How popular is the baby name Wolf 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 Wolf.

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Popularity of the baby name Wolf


Posts that mention the name Wolf

“American Gladiator” names vs. real-life baby names

Title of the TV series "American Gladiators" (1989-1996)
“American Gladiators“

Ready for a game?

The original American Gladiators — an athletic competition show that aired on television from 1989 to 1996 — featured a total of 32 gladiators with 31 tough-sounding gladiator names. (Why 31? Because “Lace” was used twice.)

Here are the 31 original names:

  1. Atlas
  2. Blaze
  3. Bronco
  4. Cyclone
  5. Dallas
  6. Diamond
  7. Elektra
  8. Gemini
  9. Gold
  10. Havoc
  11. Hawk
  12. Ice
  13. Jade
  14. Jazz
  15. Lace
  16. Laser
  17. Malibu
  18. Nitro
  19. Rebel
  20. Sabre
  21. Siren
  22. Sky
  23. Storm
  24. Sunny
  25. Tank
  26. Thunder
  27. Titan
  28. Tower
  29. Turbo
  30. Viper
  31. Zap
"American Gladiators" trading card

The short-lived American Gladiators reboot (2008) featured a total of 20 gladiators with 18 new tough-sounding gladiator names. (Why 18? Because “Siren” and “Titan” were recycled from the original.)

Here are the 18 reboot names:

  1. Beast
  2. Crush
  3. Fury
  4. Hellga
  5. Hurricane
  6. Jet
  7. Justice
  8. Mayhem
  9. Militia
  10. Panther
  11. Phoenix
  12. Rocket
  13. Stealth
  14. Steel
  15. Toa
  16. Venom
  17. Wolf
  18. Zen

So here’s the game: Try to guess what percentage of the 31 original gladiator names and what percentage of the 18 reboot gladiator names have appeared at least once in the U.S. baby name data.

(To appear in the data, a name has to be given to 5 or more U.S. babies, of one gender or the other, in a single year.)

Come up with your guesses before reading on!

Ok, here are the answers.

Of the 31 original gladiator names, 26 — about 84% — have appeared in the SSA data:

  1. Atlas
  2. Blaze
  3. Bronco
  4. (not Cyclone)
  5. Dallas
  6. Diamond
  7. Elektra
  8. Gemini
  9. Gold
  10. Havoc
  11. Hawk
  12. Ice
  13. Jade
  14. Jazz
  15. Lace
  16. (not Laser)
  17. Malibu
  18. (not Nitro)
  19. Rebel
  20. Sabre
  21. Siren
  22. Sky
  23. Storm
  24. Sunny
  25. Tank
  26. Thunder
  27. Titan
  28. (not Tower)
  29. Turbo
  30. Viper
  31. (not Zap)

And, of the 18 reboot gladiator names, 10 — about 56% — have appeared in the SSA data:

  1. (not Beast)
  2. (not Crush)
  3. Fury
  4. (not Hellga)
  5. (not Hurricane)
  6. Jet
  7. Justice
  8. Mayhem
  9. (not Militia)
  10. (not Panther)
  11. Phoenix
  12. Rocket
  13. (not Stealth)
  14. Steel
  15. Toa
  16. (not Venom)
  17. Wolf
  18. Zen

How close did you get to 84% and 56%?

Sources: American Gladiators (1989 TV series) – Wikipedia, American Gladiators (2008 TV series) – Wikipedia, SSA

Images: Screenshot of American Gladiators; American Gladiators trading card

[Latest update: May 2025]

Celebrity baby name: Kahekili

Another celebrity has gone with a Hawaiian baby name. Helen Hunt has a daughter named Makena Lei, Lisa Bonet has a son named Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha, and now Evangeline Lilly has a son named Kahekili.

This is old news, actually. Lilly’s baby (with boyfriend Norman Kali) was born in mid-2011, and the name was revealed later that year. Kahekili means “the thunder” in Hawaiian: ka is “the” and hekili is “thunder.”

But apparently Lilly has only recently come out with the full story behind Kahekili’s name:

My son was born outside in Hawaii in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm that was so insane that we had an island-wide power outage… We were woken out of our sleep by the thunder, it was so intense, and in Hawaii they call that mana, which is like your essence or your spirit… so we had to name him after his mana.

She’d previously mentioned that the baby was born “outside in a thunderstorm.” Also, that the name wasn’t chosen right away: “My baby did not have a name for a month. It took me a month to name my child.”

A handful of other baby boys have been named Kahekili lately. In fact, over past few years, the name has popped up on the national list three times and on the Hawaii list twice:

  • 2012: 6 baby boys named Kahekili nationally
  • 2011: unlisted
  • 2010: 6 baby boys named Kahekili nationally, 5 in Hawaii
  • 2009: 5 baby boys named Kahekili nationally [debut], all 5 in Hawaii [debut]
  • 2008: unlisted

I wonder how many of these babies were born during thunderstorms.

What do you think of the name Kahekili?

Sources: Evangeline Lilly – Wikipedia, The Things They Say – Hollywood.com, Evangeline Lilly was in labor for 30 hours (h/t elbowin, for making me look up Tauriel)

Unusual baby names from Quebec: Awesome, Jde, Luzer

Over the weekend, I read through the giant database of Quebec baby names for 2008. Most of the names there were familiar English or French names. A few were (very long!) Native American names. Here are some that stood out:

  • Anakin & Anakyn (male) – Five of the former, two of the latter.
  • Archippe (male) – Means “horse-master” in ancient Greek.
  • Awesome (male)
  • Coatl (male) – Means “snake” in Nahuatl.
  • Dakota-Edison (male)
  • Dune (female)
  • Eileen Osiris (female)
  • Ellliot (male)
  • Elyjah Woody (male) – Elijah Wood fans, perhaps?
  • Enzo Versace (male)
  • Jde (male)
  • Junior Aroma (male)
  • Kaleb-Wolf (male) – Reminds me of Nakoa-Wolf.
  • Kierkegaard II (male)
  • Lady Victoria (female) – The most regal-sounding entry.
  • Lazuli (female)
  • Loveland-Jacobs (female)
  • Luna Mist (female)
  • Luzer (male)
  • Maully (female)
  • Obama Kerby (male) and Stephan-Obama (male)
  • Owen-Walter (male)
  • Ramses-Emmanuel (male)
  • Readily-Chang (male)
  • Ruly (female)
  • Schnobxxxxxxxxxxxx (male)
  • Thunder-Jr (male)
  • Tia-Maria (female)
  • Trevelle Anabelle (female)
  • Tyler-Layden (male) – Why yes, the baby name charts are indeed Tyler-laden right now.
  • Velvili (female)
  • Vernadette (female) – Vernon + Bernadette?
  • Wyclef Jean (male) – There are fans, and then there are superfans.

Have an opinion about any of the above?

If you’ve perused the list yourself, do you remember spotting anything interesting?

Celebrity baby name: Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha

Actor Jason Momoa
Jason Momoa

Actors Lisa Bonet (a.k.a. Lilakoi Moon) and Jason Momoa (a.k.a. Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa) welcomed their second child together on December 15th.

The baby boy was named Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa.

In Hawaiian, Nakoa (na koa) means either “the warrior” or “the koa [tree].” Manakauapo includes elements meaning “spirit” (mana) “the rain” (ka ua) and “night” (po). Namakaeha, passed down from dad, seems to have something to do with “the eyes” (na maka), but I can’t figure out what the last element stands for.

Nakoa-Wolf joins big sister Lola Iolani Momoa and half-sister Zoe Isabella Kravitz.

Source: Huffington Post

Image: Adapted from Jason Momoa (36070020591) by Gage Skidmore under CC BY-SA 2.0.