How popular is the baby name Trudis 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 Trudis.

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Popularity of the baby name Trudis


Posts that mention the name Trudis

Interesting one-hit wonder names in the U.S. baby name data

single flower

They came, they went, and they never came back!

These baby names are one-hit wonders in the U.S. baby name data. That is, they’ve only popped up once, ever, in the entire dataset of U.S. baby names (which accounts for all names given to at least 5 U.S. babies per year since 1880).

There are thousands of one-hit wonders in the dataset, but the names below have interesting stories behind their single appearance, so these are the one-hits I’m writing specific posts about. Just click on a name to read more.

2020s

  • (none yet)

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1900s

  • (none yet)

1890s

As I discover (and write about) more one-hit wonders in the data, I’ll add the names/links to this page. In the meanwhile, do you have any favorite one-hit wonder baby names?

Image: Adapted from Solitary Poppy by Andy Beecroft under CC BY-SA 2.0.

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]

Names with “True” as a nickname

names with the nickname True

Let’s say you like the idea of the name True…but you’d prefer that it be a nickname as opposed to a legal name.

Which names out there can be shortened to the nickname “True”?

Let’s start with the most popular options. Each of these saw enough usage last year to be included in the 2018 baby name data, though none of them were common enough to make the top 1,000:

  • Truman comes from an English surname that was originally a nickname for a trustworthy man (trewe means “faithful, trustworthy” in Middle English).
  • Truett & Truitt are also English surnames. They were derived from the place name Trewhitt, which is thought to be made up of the Old Norse word tyri, “resinous pine-wood,” and the Old English word wiht, “river bend.”
  • Gertrude can be traced back to the Germanic words ger, “spear,” and trut, “beloved, dear” — though some sources say the second element is thrud, meaning “strength.” Variant forms include Gertrud and Gertrudis.
  • Trudy & Trudie are diminutive forms of Gertrude or any other –trud(e) name, such as Ermintrude, Hiltrude, or Irmtrude.

The names below have been in the data historically, but none made the cut last year specifically. In fact, several are one-hit wonders.

EtruliaOrtrude*TrubyTrucilla
TrudaTrudellTrudenceTrudis*
TrudithTruelTrulaTruma
TrumaineTrunellTrunettaTrusha

Which of the –tru– names above do you like best?

*Just so happens that Ortrude and Trudis were both 1916 one-hit wonders inspired by literature.

Where did the baby name Trudis come from in 1916?

Trudis Calgour, character
Trudis Calgour

Trudis was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1916:

  • 1918: unlisted
  • 1917: unlisted
  • 1916: 5 baby girls named Trudis
  • 1915: unlisted
  • 1914: unlisted

What put it in the data?

A character from various stories (e.g., “The Camps of Chaos,” “The Teeth of Famine”) by Canadian author Samuel Alexander White. The tales were initially serialized in Collier’s during the first half of 1915, then reprinted in at least one newspaper (the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) in 1916.

The stories were set in the Yukon, and the two main characters were siblings Thorpe Calgour and Trudis “Tru” Calgour of Dawson City. Thorpe worked as a gold-miner, and his sister Trudis “kept his cabin and encouraged all his efforts.”

What are your thoughts on the name Trudis?

Sources:

  • The FictionMags Index
  • White, Samuel Alexander. “The Fasle Stampede.” Collier’s 16 Jan. 1915: 10-12, 24.