Name Spotlight

Meaning: princess; woman of high rank Origin: Hebrew Current Popularity: #78 Perennial darling Sadie has felt especially fresh in recent years, thanks to its grandmillenial, vintage feel. It’s timeless, in the way names like Elizabeth or James are, without the traditional, formal associations. Nickname Potential: Sade, Sades, Didi (Sadie is a nickname name in itself–it […]

Name: Julius Meaning: “youthful; downy” Origin: Latin Current Popularity: #334 Evergreen Julius has experienced sustained popularity throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, but it wasn’t always so widely used in the English-speaking world until the nineteenth century. Not as popular as similar name, Julian, Julius might be on the verge of making a breakthrough in […]

Name: Penelope Meaning: “weaver” Origin: Greek Current Popularity: #22 It’s still hard to believe that Penelope is near the top 20 female baby names in the US. It fell out of the top 1000 in 1976 and stayed away for 25 years. In 2001, it reemerged on the charts and continued to rise steadily from […]

Name: Chadwick Meaning: “from the warrior’s town” or “from the dairy farm” Origin: English Current Popularity: not currently ranked; last in the top 1000 in 1996 Chadwick is a name fit for a lord (or a king of Wakanda). It experienced popularity from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, falling out of the rankings at the […]

Name: Pascal Meaning: “of the Passover; Easter” Origin: French Current Popularity: not ranked in the top 1000 We are in the season of Passover and Easter, and what name is more appropriate than Pascal? While Pascal is the French version of this name, it has many cognates in other languages: In Italian it’s Pasquale; in […]

Name: Hattie Meaning: “estate ruler” Origin: English Current Popularity: #495 Hattie was once a top-100 baby name, back in the 1800s and into the early 1900s. It fell off the popularity charts in 1968 but returned 9 years ago, climbing very quickly up the charts before leveling off. Nickname Potential: Traditionally, Hattie has been used […]

Name: Xavier Meaning: “bright” or “splendid;” or “new house” Origin: Arabic or Basque Current Popularity: #88 Derived from the Basque word for home, etxeberria, Xavier is probably the most popular name that starts with an X. Xavier has experienced sustained popularity in use since the 1940s but really took off in the early 1980s. It […]

Name: Caroline Meaning: “free man” Origin: French Current Popularity: #55 One of our personal favorites, the name Caroline is a perennial classic. It is currently ranked at 55 for the second year in a row and is consistently in the top 100.  Nickname Potential: Caddie, Carrie, Care, Cara, Carly, Caro, Lina, Ro Associations: Ever since […]

Name: Lachlan Meaning: “from the fjord land” or “war-like” Origin: Scottish or Gaelic Current Popularity:  #686 Lachlan hit the SSA top 1000 for the first time in 2013, though it’s been more popular in its home of origin (the UK) for decades. And Australians can’t get enough of it. Its current rank of #686 in […]

Name: Kira Meaning: “little dark one” Origin: Gaelic Current Popularity: #378 Nickname Potential: Kir (KEER), KiKi Associations: Actresses Keira Knightley and Kyra Sedgewick have kept the name in our ears in this era. Even Star Wars has gotten into it, with Solo character Qi’ra giving us an entirely new spelling for this name. And Jim […]