The Art of Naming

This is part three of our series that highlights names that rank below the Top 1000 in the US in 2015. That list is put together by the Social Security Administration every year based on the number of registered births throughout the country. Since the names on this list don't rank, they are all great options for parents who don't want a super popular name. These would be unique enough to sound refreshing and might even guarantee that the child would be the only one with her name in her class. If you're tired of meeting dozens of Emmas and Sophias, check out the following: 1. Maren (229 births in 2015 - #1114)  Maren is the Danish form of Marina which comes from the Latin Marinus meaning "of the sea". In the US, Maren popped up on the record in 1916. This name was most popular in 1979 with 226 births and a rank of #733. It hit the #900s again in the mid 2000s, but currently ranks below the Top 1000 chart. Could this name ever catch on? 2. Opal (229 births...

Are you looking for a name that is not currently popular, but also isn't strange? You've come to the right place! Today we explore part three of our series that uncovers names barely being used for boys today. This list breaks into the #1100s, which indicates these names are way down below the Top 1000 most popular names in the country for 2015. Hollis (176 births - #1094)  Since Hollis was derived from the Middle English word holis which refers to "holly trees", it was originally used as a surname by people who lived near such trees. Hollis had the most number of births in the year 1921 but left the Top 1000 in the 1970s. It is currently gaining a bit of popularity for both genders but it still ranks below the Top 1000 with 176 births for boys in 2015 and 106 for girls. Cormac (175 births - #1099)  This Irish name may have been derived from the Irish Gaelic word corb meaning "raven" and mac meaning "son". There was even a King of Ireland in...

Taken straight from our list of names that end with the letters -dy, is the lovely Melody. This name is also an English word with which you're no doubt already familiar. Melody is derived from the Greek melos meaning "song" and combined with aeido meaning "to sing", which forms the name Melodia. Via Late Latin and Old French, you get the name Mélodie. After that, it winds up as the English word and name Melody.  Google defines it as "mel·o·dy -ˈmelədē. noun: a sequence of single notes that is musically satisfying." This musical name has been around in the US on record since 1914, but it wasn't until 1942 that the name arrived on the scene. It joined the Top 1000 in that year and continued to climb in popularity until it peaked in 1960 at #153 with 2,757 births. Its numbers declined a bit through the 1980s and 1990s, but since the start of the aughts, Melody has started climbing up the charts again.  In 2015, there were 2,168 girls given tha...

Up until now, we've discovered names ending with the letters -ay, -by and -cy. Now it is time to explore -dy ending names. It's sometimes difficult to do specific searches for names with specific criteria so I thought I'd compile some of the best -dy names that I could find. Can you think of any others? Girls: Addy Biddy Brandy Cady Candy Carmindy Cassidy Cindy Goldy Haddy Haidy Heidy Hildy Indy Jody Judy Kady Kandy Kassidy Kennedy Lady Liddy Lindy Maddy Mady Mandy Melody Mindy Randy Rhapsody Rudy Sandy Teddy Trudy Wendy Windy Zandy Boys: Andy Brady Brody Buddy Cassidy Claudy Cody Eddy Freddy Gennady Grady Hardy Huddy Indy Jody Jordy Kassidy Kennedy Kody Mardy Randy Roddy Rowdy Rudy Sandy Teddy Woody Do you spot any new favorites from this list? Would you use any? <-- Names ending with "-cy"  |||   Names ending with "-ey"  -->

Welcome back to our "by decade" series that takes a hard look at the Top 200 combined names of a decade and compares it today's statistics. The Social Security Administration has an aspect of their site that combines the popularity of names between 1900-1909 and compiles it to make a Top 200 list. That's where I pulled this data. The rankings next to each name below is where that name ranked in the 1900s. I pulled out some of the best names from then that do not currently rank within 2015's Top 1000 list. In fact, each of these names are far, far below the Top 1000 chart. They were once decently used but their time has since passed. Could they ever receive a second chance? Would you ever consider any of the following names for a modern daughter? 1. Ethel (#12 overall from 1900-1909) Did you know that Ethel is a sister name of Adele, Alina and Adelina? They all come from the Old English element æðel meaning "noble".  Ethel was revived in the 19th...

This is the third article in this series that takes a look at faded names, one decade at a time. Today, we'll look at the names that ranked within a combined Top 200 from 1900-1909. This information is according to the Social Security Administration. The list that I used can be found here. First, I tossed out all of the names from that list that currently rank in 2015's Top 1000. While those are all great names too, we want to find the more obscure ones. The names on the list below are not often heard on modern boys, but that could change if any of these catch on again with parents. But it isn't always that easy. If a name is not fashionable or trendy enough, (or a family name), it may not stand much of a chance until those definitions of style change. Old names come back around all the time, so these could be favored again in the future, if not now. What do you think of them? 1. Elmer (#41 overall  from 1900-1909): Elmer isn't actually as fuddy as you'd t...