How popular is the baby name Therese 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 Therese.

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Popularity of the baby name Therese


Posts that mention the name Therese

The Dionne quintuplets…and their 9 other siblings

dionne family
Most of the Dionne family

The Dionne quintuplets — the first set of quints known to survive infancy — were born in Ontario, Canada, on May 28, 1934. But identical sisters Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie and Marie weren’t the only children in the Dionne family. Over the course of 20 years, parents Oliva-Edouard and Elzire Dionne had a total of 14 children — 6 before the quints, 3 after.

Here are the names and birth years of all 14:

  1. Ernest (1926)
  2. Rose (1928)
  3. Therese (1929)
  4. Leo (1930)
  5. Daniel (1932)
  6. Pauline (1933)
  7. * Yvonne (1934)
  8. * Annette (1934)
  9. * Cecile (1934)
  10. * Emilie (1934)
  11. * Marie (1934)
  12. Oliva Jr. (1936)
  13. Victor (1938)
  14. Claude (1946)

Which of these names do you like most?

Sources: Dionne Quintuplets – Wikipedia, The Story of the Dionne Quintuplets

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.

Where did the baby name Dreux come from in 1956?

The wedding of Henry and Marie-Thérèse in Dreux, France, in 1957.
Henri & Marie-Thérèse

What drew people to the baby name Dreux in 1956?

  • 1958: 9 baby boys named Dreux
  • 1957: 6 baby boys named Dreux
  • 1956: 9 baby boys named Dreux [debut]
  • 1955: unlisted
  • 1954: unlisted

I’m not 100% sure, but I think I’ve got a decent theory.

Let’s start with Grace Kelly. In April of 1956, she was married to Prince Rainier in a lavish wedding that got worldwide press coverage.

Later the same year, in November, two engagements were announced:

  • Prince Henri of Orleans, to Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg, and
  • Princess Hélène of Orleans, to Count Evrard of Limbourg-Styrum.

Henri and Hélène were the 2nd and 3rd children of the Count of Paris, claimant to the long-gone throne of France. Henri, importantly, was the eldest son.

Newspapers claimed Henri’s upcoming marriage would be “THE Wedding of 1957,” and “[t]he most important marriage to be celebrated in France since Napoleon III wed Princess Eugenie.” They said that “as far as European royalty is concerned it will make that Rainier-Kelly wedding in Monaco last spring look like a musical comedy.”

And all the announcements were sure to mention that both couples would marry in the royal chapel in the town of Dreux, located in north-central France.

Hélène and Evrard wed in January:

Henri and Duchess Marie-Thérèse wed in July:

My only reservation regarding this theory is that place names highlighted in the news don’t typically turn into baby names. That said…Dreux in an American accent sounds a lot like Drew, the nickname for Andrew, so perhaps that’s the key here.

What are your thoughts on Dreux as a baby name? (Do you have any alternate theories about where this one might have come from?)

Sources:

  • “France Preparing for Royal Wedding Early Next Summer.” Bend Bulletin [Bend, Oregon] 22 Nov. 1956: 13.
  • “Royalty All Set for THE Wedding of 1957.” Indiana Evening Gazette [Indiana, Pennsylvania] 23 Nov. 1956: 12.
  • Henri d’Orléans (1908-1999) – Wikipédia
  • SSA

Image: Clipping from Life magazine (29 Jul. 1957)

Girl names that can be shortened to Izzy?

A friend of mine announced her pregnancy a few weeks ago (congrats, E!). She doesn’t know the gender of the baby yet, but if it’s a girl, she thinks she’d like to use the name Isabella.

The problem? Isabella has been one of the most popular baby names in the nation for almost a decade now. My friend is still prepared to use it, but she’s also wondering what else is out there.

What she likes most about Isabella is the nickname Izzy, so I thought I’d help her out by coming up other girl names that can be shortened to Izzy. Some of these may be a stretch, but this is a brainstorm so anything goes. :)

Isabel/Isabelle
Part of the same name-family, but not as popular as Isabella.

Isidora/Isadora
Isabella and Isidora aren’t related (the former is based on Elizabeth, the latter on Isis) but they sound like they could be.

Elizabeth or Lizette
Why not lop the L off Lizzy and make it Izzy?

Giselle
French name that can be traced back to a Germanic word meaning “pledge.” Popularized recently by model Gisele, but still outside the top 100.

Desiree (Désirée)
French name meaning “desired.”

Zipporah (Tzipora, Tzipporah, etc.)
Hebrew name meaning “bird.”

Cosima
Italian name derived from the ancient Greek word for “order.”

Louisa or Louise
Derived from Ludwig, made up of elements meaning “fame” and “war.”

Eloise (Éloïse) or Heloise (Héloïse)
Might come from the Germanic name Helewidis, made up of elements meaning “hale” and either “wide” or “wood.”

Therese (Thérèse)
Unknown etymology, though perhaps based on the name of a Greek island.

Aziza
Arabic name meaning “powerful.”

Aliza
Hebrew name meaning “joyful.”

Can you think of any other girl names that can be shortened to Izzy?