The Art of Naming

For our fifth article in this series, we will take a look at 10 interesting boy names that are currently not ranking within the Top 1000 chart. This chart maps out the most popular names according to Social Security data every year. The year we're focusing on is 2015. As you know, the more articles there are, the further down on the charts we explore. We've hit the 1,200s now. These names are getting more and more rare as we go! So let's get started! Murphy (148 births - #1225) -  Murphy comes from an Irish surname, Ó Murchadha, meaning "descendant of Murchadh".  Murchadh comes from the Gaelic elements muir meaning "sea" and cadh meaning "warrior". In the US, Murphy has been around since the 1880s. It has never had more than 100 births per year until recently. Since 2010, the name has started inching upward for boys. Since 1987, it has been given to girls too. Brighton (147 births - #1228) -  Brighton is said to be an English surname...

As we reach the end of the month of August, let's take a moment to look at the related Aug-/Ag- names that could be used on a person today. Generally, these names all come from the Latin augere meaning "to increase", but other meanings came to include "great" and "venerable". Augustus was a title that Octavian, the first Roman emperor, was given. He was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. There are many options available for both boys and girls. Some are more popular than others, but these are mostly rather uncommon here in the US.  Are there any that you would use? By Unknown Till Niermann (Own work)  [ GFDL , CC-BY-SA-3.0  or CC BY-SA 2.5 ], via Wikimedia Commons Agostina   (Italian form of Augustinus - feminine - zero births on record for 2015 in US) Agostino   (Italian form of Augustinus - masculine - 5 births on record for 2015) Ágúst (Icelandic form of Augustus - masculine - zero births in 2015) Agust (Swedish form of August - masculi...

Welcome to Part Four of our series that features names that are barely used in America today. These names all rank beyond the Social Security Administration's Top 1,000 chart. You could even say they are "unranked" since that chart is the official list of the most popular names and it ends at 1,000 on their site unless you download the full set of data. So are you looking for an unranked name? If so, you are following the right series! I combed through the data and found interesting options that aren't similar to any other names that do rank. These are one of a kind and very wearable for a modern boy. More than half of them are originally surnames, which is part of a trend these days: surname names for given names.  Let's get started: Broderick (158 births - #1166 in 2015)  This is a surname derived from both the Irish and Welsh languages. It is Anglicised from the Irish Ó Bruadair, meaning "descendant of Bruadar". In Welsh, it is Anglicised fr...

Today's featured name comes from our list of names that end with the letters "-ey" . There were many to choose from but Harley was the winner. Harley comes from a surname which was derived from an Old English place name meaning "hare clearing", taken from hara meaning "hare" and leah meaning "clearing, meadow". If you name your child Harley, you could definitely get away with rabbit decor.  This is a unisex name. In the US, it ranks higher for females. In England and Wales, it ranks highly for males. In Australia and New Zealand, it is only male.  If we look closer at the popularity statistics in the US, we'll find that Harley has been on record for boys since records began in 1880. It has consistently kept up as the population grew, still ranking within the Top 1000 all these years. In 2015, there were 386 boys named Harley which ranks the name as the 663rd most popular name in the country. Girls, on the other hand...

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...

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"  -->

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...

Welcome to part two of this series! Today we'll investigate ten interesting names that are currently not ranked within the US Top 1000. A couple were popular years ago and are uncommon now, while others have yet to hit their stride. Let's see if any of these could potentially start [re]climbing the charts in the coming years or if they are likely to remain barely-used. Share your thoughts in the comments below. Do you know any youngsters with these names? Within the parenthesis, you'll find the number of births the name received in the year 2015 , along with the names' corresponding popularity rank. Denzel (186 births - #1060)  Denzel is a form of Denzil which is a surname that indicated a person from the manor of Denzell in Cornwall. The spelling Denzel was made popular by Denzel Washington, an American actor. The name in the US has been around since 1906. It was rare until the early 1990s, peaking in 1993 at #311. It has since fallen off the Top 1000 chart. L...

Today's featured boy name is pulled from the list of names ending with the letters -cy. Percy is is male given name that comes from an English surname. There is a commune in Normandy in Northwestern France called Percy-en-Auge from which the surname was derived.  The House of Percy (or Perci in Old French) was one of the most powerful noble families in northern England. There are still members of the Percy family to this day who are Dukes of Northumberland. Their surname comes from the manor of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy which was their home during the Norman Conquest. The name Percy started out being used as a given name in their honor. The Greek Perseus is similar in sound and could be assigned the nickname Percy. It means "to destroy" in Greek and was the name of a mythological hero who killed Medusa and founded the ancient city of Mycenae. Percy can also be considered a short form of the name Percival. The name Perceval, with this spelling, was created by a...

This is a very specific series. We are taking the time to look for names ending in specific letters. We already looked at "-ay" names and "-by" names. Now we are going to investigate all the possible names ending with the letters "-cy".  There could be more out there in other languages around the world but these are some of the best options for an American kid. Which do you like best?  Can you think of any others that could be added? Girls: Cecy Clancy Clemency D'Arcy Dacy Darcy Delancy Jacy Kacy Lacy Lucy Macy Marcy Mercy Nancy Quincy Stacy Tacy Tancy Tracy Valancy Boys: Chancy Clancy Cy Darcy Delancy Ignacy Jency Legacy Percy Piercy Quincy Stacy Tracy Yancy Share your thoughts on these names in the comments below! Take a look at our other articles: <--- "-by" names ||| "-dy" names --->

Here in America, we tend to like putting the long, proper form of the name on the birth certificate even if we end up calling them by something else as a nickname. Other countries sometimes cut to the chase more often and just name them the short form to start with. However, it isn't unheard of here in the US. The #2 boys' name of 2015, Liam, is essentially the second half of the name William. It's considered the Irish form, but it still ranks higher than its longer companion. I thought it would be fun to browse the Top 1000 and find some names that are typically thought of as nicknames (or diminutives or short forms) more often than given names. Most of these are considered nicknames for something longer and many have probably stood alone for years. You may be surprised at how well some of these more abrupt names actually rank on their own: Liam #2 Luke #28 Jack #40 Eli #53 Jace #75 Leo #91 Max #118 Jayce #132 Alex #134 Jase #182 Mark #196 Jake #205 Xan...

We hear about common and popular names often. The social security administration's yearly baby name list came out a couple weeks ago for the US in the year 2015. Everybody loves to focus on the #1 names and the top 10. Quickly rising names are noted as ones to watch and quickly falling names get even more parents jumping overboard. What about all of the names that float under the radar? There are still plenty of great names beyond the Top 1000 list. These would be excellent choices for parents who want something more unique rather than something popular. The ones that I've handpicked from 2015's data are all very usable for a modern boy despite being uncommon at the moment. Welcome to my new series that features ten barely used names per month. We'll explore our way down the list and cover more and more uncommon names as we go. In the parenthesis, the number of births for 2015 is listed, followed by the rank. First up: Harris  (202 births - #1002)   Harris co...

Have you ever met someone with a double-barreled first name? Two first names strung together by a hyphen? It happens often enough to be a thing, but yet it is still somewhat rare depending on where you live. There could be a number of reasons why parents would opt for a hyphenated name. Perhaps they couldn't narrow down their favorites and decided to use them all. Perhaps they'd like to honor two people in one name. Or maybe they just like how the two names sound together. Hyphenated names do get used often, even here in the US, however none of them have managed to get enough births per year to rank all that high. The majority of the names on this list have less than 20 births per year. Since the SSA's data doesn't account for any hyphens and writes it all as one name, it is impossible to know how these names are truly intended to be written. Perhaps the name was meant to be written as one, or maybe the child received two first names rather than a first and a middle...

While looking at the Top 200 Names of the 1890s via the Social Security Administration's data, it is obvious that the most popular names of the decade include John, William, James, George, and Charles.  Even today, James and William still dominate the charts. In fact, many of today's hottest boy names have actually been popular for decades, starting way back in the 1880s when records were first kept. Today, we're investigating the Top 200 names of the 1890s and you may notice that the same few traditional choices have stuck around from then until now.  But what about some of the more "old fashioned" names that are no longer in style today? Could they potentially be revived again in the future? I combed through that list from the 1890's collective data for the whole decade and tossed out all of the names that still rank within 2014's Top 1000. Then I picked my 10 favorite names that I think should regain some popularity in the future. Which of the f...

Today we're featuring the name Finlay to go along with our recent post about the best names ending with "-ay". Finlay is the anglicized form of the Gaelic name Fionnlagh. It means "white warrior" from the elements fionn "white, fair" and laogh "warrior". It was originally a masculine given name and also a surname. Alternatively, the name can also be spelled Finley, which is the more common spelling. Recently, Finley ranked #36 in England/Wales while Finlay ranked #99. Finlay was #12 in Scotland. The spelling Finley has always been in use in the US since records began in 1880, but it was far from common. It wasn't until 2006 that the name even entered the Top 1000 at #890. As of 2014, it ranks at #374 for boys. Additionally, it is considered unisex in America. There were also girls given the name Finley for a rank of #223. This is the more common spelling for both genders. Finlay has only been used for a boy in the US since 199...

In 2014, I posted a series of Birth Announcements that were taken from real hospitals across the US. After combing through all of the names and tallying them up, I came across the twenty most commonly recurring middle names for boys. Disclaimer: This is very limited data.  The following featured names appeared the most often in my small collection of birth announcements which can be found on the  name lists page.    Of course, I would much rather have official data on that. If the Social Security Administration made a list of the most popular middle names, things would be easier and namers like me would be thrilled. Since they don't compile that data, I had to improvise. What I noticed, though, is that we tend to like our male names to be on the traditional side. It may be that many parents use the middle name spot to honor male relatives. Many may simply favor solid, classic choices above the more modern and trendy, while others pair a trendy first name ...

Our final boy name of the A-Z series is Yannick. It comes straight from the list of The Very Best Y Names for boys and girls. Yannick  is a diminutive of the name Yann which is the Breton form of the name John. Yann is well-used by the French, recently ranking at #113. Yannick is a bit more unusual but it did rank at #288 in The Netherlands recently. Nameberry says that Yannick is "not likely to appeal to many American ears," but I disagree. It may never be popular but it isn't strange either. It could even be unusually refreshing to meet a little Yannick. There have been many names ending with -ick over the years. In the 1960s in particular, names like Derrick, Erick, Dominick, Frederick and Patrick ranked well. They all declined in usage after that but they are all ticking upward again today. Add to that list Maverick and Kendrick too for more modern options. Perhaps, though, they are referring to the "yann" part rather than the "ick". Y N...

Let's face it. There just aren't very many popular Y names. You occasionally hear them, my own middle name starts with a Y, but as a whole, Y names just aren't hitting the spot for mainstream parents. Isn't that something we should change?  There are many more names that start with Y out there than I even thought there were. I found a couple hundred per gender to browse through which means this letter has enormous potential if only someone would get the trend going. If you're into the unique and unusual, this letter can be your best friend! Take a look at the 25 Y names for girls and the 25 Y names for boys that I picked out and let me know which ones you love most! Yadira Yaella Yamileth Yara Yareli Yaretzi Yasmine Yeardley Yelena Yesenia Ygritte Ynez Yohanna Yolanda Yoselin Yosephina Ysabel Ysadora Yseult Ysolde Yuliana Yulisa Yveline Yvette Yvonne Yale Yannick Yarden Yardley Yarley Yarrow Yasser Yates Yeardley Y...