Happy Friday, friends! Well, it’s clear from last week’s Name vs. Name that you all have some opinions about Maeve and Mae! We’re fascinated that names can sound and look nearly identical and yet carry such different associations and meanings. And that’s what our Name vs. Name series is all about. We compare/contrast two names with similar spellings or sounds, give you our take on them, and then ask you to do the same.
We’d love to hear what you think. What two names do you want to see in the next face-off?
In the pop culture world, we’re feeling inspired all over again by Downton Abbey. When the show first came out in 2010, I, like many others, was enamored. I love a good costume drama, and this one ticked off so many boxes. This weekend, I’m heading to the theaters to watch the Downton Abbey movie with my mother-in-law, and that brings to mind, of course, all the amazing vintage names from the show.
First, you have the traditional classics that never really go out of style:
- Anna
- Charles
- John
- Henry
- Mary
- Matthew
- Robert
- Thomas
- William
In our present-day baby naming climate of SO. MANY. CHOICES. we tend to overlook simplicity. I personally love when I meet a baby Mary or Robert. It feels like a nice break.
There’s also a wealth of surname-style name inspiration from Downton Abbey:
- Alridge
- Branson
- Carlisle
- Carson
- Drake
- Gregson
- Mason
Can’t you just see twins Carlisle and Aldridge playing together in their matching plaid outfits?
Then, of course, there’s the healthy dose of vintage style that Downton Abbey has become known for. Here are some of our favorites:
- Alfred
- Atticus
- Beryl
- Cora
- Daisy
- Edith
- Elsie
- Ephraim
- Ethyl
- Gwen
- Isobel
- Ivy
- Lavinia
- Marigold
- Rosamund
- Rose
- Phyllis
- Sybil
- Violet
We’d bet money that Downton Abbey had an outsized effect on baby naming trends for Cora and Edith, in particular, both in the US and in the UK.
Cora was a sweet-spot name for decades after experiencing its greatest popularity back in 1900, per the data, but it’s been sharply on the rise lately. In the US, Cora is currently the 73rd most popular female name. While the vintage baby name trend was in full swing at the time, the fact that Lady Grantham of Downton Abbey, as played by Elizabeth McGovern, is named Cora certainly put the name into people’s ears. From the data, we can see that Cora continued its rise after the show aired and might now be the most obvious association with the name.
In Britain, where Cora isn’t as popular, the name has also experienced a bit of a jump that could correlate with the premiere of the show. In 2010, Cora was Britain’s 438th most popular name. By 2016, though, it had jumped up to #263.
Next, we have Edith. Edith has seen a lot of ups and downs in popular over the last twenty years. What made it start to fall in the late 2000s? We don’t know, but we know that it found its footing again right after Edith, the middle Crawley sister, hit television screens in 2010.
Where Cora is more popular in America, very British Edith is more popular in Great Britain. In the UK, Edith was the 91st most popular female name. Edith also experienced a great leap around 2010. In the 9 years that Downton Abbey has been around, Edith jumped from 259 to 91. Considering that back in 1998 Edith was the 1,392nd most popular female name in the UK, that’s a fast riser!
All of this is to say that we love a show with well-named characters. And the Downton Abbey movie’s release has reinvigorated some vintage favorites for me. I wonder if the film will inspire new favorites for others? I guess we’ll watch the rankings and see!
If you didn’t catch Laura Wattenberg’s article, “What Does a Neural Network Think of Your Name?” on namerology.com, drop everything and give it a read. AI technology is nothing short of fascinating and what it reflects back about our assumptions and name judgments is telling.
The top baby names in Belgium for 2018 have been released. And while the most popular girl’s name is a familiar favorite to Americans, the boy’s name is less so.
And Britain’s least popular baby names have been revealed! What popular 90s show might be to blame for the plummeting names?
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