How popular is the baby name Tupac 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 Tupac.

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Popularity of the baby name Tupac


Posts that mention the name Tupac

Popular and unique baby names in Uruguay, 2022

Flag of Uruguay
Flag of Uruguay

The South American country of Uruguay doesn’t publish an annual list of top baby names per se, but Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC) does release a list of all the names used among people who obtained their Uruguayan identity card for the first time within a given year.

As we saw in 2021 and 2020, the DNIC rankings combine all names (male and female) together on a single list, but don’t combine different forms of the same name (e.g., Maria and María) into single entries on that list. Most notably, the rankings account for not just first-name usage, but also second-name usage (as Uruguayans are allowed to include a maximum of two given names on their identity cards).

So now that we have all that out of the way… the DNIC data reveals that the most-registered names in the country in 2022 were María and Juan.

Here are Uruguay’s top 100+ registered names of 2022:

  1. María, 1,170 babies
  2. Juan, 1,138
  3. Maria, 1,108
  4. Isabella, 885
  5. Benjamín, 780
  6. Emma, 766
  7. Mateo, 728
  8. Valentina, 660
  9. Catalina, 659
  10. Luis, 648
  11. Alejandro, 647
  12. Martina, 640
  13. Felipe, 637
  14. Carlos, 589
  15. Valentín, 568
  16. Ezequiel, 562
  17. Emilia, 559
  18. Manuel, 556
  19. Daniel, 555
  20. Lorenzo, 550
  21. Julieta, 546
  22. José, 535
  23. Gabriel, 518
  24. Jose, 517
  25. Nicolás, 491
  26. Sofía, 486
  27. Ignacio, 455
  28. Alberto, 452
  29. Santiago, 450
  30. Francisco, 442
  31. David, 438
  32. Agustín, 435
  33. Olivia, 429
  34. Josefina, 422
  35. Valentino, 416
  36. Antonio, 410 (tie)
  37. Lucas, 410 (tie)
  38. Bautista, 405
  39. Delfina, 396
  40. Lautaro, 389
  41. Benjamin, 384
  42. Eduardo, 383
  43. Belén, 378
  44. Thiago, 372
  45. Gael, 371
  46. Santino, 370
  47. Victoria, 367
  48. Javier, 365
  49. Agustina, 363
  50. Jorge, 362
  51. Emiliano, 358
  52. Dante, 357
  53. Alexander, 351
  54. Tomás, 342
  55. Paulina, 335
  56. Miguel, 334
  57. Rafael, 329
  58. Ana, 324
  59. Joaquín, 320
  60. Samuel, 315
  61. Pablo, 313
  62. Sofia, 309
  63. Pilar, 308
  64. Diego, 307
  65. Zoe, 306
  66. Alfonsina, 300
  67. Renata, 297
  68. Clara, 278 (3-way tie)
  69. Liam, 278 (3-way tie)
  70. Sebastián, 278 (3-way tie)
  71. Milagros, 276
  72. Francesca, 271
  73. Fernando, 268
  74. Emily, 265
  75. Enrique, 262
  76. Facundo, 261
  77. Federico, 260 (tie)
  78. Pedro, 260 (tie)
  79. Angel, 258
  80. Bastian, 253
  81. Bruno, 252 (tie)
  82. Martín, 252 (tie)
  83. Alejandra, 251
  84. Carolina, 249 (tie)
  85. Noah, 249 (tie)
  86. Guadalupe, 246
  87. Nicolas, 243
  88. Vicente, 240
  89. Enzo, 235
  90. Salvador, 228
  91. Sebastian, 227
  92. Juana, 225
  93. Valentin, 222
  94. Guillermo, 220
  95. Alma, 218 (tie)
  96. Emanuel, 218 (tie)
  97. Nahuel, 215
  98. Camila, 211 (tie)
  99. Elena, 211 (tie)
  100. Andres, 210
  101. Andrés, 209 (3-way tie)
  102. Benicio, 209 (3-way tie)
  103. Paz, 209 (3-way tie)
  104. Gabriela, 208
  105. Beatriz, 207
  106. Ciro, 206 (tie)
  107. Martin, 206 (tie)
  108. Maite, 203
  109. Andrea, 202
  110. Elizabeth, 200 (tie)
  111. Laura, 200 (tie)
  112. Isabel, 199 (tie)
  113. Mia, 199 (tie)
  114. Luciano, 198
  115. Ismael, 197
  116. Jazmín, 195
  117. Camilo, 194
  118. Marcelo, 192
  119. Franco, 190
  120. Agustin, 189
  121. Alfonso, 187
  122. Aitana, 186 (tie)
  123. Bianca, 186 (tie)
  124. Ramiro, 185
  125. Gustavo, 184
  126. Cataleya, 183
  127. Roberto, 178
  128. Ariel, 176
  129. Lucía, 174
  130. Micaela, 173 (tie)
  131. Ricardo, 173 (tie)

(I went down this far to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included.)

Here are a few names from lower down on the list:

  • 80 babies were named Celeste, which is the nickname of Uruguay’s national soccer team.
    • Only 35 babies were named Celeste in 2020.
  • 73 babies were named Aylen, and roughly two hundred more were given a different spelling of the name (e.g., Ayelen, Aylén, Ayelén, Aylín, Aylin). This is a Mapuche name with several possible meanings, including “ember” and “clear.”
  • 38 babies were named Coromoto, which comes from a Marian title.
  • 15 babies were named Inti, which is the Quechua word for “sun.”
  • 9 babies were named Amaru, which is the Quechua word for “snake.”
  • 8 babies were named Borja, which comes from the name of Spanish saint Francisco de Borja.
  • 7 babies were named Irupé, which is the Guaraní word for the large South American water-lily Victoria cruziana.
  • 5 babies were named Yamandú, which was the name of a historical Guarani chief.
  • 4 babies were named Chiquinquira, which comes from a Marian title.
    • Two others were named Aurora de la Chiquinquira and Leomarys de la Chiquinquira.
  • 4 babies were named Itanú, which is a Charrúa name said to mean “heartbeat of stone.”
  • 3 babies were named Guidaí, which is the Charrúa word for “moon.”
  • 3 babies were named Tacuabé, which was the name of a historical Charrúa man.
    • Following the Massacre of Salsipuedes in 1831, Tacuabé and several other Charrúa prisoners were taken to France to be put on exhibition.
  • 2 babies were named Amancay, which is a Quechua word that refers to a lily-like South American flower.
  • 2 babies were named Amapola, which means “poppy” in Spanish.
  • 2 babies were named Atahualpa, which was the name of the last emperor of the Inca.
  • 2 babies were named Everton, which may refer to Everton F.C.
  • 2 babies were named Leunam, which is Manuel spelled backwards.
  • 2 babies were named Pérola, which means “pearl” in Portuguese.
  • 2 babies were named Uruguay.

And, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can also check out the unique names at the bottom of the list. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2022:

Aluminé, Balquidia, Cubillas, Danubio, Elquin, Francival, Gigiola, Haaland, Ivonilton, Juysver, Kaique, Liviesti, Magaiver, Namastée, Oscarina, Patria, Quetzal, Riccieri, Silvilex, Tarantino, Urania, Valuzia, Winifer, Xaviera, Yitnelly, Zapicán

Some possible explanations/associations:

  • Aluminé – a town in Argentina
  • Cubillas – Peruvian soccer player Teófilo Cubillas
  • Dabubio – Uruguayan football club Danubio
  • Haaland – Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland
    • This one debuted in the U.S. data in 2021.
  • Magaiver – TV character MacGyver
  • Riccieri – a denim brand based in Brazil
  • Tarantino – American film director Quentin Tarantino
  • Zapicán – a village in Uruguay

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Uruguay (public domain)

What popularized the baby name Arsenio in the late 1980s?

Arsenio Hall hosting "The Arsenio Hall Show" (1989-1994)
Arsenio Hall

The name Arsenio, which has been appearing in the U.S. baby name data since the 1910s, shot into the top 1,000 in 1989 and and stayed there for three years in a row:

  • 1992: 47 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1991: 45 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1990: 188 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 743rd]
  • 1989: 397 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 479th]
  • 1988: 124 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 854th]
  • 1987: 83 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1986: 21 baby boys named Arsenio

Here’s a visual:

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

The variant forms Aresenio, Arsenial, Arseno, and Marsenio also popped up for the first and only time in 1989.

What caused this sudden interest in the name Arsenio?

Comedian and actor Arsenio Hall.

In 1987, he became the first African-American to host a late-night talk show with his 13-week stint on The Late Show. (It was originally called The Late Show with Joan Rivers, but, after Rivers was fired, the show was re-titled and featured a series of guest hosts.)

Audiences would have noticed him next in the hit movie Coming to America (1988), which starred Hall’s longtime friend Eddie Murphy.

Several months later, in January of 1989, he kicked off The Arsenio Hall Show — a hip, energetic alternative (“woof, woof, woof!”) to the other late-night talk shows of the era.

Notably, Hall’s show was one of the few on mainstream television to showcase hip-hop culture. Musical guests included N.W.A, Ice-T, Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, Bell Biv DeVoe, Heavy D, Black Sheep, Kwamé, Tone Loc, A Tribe Called Quest, and Leaders of the New School. He also spotlighted R&B acts like Bobby Brown, En Vogue, New Edition, Troop, Jodeci, and Mariah Carey.

The Arsenio Hall Show was a breakout success. It was particularly popular with young urban audiences. Despite this, ratings began to slip in late 1993 (largely due to scheduling issues) and the show was cancelled in May of 1994.

So where does the name Arsenio come from? It’s a form of the ancient Greek name Arsenios, which is based on the ancient Greek word arsen, meaning “masculine, virile.”

What are your thoughts on the name Arsenio?

P.S. The name’s slight rise in 1983 and 1984 was likely due to Arsenio Hall’s time as a sidekick on an earlier late-night show, Thicke of the Night (1983-1984), which was hosted by Alan Thicke.

Sources:

Baby born to American activists, named “america”

Abbie Hoffman, Anita Kushner, and baby america Hoffman (early 1970s)
The Hoffman family

Media-savvy political activist Abbott “Abbie” Hoffman (1936-1989) and his second wife, Anita Kushner, welcomed a baby boy in mid-1971.

Abbie’s first two children (Andrew and Amy) didn’t have politicized names, but his third got the name america — deliberately spelled with a small a in order “to distinguish the child’s name from a jingoistic sentiment.”

[T]he birth of his and Anita’s son, “america,” was treated as a political statement, as an affirmation of their optimism about the future and their roots in American culture.

Anita added (years later) that they’d gone with a lower-case a “because [they] didn’t want to be pretentious.”

Another name they’d considered for their son? Tupac.

In the Hoffmans’ book To America with Love, one of the letters Anita wrote (in July of 1974) began:

I met Affeni [sic] Shakur today. What an up. She is vibrant, beautiful, wise with experience. We talked about our children a lot and the heavy history behind each. Did you know she named her son Tupac Amaru, after the last Inca prince who rebelled against the Spaniards? We had considered naming america that. Tupac’s the same age.

(Tupac’s mother’s name was actually spelled Afeni.)

Abbie Hoffman went underground in 1974 (in order to evade arrest). He remained in hiding, using the alias “Barry Freed,” for six years. During that period, Anita and america were under constant FBI surveillance. So Anita and Abbie began to call their son “Alan” as an added layer of protection.

Alan reverted back to his real name at the start of high school (in the mid-1980s), hoping that “america” would impress a “cute punk rock girl” in his class.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Anita Hoffman with son by Leah Kushner under CC-BY-SA-4.0.

What turned Notorious into a baby name in 1995?

Rapper Notorious B.I.G. (1972-1997) in the music video for the song "One More Chance."
Notorious B.I.G.

The unlikely name Notorious debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1995, dropped off in 1996, then returned in 1997:

  • 1998: unlisted
  • 1997: 9 baby boys named Notorious
  • 1996: unlisted
  • 1995: 9 baby boys named Notorious [debut]
  • 1994: unlisted
  • 1993: unlisted

Notorious has re-appeared in the data several times since, but, so far, 9 babies in a single year represents peak usage.

So, what turned this vocabulary word — a synonym of “infamous” — into a personal name?

New York City rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls), born Christopher Wallace in 1972.

His 1994 debut album, Ready to Die, featured the singles “One More Chance” (which peaked at #2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart), “Big Poppa” (#6), and “Juicy” (#27).

“Big Poppa” was also nominated for the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance of 1995. Here’s the music video:

In March of 1997 — two weeks before the release of his second album, Life After Death — Biggie was murdered in a drive-by shooting while visiting Los Angeles.

[M]any rap fans suspect the shooting is connected to the East Coast-West Coast feud that has become prevalent in the hip-hop community over the last several years. Smalls and the label he’s on, Bad Boy Entertainment, had been in a fierce rivalry with Tupac Shakur and the Los Angeles-based gangsta rap label Death Row Records, and Shakur had accused Smalls of involvement in a 1994 robbery in which Shakur was shot.

Shakur had been murdered less than a year earlier (also in a drive-by shooting).

Biggie’s second album included the singles “Hypnotize” (which peaked at #1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart), “Mo Money Mo Problems” (#1), and “Sky’s the Limit” (#26).

What are your thoughts on the name Notorious?

P.S. The word may have a negative connotation nowadays, but the original meaning of notorious was simply “publicly known and spoken of” (via the Medieval Latin word notorius, meaning “well-known”).

Sources: