How popular is the baby name Virginia in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Virginia.

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Popularity of the Baby Name Virginia


Posts that Mention the Name Virginia

Popular baby names in Toledo (Brazil), 2022

Toledo, Parana, Brazil

Last year, the most popular baby names in the Brazilian city of Toledo (located in the southern state of Paraná) were Alice and Miguel.

According to local newspaper Gazeta de Toledo — which published a single, provisional set of rankings for Toledo in late December — these were the city’s top 50 baby names overall in 2022:

  1. Miguel, 32 babies
  2. Alice, 29 – pronounced ah-lee-see in Brazilian Portuguese.
  3. Helena, 25
  4. Maria Alice, 21
  5. Cecilia, 21
  6. Arthur, 18
  7. Laura, 17
  8. Davi, 15 – a form of David.
  9. Theo, 15
  10. Samuel, 15
  11. Maria Julia, 15
  12. Bernardo, 13
  13. Gael, 12
  14. Aurora, 12
  15. Lara, 12
  16. Heitor, 11
  17. Ravi, 10 – a form of Rafael.
  18. Julia, 10
  19. Maria Clara, 9
  20. Arthur Miguel, 9
  21. Joaquim, 9
  22. Gabriel, 9
  23. Vicente, 9
  24. Lorenzo, 9
  25. Isabelly, 8
  26. Sofia, 8
  27. Livia, 8
  28. Augusto, 8
  29. Heloisa, 8
  30. Eloa, 8
  31. Nicolas, 8
  32. Noah, 8
  33. Rafael, 8
  34. Benicio, 7
  35. Maria Eduarda, 7
  36. Emanuel, 7
  37. Valentina, 7
  38. Lucas, 7
  39. Maria Cecilia, 6
  40. Isaac, 6
  41. Anthony, 6
  42. Catarina, 6
  43. Agatha, 6
  44. Murilo, 6 – (pronounced moo-ree-loh) based on the Spanish surname Murillo, which is derived from the Spanish word muro, meaning “wall.”
  45. Pedro, 6
  46. Guilherme, 6
  47. Rebeca, 6
  48. Eloah, 6
  49. Antonella, 6
  50. Felipe, 6

The newspaper mentioned that Maria Alice has been on the rise in Brazil since the mid-2020 birth of celebrity baby Maria Alice, firstborn daughter of Brazilian singer Zé Felipe and Brazilian influencer Virginia Fonseca. (The couple’s second daughter, Maria Flor, was born in late 2022 — making “Maria Flor” a combo to look out for in future Brazilian rankings.)

The name Rebeca also rose in 2022 following the success of Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were held in mid-2021 due to COVID-19. Andrade won a gold medal in the vault and a silver medal in the individual all-around (placing second to Sunisa Lee of Team USA).

I’ve never posted rankings for Toledo before, but I did post Brazil’s 2021 rankings a few months back, if you’d like to compare this list to that one.

Sources:

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.

Baby born on Virgin flight, named Virginia

plane

British airline Virgin Atlantic was founded in 1984, but it wasn’t until March of 2004 that a baby was born on a Virgin flight.

She was born a month early to mother Abimbola Eduwa, who was traveling from Lagos to London. Abimbola went into labor an hour after takeoff, and the baby was born a mere ten minutes later — while the plane was soaring 30,000 feet above the Sahara desert.

The baby girl was named Virginia, after the airline. (As Abimbola’s husband Chris explained, “They said I should call her Virginia, I think we will. We usually pray for a name but Virginia is fine.”)

British billionaire Richard Branson, one of the founders of the airline, offered Virginia free flights until the age of 21. He also cheekily noted, “We have waited 20 years for our first Virgin birth.”

Sources:

Baby name story: Konti

Actress Lenore Konti Bushman (sitting beside John Wayne) in the movie "Red River Range" (1938).
Lenore Konti Bushman in “Red River Range“

Hungarian sculptor Isidore Konti emigrated to the United States in the early 1890s. He became known for creating large-scale sculptures for international expositions, such as the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Konti had a “fatherly interest in the welfare of the young artists around him,” and,

…in 1908 and 1909, he hired a destitute young actor, Francis X. Bushman, to model and assist around the studio, later encouraging “Bushie” to travel with a performing company. Konti regularly sent Bushman’s young wife and children money to live on, as he did Bushman himself. Early in 1909, the Bushmans named their new baby daughter “Konti.”

Francis X. Bushman — who was named after the Catholic saint Francis Xavier — went on to become one of the biggest silent film stars of the 1910s. He was billed as “the Handsomest Man in the World” and known for his physique. (He was a Bernarr Macfadden follower.)

He and his wife Josephine had five children — Ralph, Josephine, Virginia, Lenore, and Bruce — and Lenore’s middle name was indeed Konti.

Lenore went on to appear in a handful of films during the 1920s and ’30s. (In the image above, she’s sitting beside John Wayne.)

Sources:

P.S. Exposition-related baby names we’ve talked about include Eulalia, Louisiana Purchase, and Louis Francis.