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What gave the baby name Harnaaz a boost in 2022?

Harnaaz Sandhu, Miss Universe 2021
Harnaaz Sandhu

According to the U.S. baby name data, the uncommon name Harnaaz jumped to peak usage in 2022:

  • 2023: 24 baby girls named Harnaaz
    • 10 born in California
  • 2022: 27 baby girls named Harnaaz
    • 12 born in California
  • 2021: 6 baby girls named Harnaaz
  • 2020: 5 baby girls named Harnaaz
  • 2019: unlisted

It was also one of the fastest-rising girl names in Canada that year.

Why?

Because of Indian beauty queen Harnaaz Sandhu, who was crowned Miss Universe in Eilat, Israel, in December of 2021.

Notably, she was the first Sikh woman to win the title, and it’s likely that most of her namesakes were born into Sikh families. More than half of the roughly 280,000 Sikhs in the U.S. live in California specifically, and Canada is home to more than 770,000 Sikhs — the largest Sikh population outside of India.

What does her name mean? Her mother defined it as “everyone’s pride.”

We named her Harnaaz as she is the first and the last daughter in our extended Jat Sikh family. She has 17 brothers in the extended family. Today she has made the entire country proud.

Indeed, her name is made up of two elements, har and naaz, which are Hindi words meaning “each, every” and “pride.”

What are your thoughts on the name Harnaaz?

P.S. In her immediate family, Harnaaz Sandhu has a single brother, Harnoor. The noor element in his name means “light.”

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of the TV broadcast of the 70th Miss Universe pageant

Popular baby names in the Channel Islands, 2023

Flag of Jersey
Flag of Jersey

The Channel Islands, located in the English Channel, are divided into two territories: Jersey and Guernsey (both of which are British Crown Dependencies).

The territory of Jersey consists of the archipelago’s largest and most populous island, Jersey. The territory of Guernsey consists of the next-largest and next-most-populous island, Guernsey, along with several smaller islands.

Jersey

Last year, Jersey welcomed a total of 795 babies — 370 girls and 425 boys. Here are Jersey’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Olivia
  2. Isla
  3. Mia
  4. Emilia
  5. Emily
  6. Isabella
  7. Luna
  8. Florence
  9. Phoebe
  10. Amelia

Boy names

  1. Oliver
  2. Oscar
  3. Jack
  4. Leo
  5. Alfie
  6. Archie
  7. George
  8. Gabriel
  9. Lucas
  10. Luca

A year earlier, the top names in Jersey were Willow and Arthur.

Guernsey

Last year, Guernsey welcomed a total of 456 babies — 218 girls and 238 boys. Here are Guernsey’s top girl names and top boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Mia, 5 baby girls
  2. Millie, 4
  3. Ada, 3 (6-way tie)
  4. Charlotte, 3 (6-way tie)
  5. Florence, 3 (6-way tie)
  6. Isla, 3 (6-way tie)
  7. Sophia, 3 (6-way tie)
  8. Willow, 3 (6-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Harry, 7 baby boys
  2. Oliver, 6
  3. Finley, 5 (tie)
  4. Jack, 5 (tie)
  5. Hugo, 4 (5-way tie)
  6. Lando, 4 (5-way tie)
  7. Leo, 4 (5-way tie)
  8. Luca, 4 (5-way tie)
  9. Rupert, 4 (5-way tie)

Given the number of articles I see about British racecar driver Lando Norris on the Guernsey Press website, I have to assume that the usage of Lando was influenced by Norris. (Interestingly, Norris’ first name wasn’t inspired by the Star Wars character — it was simply a name that his mother, who comes from Belgium, happened to like.)

My source also noted that traditional names like James, George, Thomas, and David are commonly used as middle names (but rarely as first names) in Guernsey these days.

A year earlier, the top names in Guernsey were Ava and Freddie/Jack.

Finally, here’s a link to the Channel Islands’ 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Jersey (public domain)

What gave the baby name Amaryllis a boost in 1927?

Illustration of Amaryllis Minton from McCall's magazine (Oct. 1926)
Amaryllis Minton

The flower-name Amaryllis first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1926. The following year, the name came as close as it’s ever come to reaching the girls’ top 1,000:

  • 1929: 28 baby girls named Amaryllis
  • 1928: 28 baby girls named Amaryllis
  • 1927: 45 baby girls named Amaryllis [rank: 1,139th]
  • 1926: 7 baby girls named Amaryllis [debut]
  • 1925: unlisted
  • 1924: unlisted

What caused the debut and the subsequent spike?

The Magic Garden, a romantic tale written by Indiana author Gene Stratton-Porter.

The protagonist of the story — which was originally published in McCall’s magazine over the course of six months (from October of 1926 to March of 1927) — was a young girl named Amaryllis Minton.

Her father’s millions provided the little girl servants and governesses to order around, but all the money in the world could not buy love, so one day after her fifth birthday she ran away to find it. Among the flowers of an enchanting garden, she came upon a little boy who was lonely, too, and and wanted a playmate.

Incidentally, Amaryllis didn’t realize she was named after a flower until partway through the narrative.

In 1927, The Magic Garden was serialized in various newspapers across the country, published in book form, and adapted into a successful silent film (starring actresses Joyce Coad as young Amaryllis and Margaret Morris as grown-up Amaryllis).

What are your thoughts on the name Amaryllis?

P.S. The flower was named after a female character in Virgil’s Eclogues, but Virgil didn’t invent the name. In Roman literature, Amaryllis was a stock character — “a natural, pretty young woman who was usually a shepherdess.” The name derives from the Ancient Greek verb amarysso, meaning “to sparkle.”

Sources:

Image: Clipping from McCall’s magazine (Oct. 1926)

Baby born to citizen astronaut, named Delta V

Lift-off of the space shuttle Discovery (Feb. 2011)

Florida-based social media influencer Kellie Gerardi isn’t a trained scientist, but she is a science communicator who’s obsessed with outer space.

In 2015, she and her fiancé Steven got married in a space-themed wedding, complete with Star Wars Stormtroopers.

In late 2017, the couple welcomed a baby girl named Delta Victoria, or “Delta V.” Why? Here’s how Kellie explained it:

[W]e named her Delta Victoria for delta-v … aka “change in velocity” as used in spacecraft flight dynamics.

Delta-v
Delta-v

(In mathematics, the uppercase Greek letter delta, which resembles a triangle, denotes a change in quantity.)

In August of 2021, when the Delta variant of COVID-19 was prevalent, Kellie mentioned in a tweet that her 3-year-old daughter “once thought the airline would be the most annoying namesake joke.” In response, Delta Air Lines sent Delta Victoria a care package that included items (like a backpack, and some cookies) featuring their shared name.

P.S. Kellie Gerardi finally took her first trip to space in November of 2023, as part of Virgin Galactic’s “Galactic 05” research mission.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from STS-133 Discovery Lift Off Launch Pad 39A KSC (NASA)