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Baby names with SUN: Sunita, Tsuneo, Aysun

sunset

Looking for baby names that contain the word SUN?

If so, you’re in luck!

Because below you’ll find a long list of names that contain the letter sequence “s-u-n.” Most of these names come directly from the U.S. SSA’s baby name data.

  • Addisun, Addysun, Adysun
  • Alisun, Alysun, Allisun, Allysun
  • Assunta, Asunta
  • Assuntina
  • Assunto
  • Asun
  • Asuna
  • Asuncion
  • Aysun
  • Brysun
  • Cassundra, Casundra
  • Graysun, Greysun
  • Jahsun
  • Jasun, Jaysun, Jaesun
  • Jaxsun
  • Kaisun
  • Karsun
  • Kasundra
  • Kaysun
  • Kysun
  • Lasunda
  • Lasundra
  • Madisun, Madysun
  • Masun, Maysun
  • Olasunkanmi
  • Rasun
  • Sun
  • Suna
  • Sunaina
  • Sunako
  • Sunan
  • Sunana
  • Sunao
  • Sunasia
  • Sunawin
  • Sunay
  • Sunayana
  • Sunbeam
  • Sunbul
  • Sunda
  • Sundai
  • Sundance
  • Sundar
  • Sundara
  • Sundari
  • Sundas
  • Sunday, Sundae
  • Sunde
  • Sundeep, Sundip
  • Sundiata
  • Sundos
  • Sundown
  • Sundra
  • Sundrina
  • Sundrine
  • Sundus
  • Sundy, Sundie, Sundee, Sundi
  • Sunehri
  • Sunel
  • Sunella
  • Sunem
  • Sunetta
  • Sunette
  • Sunflower
  • Sung
  • Sunhild
  • Sunia
  • Sunidhi
  • Sunie, Suni, Sunee
  • Sunil, Suneel
  • Sunilda
  • Sunisa
  • Sunita
  • Sunitha
  • Suniti
  • Suniya, Suniyah
  • Sunja
  • Sunjai
  • Sunjay
  • Sunna, Sunnah
  • Sunniva
  • Sunny, Sunnie, Sunni, Sunnye, Sunnee
  • Sunrae, Sunray
  • Sunrise
  • Sunset
  • Sunshine, Sunshyne
  • Sunwoo
  • Sunya
  • Tsunade
  • Tsunami
  • Tsuneko
  • Tsuneo
  • Tysun
  • Yasunobu

Some of the above are non-traditional spellings of more common names such as Jason, Addison, and Cassandra.

Other sun-themed names I’ve blogged about include Bluesun, Skysun, Nightsun, Sunchase, Sunstar, and Sunwater.

Which SUN name do you like most? Let me know in the comments!

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from 2008 sunset in Piriápolis by Alexandre Pereira under CC BY-SA 2.0.

What gave the baby name Korben a boost in 1998?

The character Korben Dallas from the movie "The Fifth Element" (1997)
Korben Dallas from “The Fifth Element“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Corbin saw a discernible increase in popularity in 1998. Other spellings (like Korbin and Corban) saw similar increases, but none were as steep as that of Korben, which more than tripled in usage:

  • 2000: 43 baby boys named Korben
  • 1999: 31 baby boys named Korben
  • 1998: 37 baby boys named Korben
  • 1997: 11 baby boys named Korben
  • 1996: 8 baby boys named Korben

What was influencing these names?

Korben Dallas, the main character of the “campy sci-fi extravaganza” The Fifth Element, which was released in theaters in May of 1997.

The movie was set in the 23rd century, and Korben (played by Bruce Willis) — who had recently retired from the elite Special Forces unit of the Federated Army — was now driving a a flying taxicab in New York City.

One day, an orange-haired woman wearing an outfit made of white bandages fell into Korben’s cab through the roof. (Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich, had just jumped off the ledge of a building after escaping from a science lab.) This unlikely encounter led to Korben getting caught up in mission to save humanity from a “planet-sized sphere of supreme evil” that was swiftly approaching Earth.

The Fifth Element was the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1997, and went on to become a science-fiction cult classic. (The name Leeloo debuted in the U.S. baby name data about a decade after the movie came out.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Korben? (Do you like it more or less than the traditional spelling, Corbin?)

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Fifth Element

Popular baby names in the Dominican Republic, 2023

Flag of the Dominican Republic
Flag of the Dominican Republic

Two years ago, the Dominican Republic welcomed over 156,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Isabella and Adriel.

Here are DR’s top 15 girl names and top 15 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Isabella, 482 baby girls
  2. Abigaíl, 478
  3. Alaia, 410
  4. Valentina, 388
  5. Esther, 370
  6. Elianny, 346
  7. Ashley, 316
  8. Charlotte, 312
  9. Camila, 308
  10. Zoe, 272
  11. Génesis, 260
  12. Emma, 258
  13. Victoria, 248
  14. Daniela, 244
  15. Esmeralda, 240

Boy names

  1. Adriel, 334 baby boys
  2. Emmanuel, 290
  3. Sebastián, 288
  4. Alexander, 276
  5. Liam, 262
  6. Gael, 252
  7. Daniel, 249
  8. Isaac, 246
  9. Ismael, 245
  10. Samuel, 241
  11. David, 232
  12. Jayden, 230
  13. Dariel, 229
  14. Aarón, 224
  15. Thiago, 221

A year earlier, in 2022, the top names were Abigaíl and Sebastián.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Dominican Republic (public domain)

What gave the baby name Ariel a boost in 1978?

Dean Friedman's self-titled debut album (1977)
Dean Friedman album

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Ariel was given more often to boys than to girls from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s.

Then, in 1982, the girls’ usage surged ahead of the boys’ usage. Less than a decade later, Ariel reached the girls’ top 100 — and stayed there for three years straight.

What caused this growing interest in Ariel as a girl name?

A series of pop-culture nudges, the first of which came along in the late 1970s:

Girls named ArielBoys named Ariel
1979154 [rank: 951st]216 [rank: 581st]
1978162 [rank: 895th]224 [rank: 559th]
1977105157 [rank: 675th]
197663177 [rank: 614th]
197560175 [rank: 616th]

This initial increase corresponds to the success of a pop song called “Ariel” [vid] by singer-songwriter Dean Friedman.

The quirky song — about the narrator’s date with “a free spirited, pot-smoking, vegetarian Jewish girl” named Ariel (pronounced AIR-ee-el) — was released in April of 1977 and peaked at #26 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in late June.

During a recent interview, Friedman was asked about the song’s many namesakes. He replied,

Well, you’re right, actually, there are definitely a lot of Ariels out there of a certain age that were not named after a mermaid. And so that’s always a nice surprise, when someone will come up and introduce themselves and say, “I was named after your song.”

The Hebrew name Ariel comprises two elements, the first of which means “lion” and the second of which means “god.” It’s pronounced ahr-ee-EL by Hebrew speakers.

Sources: Bio – Dean Friedman, Ariel (song) – Wikipedia, Billboard Hot 100 for the week of 25 Jun. 1977, From ‘Ariel’ to SongFest: Dean Friedman Discusses His Career, creativity and ’25 Tour! – Almost Famous Magazine [vid], Ariel – Wiktionary, SSA