We know a trending name when we hear it creeping into our ears more and more. We can watch the charts and see these names moving up in popularity. But you might be looking for a name that hasn’t quite made it into the mainstream. For this list, we gathered up our favorite trend-forward baby […]
Baby Name Regret? Here’s What You Can Do About It
With all the craziness involved in having a baby (fertility, adoption, pregnancy, surrogacy, tests, complications, birth plans, labor, delivery…), one piece new parents have control over is the baby’s name. A name is the stamp a parent places on that fresh newborn to say, “This is who you are,” or, “This is who I want […]
World War II-Era Names
World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945. Those six years changed the world forever. It’s a historical period that fascinates us even today, 75 years after the end of combat. Many writers and historians continue to explore the World War II era through nonfiction, but there’s also a lot of fiction set in this […]
Name Spotlight: Hattie
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 […]
Best of… Galentine’s Day Baby Names
Ovaries before brovaries. Uteruses before duderuses. Today is Galentine’s Day! As we celebrate the female friendships in our lives, we’re also looking to the fictional friendships that have inspired us over the years. Since we always bring it back to baby names, our list today includes some especially-well-named gal pal duos and some that we […]
Best of… Underused Vintage Baby Names of the 1920s
In celebration of 2020, we gave you our favorite top names from the year 1920. But there are so many vintage 1920s names to love that we had to do another list. Some of the popular names from that decade have never gone out of style, like classics James and Elizabeth. Others, like Evelyn, Lillian, […]
Algorithms and Alliterative Sibs
Sometimes all it takes is a few clues to figure out someone’s name. Nathan Yau at Flowing Data has an algorithm that can do just that, using only your sex, decade of birth, and the first couple letters of your name. It’s a fun visual representation of the most popular names starting with a given […]
POLL: Elliot vs. Ellis
There’s no denying that baby names starting with “El” have taken off in recent years. Elijah is the seventh most popular male name in the US, Ella is ranked #15, Eleanor is sitting at #32, and even “nickname name” Ellie ranks in the top 40 at #37! So for this Name vs. Name match up, […]
Name Spotlight: Xavier
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 […]
Billionaire Romance Character Names
Did you know that one of the more popular subcategories of romance novels is the billionaire romance novel? It makes sense, though, doesn’t it? It’s often a throwback to the beloved Cinderella stories where a poor heroine is plucked out of poverty by the love of a prince, or in this case, a rich heir; […]