How popular is the baby name Virginia 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 Virginia.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Virginia


Posts that mention the name Virginia

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

airplane

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:

Image: Adapted from Air Canada Boeing 777-333ER by MarcusObal under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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.

Baby born on Bermuda, named Bermuda

English settler John Rolf (1585-1622) and Pocahontas depicted in a 19th-century painting.
John Rolfe (and Pocahontas)

Englishman John Rolfe (1585-1622) was an early North American settler who helped turn tobacco into a profitable export crop for the Colony of Virginia.

He and his first wife, Sarah, arrived in the New World in the summer of 1609 aboard the Sea Venture, which ended up running aground off the coast of Bermuda thanks to a hurricane.

The colonists stayed in Bermuda, which they found “to be a hospitable place with sufficient food,” for 10 months. While there, they built two smaller ships upon which they could continue their journey to Virginia.

Also while there, Sarah gave birth “to a daughter who was christened Bermuda” after her birthplace (just like Virginia Dare was). Sadly, baby Bermuda Rolfe died before the colonists set sail for the mainland.

John Rolfe went on to have two more wives and two more children. With his second wife, Pocahontas, he had a son named Thomas (who “was presumably named after the Governor, Sir Thomas Dale”). With his third wife, Jane, he had a daughter named Elizabeth.

Sources: John Rolfe – Wikipedia, John Rolfe – Historic Jamestowne – NPS, Thomas Rolfe – Historic Jamestowne – NPS