How popular is the baby name Tim 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 Tim.

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Popularity of the baby name Tim


Posts that mention the name Tim

Where did the baby name Amadeus come from in 1985?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the movie "Amadeus" (1984)
Mozart from “Amadeus”

The name Amadeus — created from the Latin words amare, meaning “to love,” and deus, meaning “god” — can be interpreted as meaning either “lover of god” or “loved by god.”

It first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1985:

  • 1987: 17 baby boys named Amadeus
  • 1986: 15 baby boys named Amadeus
  • 1985: 11 baby boys named Amadeus [debut]
  • 1984: unlisted
  • 1983: unlisted

What caused the debut?

Well, it all starts with famed Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) — specifically, with an unfounded rumor regarding the mysterious circumstances of his premature death at age 35.

According to the rumor, Mozart was poisoned by one of his professional rivals, Italian-born composer Antonio Salieri. In reality, the two men were cordial with one another. (Also, the symptoms of Mozart’s final illness do not line up with a case of poisoning.) Regardless, the rumor persisted.

In 1830, Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was inspired by the rumor to write a short (two-scene) play called Mozart and Salieri.

A century and a half later, English playwright Peter Shaffer — inspired by Pushkin’s play — created a longer (two-act) play called Amadeus (1979).

In Shaffer’s highly fictionalized play, Salieri has lived a virtuous life, and enjoyed professional success, but remains a mediocre composer. Mozart, on the other hand, is a brilliant composer despite being a “foul-mouthed, gleeful young lout.” Upon realizing that he’s been denied the gift of musical genius — that the one “loved by god” is undeserving Mozart (with the symbolic middle name) — Salieri decides to take revenge upon god by sabotaging Mozart’s career.

The Broadway production of Amadeus, which starred Ian McKellen as Salieri and Tim Curry as Mozart, ran from December of 1980 to October of 1983. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Play.

The successful play was then made into an equally successful movie, also entitled Amadeus, which was released in September of 1984. The movie starred F. Murray Abraham as Salieri and Tom Hulce as “goofy, immature” Mozart. It won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

And the movie is what accounts for nearly a dozen U.S. baby boys being named Amadeus in 1985.

Falco's single "Rock me Amadeus" (1985)
Falco single

Then, in an unexpected twist, Austrian musician Falco (birth name: Johann Hölzel) — inspired by the movie Amadeus — created the German-language synth-pop song “Rock Me Amadeus” [vid], which was released in Europe in early 1985. A year later, in the spring of 1986, it reached the #1 spot on Billboard‘s U.S. Hot 100 chart and stayed there for three weeks straight.

The song — in which Falco repeats the name Amadeus dozens of times — likely accounts for the name’s rising usage on birth certificates in both 1986 and 1987.

…But now let’s circle back to the original Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose middle name, as it turns out, wasn’t actually “Amadeus.”

Mozart was baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. His first two given names (which were rarely used) honored St. John Chrysostom, his third given name came from his maternal grandfather, and his fourth given name came from his godfather.

During his life, multilingual Mozart translated his Greek middle name Theophilus into various other languages. He sometimes used the German form Gottlieb, or the French form Amadè, or the Italian form Amadeo. But he never used the Latin form, Amadeus.

What are your thoughts on the name Amadeus? Would you use it? (Do you prefer one of the other forms?)

P.S. Mozart’s older sister, Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart, also has at least one U.S. namesake…

Sources:

Top image: Screenshot of Amadeus

Popular baby names in Switzerland, 2022

Flag of Switzerland
Flag of Switzerland

Mountainous, landlocked Switzerland is located in the middle of Europe and surrounded by five other countries: Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, and France.

Last year, Switzerland welcomed 82,371 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Noah.

Here are Switzerland’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 361 baby girls
  2. Mia, 356
  3. Sofia, 318
  4. Emilia, 292
  5. Lina, 289
  6. Elena, 280
  7. Mila, 267
  8. Nora, 258
  9. Malea, 249
  10. Lia, 230 (tie)
  11. Olivia, 230 (tie)
  12. Ella, 222
  13. Anna, 219 (tie)
  14. Giulia, 219 (tie)
  15. Alice, 218 (tie)
  16. Lea, 218 (tie)
  17. Alina, 212 (tie)
  18. Lena, 212 (tie)
  19. Nina, 210
  20. Chiara, 208 (tie)
  21. Lara, 208 (tie)
  22. Luna, 195
  23. Leonie, 194
  24. Elina, 193
  25. Sophia, 192
  26. Yara, 186
  27. Julia, 185
  28. Laura, 182
  29. Elin, 178
  30. Valentina, 176
  31. Sara, 175
  32. Emily, 170
  33. Aurora, 168
  34. Amelia, 167
  35. Luana, 166
  36. Sophie, 165
  37. Livia, 151
  38. Elisa, 143
  39. Eva, 141 (tie)
  40. Juna, 141 (tie)
  41. Zoé, 138
  42. Mara, 133
  43. Victoria, 131
  44. Jana, 129
  45. Ronja, 128
  46. Lou, 127 (tie)
  47. Maria, 127 (tie)
  48. Ava, 126
  49. Charlotte, 124
  50. Alma, 123 (tie)
  51. Malia, 123 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 540 boy names
  2. Liam, 428
  3. Matteo, 353
  4. Leon, 293
  5. Luca, 291
  6. Gabriel, 286
  7. Elias, 281
  8. Leo, 256
  9. Louis, 251
  10. Leano, 242
  11. Lio, 233
  12. Leonardo, 224
  13. Lian, 210
  14. Nino, 208
  15. Elio, 205
  16. Julian, 201
  17. Aaron, 199
  18. Nico, 197
  19. Elia, 196 (tie)
  20. Levi, 196 (tie)
  21. Samuel, 191
  22. Finn, 184
  23. Malik, 177
  24. Luan, 176
  25. David, 174 (tie)
  26. Leandro, 174 (tie)
  27. Mattia, 169
  28. Diego, 168 (tie)
  29. Milo, 168 (tie)
  30. Adam, 157
  31. Ben, 156
  32. Levin, 155
  33. Dario, 152 (tie)
  34. Nael, 152 (tie)
  35. Arthur, 151 (tie)
  36. Noé, 151 (tie)
  37. Jonas, 150 (tie)
  38. Lenny, 150 (tie)
  39. Mateo, 149
  40. Livio, 148
  41. Lucas, 145
  42. Robin, 144
  43. Enea, 138
  44. Nathan, 137
  45. Kian, 136
  46. Nelio, 134
  47. Mael, 128
  48. Tim, 127
  49. Theo, 126
  50. Enzo, 123 (tie)
  51. Laurin, 123 (tie)

The name Malea has risen significantly (among German-speakers almost exclusively) over the last twenty years. Malea debuted in the Swiss data in 2003, vaulted from outside the girls’ top 1,000 all the way to 261st in 2009, rose to the top 100 a few years later, and finally entered the top 10 in 2022. No doubt this rise was fueled by the trendiness of Mia, Emilia, and Mila. (Mia has ranked either #1 or #2 in Switzerland ever since 2011.)

The girls’ top 100 included Yuna (59th), Dua (66th), Melissa (84th), and Ida (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Nevio (55th), Fabio (71st), Romeo (85th), and Timo (94th).

Switzerland, which is home to about 8.7 million people, has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top baby names among the speakers of each of these languages:

Girl NamesBoy Names
German speakers
(62.3% of the population)
1. Emilia, 273
2. Mia, 272
3. Malea, 243
4. Emma, 238 (tie)
5. Lina, 238 (tie)
1. Noah, 353
2. Liam, 266
3. Leon, 264 (tie)
4. Matteo, 264 (tie)
5. Leano, 241
French speakers
(22.8% of pop.)
1. Alice, 125
2. Emma, 107
3. Olivia, 86
4. Eva, 85
5. Sofia, 83
1. Noah, 168
2. Gabriel, 137
3. Liam, 136
4. Arthur, 102
5. Louis, 94
Italian speakers
(8.0% of pop.)
1. Sofia, 30
2. Aurora, 22 (tie)
3. Emily, 22 (tie)
4. Ginevra, 20
5. Nina, 17
1. Leonardo, 44
2. Liam, 26
3. Alessandro, 20
4. Noah, 19
5. Enea, 18
Romansh speakers
(0.5% of pop.)
1. Lia, 3 (tie)
2. Sofia, 3 (tie)
3. Elin, 2
1. Jan, 3 (tie)
2. Mauro, 3 (tie)
3. Andrin, Gian, Joel, Levi, Lino, Lio, 2 each (6-way tie)

And here’s a selection of names from the other end of the spectrum — names that were given to just two babies each in Switzerland in 2022:

Rare Girl Names Rare Boy Names
Airi, Berfin, Catalia, Demiana, Elikia, Franka, Gini, Hevi, Ilirida, Jemina, Kemilly, Lamia, Maluna, Nainika, Ornella, Pema, Qiana, Rhéa, Sinja, Tringa, Ursina, Vinia, Wilda, Xenja, Yanna, ZerinAthos, Bosco, Cuno, Divico, Eleano, Filmon, Gauthier, Hansueli, Ilio, Janic, Kauã, Lirim, Menzo, Nart, Orfeas, Pharell, Qamil, Rexhep, Surafiel, Tamino, Unejs, Vid, Wayne, Xhan, Yori, Zidane

Some definitions/explanations:

  • Hansueli is a Swiss-German combination of Hans (equivalent to John) and Ueli (a diminutive of Ulrich).
  • Lirim is based on the Albanian word liri, meaning “freedom, liberty.”
  • Maluna may have been inspired by a German children’s book series featuring a fairy character named Maluna Mondschein. (Her first name is an elaboration of luna, Latin for “moon,” while her last name is German for “moonshine.”) The six books, written by Andrea Schütze, were published from 2014 to 2019.

Finally, here’s a link to Switzerland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: First names of newborns – Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland – Wikipedia, Languages of Switzerland – Wikipedia, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)

What gave the baby name Marty a boost in the 1950s?

The characters Marty Markham and Spin Evans from the TV series "The New Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1957)
Spin and Marty from “Spin and Marty

The baby name Marty, which was rising in usage during the 1950s, rose much more quickly from 1955 to 1957 specifically:

Boys named MartyGirls named Marty
19581,413 [rank: 198th]134 [rank: 881st]
19571,348 [rank: 200th]159† [rank: 803rd]
19561,014 [rank: 229th]130 [rank: 877th]
1955618 [rank: 287th]86
1954422 [rank: 348th]72
1953359 [rank: 360th]95 [rank: 983rd]
†Peak usage

Here’s a visual:

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

The name Martin (which had ranked inside the boys’ top 100 for decades by the 1950s) likewise saw an increase in usage during those years:

  • 1958: 5,666 baby boys named Martin [rank: 71st]
  • 1957: 5,964 baby boys named Martin [rank: 69th]
  • 1956: 5,683 baby boys named Martin [rank: 73rd]
  • 1955: 5,069 baby boys named Martin [rank: 77th]
  • 1954: 4,964 baby boys named Martin [rank: 79th]
  • 1953: 4,780 baby boys named Martin [rank: 82nd]

Why?

I think there are two reasons, though one was probably more influential than the other.

The primary reason was likely the character Marty from three different Spin and Marty serials (which aired as 11-minute segments on The Mickey Mouse Club):

  • The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955) – 25 episodes
  • The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty (1956) – 23 episodes
  • The New Adventures of Spin and Marty (1957) – 30 episodes

Spin and Marty was set at the Triple R Ranch, a western-style summer camp for boys.

The main characters were teenagers Martin “Marty” Markham (played by David Stollery), who was rich and spoiled, and Spin Evans (played by Tim Considine), who was popular and athletic. “Walt Disney had never before created anything with two diametrically opposed leads.” By the end of the first serial, the boys had overcome their differences and become best friends.

The success of Spin and Marty led to merchandising that included comic books, coloring books, and phonograph records.

The characters Clara Snyder and Marty Piletti from the movie "Marty" (1955)
Clara and Marty from “Marty

The secondary reason for the rise for the name Marty? The 1955 movie Marty, a poignant romantic drama about a man looking for love.

The film follows main character Marty Pilletti (played by Ernest Borgnine) — a lonely 34-year-old who lives with his widowed mother in the Bronx — over the course of a weekend. He meets a woman named Clara (played by Betsy Blair) at a dance hall, and they unexpectedly hit it off. But Marty’s mother and bachelor friends aren’t as excited about his budding romance, and they try to dissuade Marty from pursuing Clara.

The movie — despite being independently produced on a modest budget, and despite featuring ordinary-looking characters and a “quiet, simple story” — was a success at the box office. It also won four Academy Awards: Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. (Borgnine’s “Best Actor” Oscar was presented by Grace Kelly.)

What are your thoughts on the name Marty?

Sources:

Name quotes #119: Eva, Kelly, Rachel

double quotation mark

Welcome to May! Here’s this month’s batch of name-related quotes.

In a 2022 interview with The Telegraph, English lyricist Sir Tim Rice was asked to recall his ‘best day’:

When my first child, Eva, was born in 1975, although you don’t think of these things in a league table of great events. We named her after Eva Perón, but also because Eva is a good old English name.

(Rice, who became interested in the life of Eva Perón in the early 1970s, later collaborated with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to create the Perón-inspired musical Evita, which opened in 1978.)

From the 2018 article “Oscar, Marcus, Casper, Cora: Companies are using human names to seem more friendly” in the Los Angeles Times:

Over the last few years, a crowd of new companies has emerged across tech, finance and health sporting a first-name brand. Oscar, Alfred, Lola — they have the look and feel of a friend, a colleague, maybe even your cat. And that’s the point: Make a connection with consumers that even Carnegie would appreciate.

[…]

The strategy seems to be working. Research shows that the more simple and human-sounding the name, the greater the company’s success.

[…]

The name game isn’t so much about the products or services being sold. It’s a subconscious approach to branding that borders on anthropomorphizing a company.

(I stumbled upon this one while doing research for a request post.)

From a January 2013 article about the divorce of Kelly Hildebrandt and Kelly Hildebrandt — one a male from Texas, the other a female from Florida:

The tale of the two Kellys began in February 2009, when Kelly Katrina Hildebrandt, of Coral Springs, found the Facebook profile of her future spouse. She saw that they had the exact same first and last name and sent him a friendly greeting to note their shared name.

They started having online exchanges and three weeks later, male Kelly, then 24, traveled from Texas to South Florida to meet female Kelly, then 20. They hit it off immediately and got engaged.

NBC 6 first reported about the Kellys in July 2009, and their story soon after went worldwide.

(My favorite line from the piece: “Male Kelly said he would be reluctant to marry anyone with the same name again.”)

From a GMA3 TikTok video featuring actress Rachel Zegler (born in 2001):

My [older] sister’s name is Jacqueline, and my parents originally wanted to name me Catherine, but they thought it would get a little bit confusing, cause they sound very similar. And my mom’s a big Friends fan, and thought that the name Rachel, for Jennifer Aniston’s character, sounded very beautiful on TV. And that is why I was named Rachel.