How popular is the baby name Victoria 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 Victoria.

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Popularity of the baby name Victoria


Posts that mention the name Victoria

Popular baby names in Denmark, 2021

Flag of Denmark
Flag of Denmark

The country of Denmark, which is located in northern Europe and shares a border with only Germany, consists of two-thirds of the Jutland peninsula plus an archipelago of hundreds of islands.

Last year, Denmark welcomed 63,473 babies. The most popular names among these babies? Alma and Oscar.

Here are Denmark’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Alma, 482 baby girls
  2. Ida, 474
  3. Clara, 437
  4. Ella, 436
  5. Olivia, 428
  6. Freja, 425
  7. Emma, 420
  8. Luna, 411
  9. Agnes, 410
  10. Nora, 398
  11. Karla, 393 (tie)
  12. Sofia, 393 (tie)
  13. Anna, 387
  14. Ellie, 370
  15. Asta, 356 (tie)
  16. Lily, 356 (tie)
  17. Alberte, 353
  18. Frida, 313
  19. Josefine, 306
  20. Laura, 299
  21. Esther, 297
  22. Ellen, 287
  23. Astrid, 267
  24. Isabella, 259
  25. Saga, 245
  26. Aya, 242 – Anglicized form of Aija.
  27. Lærke, 237 – means “lark” in Danish.
  28. Marie, 223
  29. Liva, 220
  30. Hannah, 219
  31. Mathilde, 214
  32. Maja, 213 (tie)
  33. Vilma, 213 (tie)
  34. Merle, 209
  35. Victoria, 205
  36. Mille, 199
  37. Liv, 190
  38. Emily, 189
  39. Sofie, 183
  40. Leonora, 178 (tie)
  41. Molly, 178 (tie)
  42. Lea, 176
  43. Andrea, 175
  44. Gry, 172 – (pronounced groo, roughly) means “dawn” in Danish and Norwegian.
  45. Emilie, 167
  46. Vera, 161
  47. Rosa, 156
  48. Alva, 153
  49. Elina, 148
  50. Johanne, 147

Boy Names

  1. Oscar, 562 baby boys
  2. Karl, 555
  3. William, 520
  4. Oliver, 494
  5. Alfred, 470
  6. August, 462
  7. Valdemar, 458
  8. Malthe, 452
  9. Arthur, 451
  10. Emil, 447
  11. Lucas, 439
  12. Aksel, 435
  13. Noah, 427
  14. Victor, 395
  15. Elias, 375
  16. Theo, 355
  17. Otto, 340
  18. Viggo, 319
  19. Magnus, 306
  20. Felix, 301
  21. Elliot, 300
  22. Nohr, 293 – related to the Germanic word for “north.”
  23. Liam, 291 (tie)
  24. Matheo, 291 (tie)
  25. Anton, 289
  26. Hugo, 267
  27. Loui, 264
  28. Alexander, 254
  29. Theodor, 249
  30. Frederik, 248
  31. Konrad, 244
  32. Lauge, 243 – based on the Old Norse word félagi, meaning “companion, partner.”
    • The Old Norse word félag (“fellowship, partnership”), which referred to a joint financial venture during the Viking Age, gave rise to both the Old Norse word félagi and the modern English word fellow.
  33. Anker, 241
  34. Albert, 235
  35. Johan, 215
  36. Storm, 209
    • About half as many U.S. baby boys (105) were given the English word Storm as a name last year.
  37. Adam, 199
  38. Milas, 197
  39. Erik, 195 (tie)
  40. Pelle, 195 (tie)
  41. Vincent, 189
  42. Villads, 185 – form of Willihad.
  43. Villum, 183 – form of Vilhelm (William).
  44. Marius, 182
  45. Christian, 181
  46. Holger, 174 – derived from an Old Norse name that was made up of elements meaning “small island” and “spear.”
  47. Ebbe, 169
  48. Walter, 168
  49. Luca, 167
  50. Benjamin, 162

In 2020, the top two names were Alma and Alfred.

P.S. The country of Denmark is part of the larger Kingdom of Denmark, which includes the two autonomous countries of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. I’ll post the rankings for both later this week…

Sources: Names of newborn children – Statistics Denmark, Denmark – Wikipedia, Nordic Names, Behind the Name, Félag – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Denmark (public domain)

Popular baby names in Austin (Texas), 2017

Flag of Texas
Flag of Texas

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a set of baby name data for Austin, Texas, for the year 2017. While it isn’t current, it does seem to be complete — so it includes hundreds of rare and single-use names (which are always fascinating!).

The data accounts for nearly 19,900 births (9,733 girls and 10,163 boys), and features nearly 6,100 names (3,431 given to girls, 2,656 given to boys).

According to this data, which comes from the City of Austin’s Open Data Portal, the top baby names in the capital of Texas five years ago were Emma and James.

Here are Austin’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 98 baby girls
  2. Isabella, 88
  3. Olivia, 84
  4. Mia, 81
  5. Evelyn, 77
  6. Sophia, 75
  7. Ava, 73
  8. Abigail, 59 (tie)
  9. Charlotte, 59 (tie)
  10. Emily, 58
  11. Camila, 56 (tie)
  12. Elizabeth, 56 (tie)
  13. Harper, 53
  14. Amelia, 52
  15. Penelope, 51 (tie)
  16. Sofia, 51 (tie)
  17. Scarlett, 46
  18. Ella, 45
  19. Avery, 43 (tie)
  20. Zoe, 43 (tie)
  21. Lillian, 41
  22. Layla, 40 (tie)
  23. Madison, 40 (tie)
  24. Eleanor, 39
  25. Victoria, 38
  26. Allison, 37
  27. Claire, 36 (3-way tie)
  28. Elena, 36 (3-way tie)
  29. Luna, 36 (3-way tie)
  30. Aria, 35 (tie)
  31. Chloe, 35 (tie)
  32. Ellie, 34 (tie)
  33. Katherine, 34 (tie)
  34. Samantha, 33
  35. Hannah, 30 (4-way tie)
  36. Hazel, 30 (4-way tie)
  37. Mila, 30 (4-way tie)
  38. Stella, 30 (4-way tie)
  39. Leah, 29
  40. Cora, 28 (5-way tie)
  41. Genesis, 28 (5-way tie)
  42. Grace, 28 (5-way tie)
  43. Natalie, 28 (5-way tie)
  44. Ximena, 28 (5-way tie)
  45. Clara, 27 (3-way tie)
  46. Eliana, 27 (3-way tie)
  47. Ruby, 27 (3-way tie)
  48. Audrey, 26 (tie)
  49. Sarah, 26 (tie)
  50. Alexa, 25 (3-way tie)
  51. Everly, 25 (3-way tie)
  52. Lily, 25 (3-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. James, 104 baby boys
  2. Noah, 85
  3. Daniel, 83
  4. Benjamin, 82
  5. William, 80
  6. Oliver, 75
  7. Liam, 74
  8. Alexander, 73
  9. Sebastian, 70
  10. Henry, 67
  11. Elijah, 66 (tie)
  12. Mateo, 66 (tie)
  13. Ethan, 65
  14. Jackson, 63
  15. Anthony, 61
  16. Jacob, 60
  17. Aiden, 59 (tie)
  18. Luke, 59 (tie)
  19. David, 58 (tie)
  20. Samuel, 58 (tie)
  21. John, 56
  22. Isaac, 55 (tie)
  23. Julian, 55 (tie)
  24. Michael, 54
  25. Charles, 53 (3-way tie)
  26. Jack, 53 (3-way tie)
  27. Matthew, 53 (3-way tie)
  28. Jose, 52 (tie)
  29. Joshua, 52 (tie)
  30. Wyatt, 50
  31. Aaron, 49 (4-way tie)
  32. Grayson, 49 (4-way tie)
  33. Joseph, 49 (4-way tie)
  34. Levi, 49 (4-way tie)
  35. Dylan, 48
  36. Hudson, 47
  37. Josiah, 46 (3-way tie)
  38. Logan, 46 (3-way tie)
  39. Santiago, 46 (3-way tie)
  40. Jayden, 45
  41. Nathan, 44
  42. Christopher, 43 (tie)
  43. Thomas, 43 (tie)
  44. Andrew, 42 (4-way tie)
  45. Gabriel, 42 (4-way tie)
  46. Luis, 42 (4-way tie)
  47. Owen, 42 (4-way tie)
  48. Lucas, 41
  49. Adrian, 40 (3-way tie)
  50. Axel, 40 (3-way tie)
  51. Christian, 40 (3-way tie)

On the girls’ list, Allison caught my eye. It ranked 26th in Austin in 2017, but 61st nationally the same year. Interesting.

Farther down on the boys’ list was Austin itself, in 95th place — vs. 75th nationally — with 21 baby boys. Much farther down was Texas, with 2 baby boys.

And now it’s time for the unique names!

One-of-a-kind names were given to 24% of the baby girls and 17% of the baby boys born in Austin in 2017. Here’s a sampling of the names that were bestowed just once:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Aubrion, Autry, Blue Jay, Cadeau, Ceiba, Dulceluna, Eeriemoon, Fiza, Gilana, Holleen, Itzigueri, Jill, Kasleen, Lillabee, L’Oreal, Mauzie, Millioni, Nincye, Nobelina, Orchid, Princess Plethora, Qiwei, Roshnee, Scepter, Shanze, Thais, Tsumugi, Umutoni, Vyga, Wengiel, Xyzla, Ynafets, ZieglindAshton Alchimist, Bruges, Cayenne, Dalbus, Eames, Fenghua, Ganesh, Getsai, Hackett, Itzae, Jizael, Kavelli Kaine, Linnaeus, Linux, Mazoree, Mistral, Naranna, Nimbus, Olince, Penn, Qhing, Rigveda, Shooter, Syphax, Tavoric, Templar, Urfan, Vetri, Wajahat, Xavi, Yoonbin, Zaxton

Some possible explanations/associations for a few of the above:

  • Cadeau is the French word for “present, gift.”
  • Ceiba is a type of tree.
  • Tsumugi Shirogane is a character from the 2017 video game Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
  • Ynafets is “Stefany” spelled backwards.
  • Bruges is the capital of West Flanders (a province of Belgium).
  • Mistral is a strong late-winter wind in southern France.
  • The Rigveda is a sacred Hindu text.

I’ve never posted rankings for Austin before, but I have posted rankings recently for two nearby Texas cities: Houston (which is more than twice the size of Austin, population-wise) and College Station (which is about an eighth of the size of Austin).

Sources: From Aadhav to Zyva: 6,087 Names of Babies Born in Austin in 2017 | Open Data | City of Austin Texas, Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Texas (public domain)

Baby born to shipwreck survivors, named after ship

A depiction of the wreck of the Netherby (1866).
The wreck of the Netherby

On July 14, 1866, a ship called the Netherby — carrying emigrants from London to Brisbane — ran aground off the coast of King Island, located in the waters between Australia and Tasmania.

All 413 passengers and 49 crew made it to shore alive. Some of the food was saved, and a source of fresh water was located…but hundreds of people were still stranded on a largely uninhabited island in the middle of winter, “with only so much covering as could be provided by the use of sails and spars.”

Two days later, on July 16, a baby girl was born on the beach to passengers William and Ellen Cubbin.

Around the same time, second officer John Parry and a handful of others trekked roughly 35 miles to the Cape Wickham lighthouse. There, they borrowed a whaleboat and, despite rough seas and high winds, managed to reach mainland Australia (about 70 nautical miles away). Parry himself then traveled an extra 26 miles on horseback to Geelong, in order to telegram authorities in Melbourne.

About a week after the wreck, two rescue ships — the Victoria, followed by the Pharos — finally arrived.

All passengers and crew ended up surviving, remarkably.

And the baby’s name?

Netherby Victoria Louisa Cubbin — first name in honor of the the wrecked ship, second name in honor of the first rescue ship, and third name in honor of Louisa Hickmott, “the lighthouse keeper’s wife who gave Mr. Parry gin in a small bottle to sustain him whilst rowing and sailing a bulky whaleboat for help in heavy seas.”

Netherby “Nettie” Cubbin was the fourth of eight children. (Her siblings were named William, Alfred, Elizabeth, John, Walter, Eleanor, and Emily.) She eventually married and welcomed three children of her own — including a daughter to whom she passed down all three of her given names.

Sources:

P.S. The Netherby‘s captain, originally from Wales, was named Owen Owens.

Where did the baby name Vulnavia come from in 1976?

The character Vulnavia from the movie "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" (1971).
Vulnavia from “The Abominable Dr. Phibes“

Halloween is almost here, so it’s time to take a look at the curious name Vulnavia, which was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1970s:

  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: 6 baby girls named Vulnavia [debut]
  • 1975: unlisted
  • 1974: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A pair of campy British horror movies: The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and Dr. Phibes Rises Again! (1972).

In the movies, Vulnavia was the beautiful, mute assistant of Dr. Anton Phibes (played by Vincent Price).

The spectator never learns anything about Vulnavia; she exists to serve her master (as both murderous assistant and dancing-partner), but also to look fabulous, strike poses, and wear a string of outlandish designer gowns that might make Cleopatra Jones green with envy.

At the end of the first film, Vulnavia (played by Virginia North) was burned to death in an acid shower. The second film was going to feature a different assistant, but the production company “wanted to retain the name of Vulnavia,” so Vulnavia (this time played by Valli Kemp) was resurrected, unharmed, for the sequel.

The origin of Vulnavia’s name was never explained, but it was reminiscent of the name of Dr. Phibes’s deceased wife, Victoria.

So…if the movies came out in 1971 and 1972, why did the name show up in 1976?

Television.

By the mid-1970s, both movies were out of the theaters and playing on late-night television. This brought enough attention to the name Vulnavia for usage to creep up over the SSA’s five-baby threshold. (A few babies born earlier in the ’70s did get the name as well, though, according to records.)

What are your thoughts on the name Vulnavia?

Sources:

  • Benshoff, Harry M. Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997.
  • Hallenbeck, Bruce G. Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914–2008. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.