The kingdom later split into West Bréifne and East Bréifne, which eventually became County Leitrim and County Cavan (roughly).

The etymology of Breifne is uncertain, but that hasn’t stopped people with Irish roots from using it as a personal name, either in its original form or spelled various other ways. So far I’ve seen records for people named Breffne, Breffney, Breffni, Breffnie, Breffny, Brefney, Brefni, and Brefnie.

Some famous examples:

And some not-so-famous examples:

Most of the historical usage I’ve seen is masculine, but I think modern Americans would be more likely to view it as feminine. Like an Irish answer to Daphne. :)

Do you like this name? Would you ever be tempted to use it?