The Art of Naming

We previously explored some of the most unusual boy names from the 1910s . Now it is time to take a look at some interesting names given to females from 1910-1919. Now, there were so very many names to browse through and I'm sure there are dozens more that could be added to this list, but these are some of the top choices I could find.  All of these had either 5, 6 or 7 births for the year within the decade of the 1910s. The names came straight from the US Social Security Administration's data. Let's get started! While some aren't quite as unusual as others, browse slowly and try to imagine what it would be like to live with one of these names: Albirdia Allien Almeter Alphild Amparo Appie Areather Arloene Bannie Beedie Bernetha Binnie Birchie Bird Birdella Blandina Bleeker Blossie Bonzie Boots Borgny Brooxie Brownie Bular California Casilda Cellie Clatie Clesta Clevie Cliffie Clister Clova Cozy Creasie Cumi Dar...

Today we are zooming in on the decade of the 1910s to discover some of the most unusual names given to boys at the time. I analyzed the data from the Social Security Administration and looked at the names at the very bottom for each year from 1910-1919. I pulled interesting names that only had 5-7 births per year, and I did so for each of those years. Take a look at this list and try to remember that these were once names given to baby boys. Some of the boy names that I found within the far-reaches of the data were straight up words. Here are some of the most interesting ones: Admiral Battle Bland Boss Boots Carless Castle Champion Chief Choice Colon Coma Commodore Concetto Converse Doctor Doll Dunk English Fess Flake Fleet Fort Friend Gentle Glee Happy Hooker Jolly Math Method Normal Orange Other Perfecto Precious President Press Seaborn Shade Smiley Speed Square Swift Tiny Tip Watt Welcome White Worthy Here are even ...

This featured name is pulled from the list of names that end with the letters "-ly". This list is one of the longest ones in this series so far. It was full of great options, but I decided to highlight Molly. Not many people will realize that Molly comes from the name Mary. It developed as a diminutive based on Malle and Molle over time. Polly is in the same boat. Now, Mary ultimately comes from the Greek Mariam and Maria , which were from the Hebrew Miryam . The meaning of Mary has never been absolutely certain, but meanings such as "sea of bitterness," "rebelliousness," and "wished for child" have been thrown about as possibilities. It's also likely that Mary was originally an Egyptian name derived from mry meaning "beloved". So by association, Molly and all of Mary's other forms, variants and translations, mean the same thing. In the US, Molly has always fared well as a stand-alone name. Since 1880, it has ...

To continue our series, let's take a look at the many names that end with the letters -ly.  This list is not necessarily exhaustive, but it is fairly long and full of great options if -ly is your favorite end-sound. Girl names: Ally Amberly Aracely Beverly Billy Blakely Bly Caily Caitly Callalily Carly Cecily Chantilly Chavelly Cicely Connolly Daily Dolly Donnelly Eily Emily Everly Gilly Haverly Havily Heavenly Holly Ily Irely Italy Jessaly Joely Josaly July Kaily Karly Keely Keily Kelly Kessly Kimberly Kirrily Lily Linsly Lolly Lovely Marely Mariely Molly Nallely Nathaly Nelly Nerilly Noely Orly Paigely Pialy Polly Reilly Romilly Sally Shyly Sicily Siddaly Sonaly Tally Temily Tessaly Thessaly Tigerlily Tilly Truely Truly Tully Vally Verily Waverly Weatherly Yanelly Yanely Zaily Zeely Boy names: Anatoly Beverly Billy Chavelly Connolly Dally Daly Donnelly Early Huntly Karoly...

Way back in January 2015, I began a little series on Instagram that featured the two-letter abbreviations of states within the USA. I started with Delaware, the very first state that was given official statehood, and then I continued on from there. This has been a very long and slow series, but finally, two years later, we've reached the halfway point. With each post, I would ask you to name a boy and a girl using those initials as the basis. And each time, I would also post my name choices for those letters. Let's take a look back and see how my impulse naming panned out. Over time, did I actually create a family tree of names that might match nicely? Or did those names vary greatly with each state? How many times might I have repeated a name? I'm willing to bet that my general naming style fluctuated greatly, but, if you've followed my blog since the beginning, perhaps you'd find me somewhat predictable. If you'd like to play along with this name game,...

This name comes from our list of names ending with the letters "-ky". If you saw that article, you know that this is a very limited club of names, but there are definitely some cool choices. One of the coolest options from the list is Rocky. Rocky is given as a full name, but it is also treated as more of a nickname. It could be considered a diminutive of the name Rocco which is a Germanic name from the element hrok which means "rest". Rocco is the patron saint of the sick. However, as you may know, Rocky is not so much a saint as a famous fictional boxer. The Rocky franchise of movies starring Sylvester Stallone as Rocky began in 1976 and is possibly the most well-known association with this name. Another association comes from the old cartoons "The Bullwinkle Show" and "Rocky and His Friends" both of which aired in the 1960s. These featured a flying squirrel named Rocky and his moose pal experiencing a variety of adventures. Interestin...

We've covered nearly half the alphabet already. Sure, there are some letters that just won't fit into this category, so we have skipped a few of them. But here we are, arriving at letter K for a compilation of "-ky" names! How many can you name off the top of your head? Luckily, you don't have to since I did the legwork for you! I even went so far as to include names ending with "-kie" since the choices were slim for "-ky" names.  Enjoy: Girls: Becky   Jacky Lucky Nicky Pinky Ricky Sky Suky Vicky Beckie Cookie Frankie Jackie Lockie Markie Mickie Nickie Pinkie Rickie Rivkie Saskie Sookie Sukie Vickie Boys:   Chucky Dicky Franky Jacky Ky Melky Nicky Ricky Rocky Sky Starsky Dickie Frankie Mackie Mickie Nickie Rickie Can you think of any that I missed? Would you use any of these?