How popular is the baby name Walter 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 Walter.

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Popularity of the baby name Walter


Posts that mention the name Walter

What gave the baby name Elaine a boost in 1915?

The character Elaine Dodge from the motion picture serial "The Exploits of Elaine" (1914)
Elaine Dodge from “The Exploits of Elaine”

The baby name Elaine, which was already on the rise in the early 1900s, more than doubled in usage in 1915 specifically:

  • 1917: 1,281 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 160th]
  • 1916: 1,236 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 161st]
  • 1915: 1,212 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 155th]
  • 1914: 568 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 221st]
  • 1913: 411 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 238th]

Why?

Because of fictional character Elaine Dodge — the protagonist of a trio of weekly Hearst-Pathé serials that came out one after the other:

  • The Exploits of Elaine (14 installments released from December of 1914 to March of 1915),
  • The New Exploits of Elaine (10 installments released from April to June of 1915), and
  • The Romance of Elaine (12 installments released from June to August of 1915).

Just like The Perils of Pauline, the three “Elaine” serials could be read in print and seen on film concurrently. Installments were published in the newspapers on Sundays, then premiered at the motion picture houses on Mondays.

Elaine Dodge, an adventurous young woman, teamed up with scientist/detective Craig Kennedy and reporter Walter Jameson to track down various bad guys — a shadowy criminal called “the Clutching Hand” in the first serial, a Chinese gang leader named Wu Fang in the second, and a foreign agent named Marcius Del Mar in the third.

In all three pictures, Elaine was played by actress Pearl White (who’d become famous as the star of The Perils of Pauline).

What are your thoughts on the name Elaine?

P.S. In mid-1915, The Exploits of Elaine was published as a standalone book. The second and third serials were combined into a single volume in 1916.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Moving Picture World (16 Jan. 1915)

What gave the baby name Nile a boost in 1940?

College football player Nile Kinnick, Jr. (1918-1943)
Nile Kinnick, Jr.

According to the U.S. baby name data, the uncommon name Nile saw an uptick in usage in 1940:

  • 1942: 25 baby boys named Nile (6 born in Iowa)
  • 1941: 25 baby boys named Nile
  • 1940: 39 baby boys named Nile (12 born in Iowa)
  • 1939: 28 baby boys named Nile (7 born in Iowa)
  • 1938: 21 baby boys named Nile

Why?

Because of Nile Clarke Kinnick, Jr., who played football at the University of Iowa.

The Iowa Hawkeyes — after winning a single game in 1937, and another single game in 1938 — had an unexpectedly successful 1939 season. Under new coach Eddie Anderson, the team compiled a 6-1-1 record overall and finished second in the Big Ten Conference.

Leading the charge was senior Nile Kinnick, a halfback who — by “passing, running or kicking” — “was directly involved in 107 of Iowa’s 130 points that season.”

Thanks to his stellar performance on the field, Nile Kinnick won almost every major national award, including the Heisman Trophy, the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy, and the Maxwell Award.

Kinnick’s celebrity became so strong, he was named 1939’s top male athlete in the country by the Associated Press. The honor was particularly noteworthy considering his competition included Joe DiMaggio, Joe Louis and Byron Nelson.

Among his namesakes were Nile Clarke Andersen, born in Iowa in late 1939, and Nile Kinnick Clarke, born in Washington state in 1946 (to Nile Kinnick’s first cousin, Fred).

After college, Nile Kinnick turned down an offer to join the NFL. Instead, he went to law school.

But a year later, when it seemed likely that the U.S. would enter World War II, he left law school and enlisted in the Naval Air Corps Reserve. He died during a training flight off the coast of Venezuela in 1943.

In 1972, Iowa’s football stadium, simply called Iowa Stadium, was renamed Kinnick Stadium in honor of Nile Kinnick. And by the early 2000s, enough babies were being named after the stadium every year that the name Kinnick began popping up in the U.S. baby name data.

What are your thoughts on the name Nile? (Do you like it more or less than the similar name Niles?)

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Imperial Valley Press (11 Dec. 1939)

Popular baby names in Denmark, 2023

Flag of Denmark
Flag of Denmark

Last year, the Nordic country of Denmark welcomed 57,469 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Frida and Carl.

Here are Denmark’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Frida, 425 baby girls
  2. Luna, 412
  3. Ella, 410
  4. Alma, 409
  5. Emma, 402
  6. Sofia, 397
  7. Olivia, 395
  8. Agnes, 392
  9. Ida, 391
  10. Karla, 381
  11. Ellie, 380
  12. Clara, 379
  13. Freja, 343
  14. Nora, 331
  15. Lily, 326
  16. Alberte, 316 (tie)
  17. Esther, 316 (tie)
  18. Asta, 296
  19. Ellen, 284
  20. Anna, 282
  21. Aya, 246
  22. Isabella, 228
  23. Lærke, 213 – the Danish word for “lark” (the type of bird)
  24. Astrid, 212
  25. Saga, 210
  26. Hannah, 209
  27. Mathilde, 207
  28. Josefine, 205
  29. Laura, 203
  30. Vilma, 200
  31. Emily, 197 (tie)
  32. Liva, 197 (tie)
  33. Maja, 196
  34. Vera, 187
  35. Marie, 181
  36. Leonora, 178 (tie)
  37. Mille, 178 (tie)
  38. Andrea, 173
  39. Solveig, 166
  40. Molly, 164
  41. Victoria, 163
  42. Merle, 149
  43. Lea, 148
  44. Liv, 146
  45. Eva, 140 (tie)
  46. Ingrid, 140 (tie)
  47. Elina, 137 (tie)
  48. Rosa, 137 (tie)
  49. Gry, 130
  50. Sofie, 125

Boy names

  1. Carl, 477 baby boys
  2. William, 458
  3. Oscar, 452
  4. Alfred, 449 (tie)
  5. Noah, 449 (tie)
  6. Aksel, 441
  7. Emil, 430
  8. Oliver, 423
  9. Malthe, 403
  10. Valdemar, 392
  11. August, 377
  12. Elliot, 370
  13. Theo, 351
  14. Arthur, 346
  15. Lucas, 335
  16. Elias, 324
  17. Lauge, 323
  18. Otto, 319
  19. Hugo, 309
  20. Felix, 285
  21. Magnus, 279
  22. Viggo, 270
  23. Victor, 269
  24. Theodor, 257
  25. Loui, 255
  26. Holger, 249
  27. Anker, 245 (tie)
  28. Liam, 245 (tie)
  29. Anton, 243
  30. Matheo, 230
  31. Konrad, 227
  32. Erik, 214
  33. Pelle, 202
  34. Luca, 198
  35. Asger, 197
  36. Ebbe, 195
  37. Nohr, 194 (tie)
  38. Vincent, 194 (tie)
  39. Kalle, 190
  40. Adam, 181
  41. Johan, 173
  42. Frederik, 165 (tie)
  43. Storm, 165 (tie)
  44. Albert, 159
  45. Walter, 156
  46. Alexander, 154
  47. Christian, 151
  48. Villads, 146
  49. Leo, 142
  50. Marius, 138

The top names of 2022, Ella and William, are now in third place and second place, respectively.

The word-name Storm has ranked inside the boys’ top 50 since 2010. (In the U.S., Storm is given to both boys and girls, but has never come close to top-50 status for either gender.)

Sources: Baby names – Statistics Denmark, Births – Statistics Denmark

Image: Adapted from Flag of Denmark (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Sweden, 2023

Flag of Sweden
Flag of Sweden

Sweden tricked us, you guys.

Last year, Statistics Sweden ominously announced that it would “stop producing name statistics.”

It neglected to mention that the country’s baby name data would continue coming out every year — that the names were simply going to be handled by a different government agency (the Swedish Tax Agency) going forward.

I wanted to be annoyed about this deception, but my annoyance evaporated after I learned that the Swedish Tax Agency had released all of the country’s 2023 baby name data — meaning that we could finally check out Sweden’s rare and unique names (yay!).

So, without further ado, let’s take a look…

Sweden welcomed 100,051 babies in 2023. What were the most popular names among these babies? Vera and Noah.

Here are Sweden’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Vera, 608 baby girls
  2. Elsa, 603
  3. Alma, 597
  4. Selma, 538
  5. Alice, 512
  6. Signe, 494
  7. Ellie, 490
  8. Olivia, 488
  9. Astrid, 470
  10. Ella, 467
  11. Stella, 447
  12. Maja, 442
  13. Freja, 434
  14. Saga, 426
  15. Alva, 415
  16. Agnes, 392
  17. Ebba, 381
  18. Leah, 375
  19. Alba, 365
  20. Hedda, 362
  21. Iris, 344
  22. Wilma, 341
  23. Ines, 339
  24. Alicia, 335
  25. Mila, 332
  26. Luna, 304
  27. Lilly, 292
  28. Sigrid, 288
  29. Elvira, 286
  30. Leia, 280
  31. Juni, 274
  32. Julia, 258
  33. Hilma, 256
  34. Clara, 253
  35. Majken, 242 (tie)
  36. Molly, 242 (tie)
  37. Ellen, 241
  38. Ester, 238 (tie)
  39. Lykke, 238 (tie)
  40. Lily, 236
  41. Nora, 232
  42. Ingrid, 226
  43. Nova, 223
  44. Edith, 205
  45. Livia, 204
  46. Sally, 203
  47. Lea, 198
  48. Tyra, 194
  49. Liv, 193
  50. Esther, 192

Boy names

  1. Noah, 687 baby boys
  2. Hugo, 652
  3. William, 565
  4. Liam, 558
  5. Nils, 536
  6. Oliver, 517
  7. Elias, 516
  8. Adam, 507
  9. August, 506
  10. Sam, 504
  11. Alfred, 485
  12. Otto, 479
  13. Leo, 463
  14. Leon, 415
  15. Frans, 414
  16. Charlie, 388
  17. Olle, 372
  18. Theo, 366
  19. Harry, 362
  20. Arvid, 351
  21. Ludvig, 350
  22. Malte, 345
  23. Ebbe, 338 (tie)
  24. Lucas, 338 (tie)
  25. Tage, 330
  26. Elliot, 327
  27. Henry, 326
  28. Adrian, 322
  29. Gabriel, 319
  30. Elton, 318
  31. Ted, 317
  32. Walter, 314
  33. Vincent, 296
  34. Alexander, 294 (tie)
  35. Oscar, 294 (tie)
  36. Valter, 293
  37. Benjamin, 282
  38. Noel, 274 (tie)
  39. Theodor, 274 (tie)
  40. Jack, 268 (tie)
  41. Viggo, 268 (tie)
  42. Axel, 264
  43. Albin, 256
  44. Melker, 251
  45. Levi, 240
  46. Isak, 236
  47. Dante, 233
  48. Lukas, 230
  49. Matteo, 226
  50. Hjalmar, 225

The top names of 2022, Astrid and William, dropped to ninth place and third place, respectively.

The boys’ top 100 included Ture (53rd), Vidar (55th), Loke (71st), and Bill (97th).

The girls’ top 100 included Tuva (66th), Stina (75th), Lo (78th), and Eira (81st).

Farther down on the girls’ list I spotted Madicken, which was given to 15 babies last year. Swedish author Astrid Lindgren featured a fictional 7-year-old girl named Margareta “Madicken” Engström in several of her children’s books. (Lindgren had named the character after a childhood friend, Anne-Marie, whose nickname was Madicken.)

And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum? Here’s a sampling of the more than 8,000 names that were bestowed just once in Sweden last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Älva, Bergþóra, Cyrine, Dahlina, Elfie, Frigga, Glittra, Holland, Iseline, Jinjin, Källa, Lavendel, Minélle, Neoliva, Ornina, Pommelinn, Qellie, Rauline, Sigunn, Thaïs, Undin, Virvla, Winta, Xanne, Yrja, ZtellaAsterix, Bornwell, Casbian, Delton, Ejnar, Frenne, Grimm, Hälge, Ingemund, Jingda, Kasjan, Lillebror, Mjalton, Nille, Öivind, Palomino, Qingfeng, Robiel, Skjómi, Toste, Uzeer, Villie, Williott, Xanto, Yosia, Zillas

Some definitions/associations for a few of the above:

  • Glittra means “to glitter” in Swedish.
  • Källa means “source” in Swedish. (Originally it referred to a source of water, such as a spring or a well.)
  • Lavendel means “lavender” in Swedish (and several other languages).
  • Lillebror means “little brother” in Swedish.
  • Mjalton refers to Mjältön, an island in Sweden.
  • Skjómi, an Old Norse word meaning “a flickering light,” was used metaphorically in Skaldic poetry to refer to a drawn sword.
  • Virvla means “to whirl” in Swedish. (The related noun virvel means “vortex.”)

Sources: Elsa och Noah populäraste namnen hos nyfödda – Skatteverket, Namn på nyfödda – Skatteverket, Population statistics – Statistics Sweden, Madicken (Mardie) – Astrid Lindgren, Wiktionary, skjómi – Lexicon Poeticum, skjómi – Old Norse Dictionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)