The name Denilson emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 1997, saw a steep rise in usage in 1998, and reached peak popularity in 2002: What was influencing this name? Brazilian soccer player Denílson de Oliveira Araújo, commonly known as Denílson. He was a member of the Brazil national football team in 1997, the ..read more

Flag of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland — which was partitioned from the rest of Ireland more than a century ago — is a constituent country of the United Kingdom (along with England, Scotland, and Wales). What were the most popular baby names in Northern Ireland last year? Isla and Noah. Here are the Northern Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2023: Girl names Isla, 147 baby girls – pronounced IE-la Fiadh, 138 – pronounced FEE-a Grace, 137 Emily, 136 Olivia, 126 Lily, 108 Ella, 97 Aoife, 94 – pronounced EE-fa Amelia, 92 Freya, 90 Charlotte, 87 Annie, 84 (tie) Sophie, 84 ..read more

Chelsi Shikongo While doing research for yesterday’s post about Chelsi Smith, I came across another beauty queen with the same first name: Chelsi Shikongo. Chelsi Tashaleen Shikongo was born in Namibia in 1998, and was indeed named after Chelsi Smith, the American who’d won the Miss Universe pageant in Namibia three years earlier. Shikongo went on to win the title of Miss Namibia 2021, and to represent Namibia at the Miss Universe pageant (which was ultimately won by Harnaaz Sandhu of India). Though Shikongo wasn’t chosen as a finalist, the red dress she wore during the preliminary evening gow ..read more

Chelsi Smith (at Miss Universe) The name Chelsea and its many spelling variants (including Chelsey, Chelsie, and Chelsy) saw peak usage in early 1990s. They’ve been on the decline ever since. But Chelsi-with-an-I saw a noticeable (if brief) turnaround in 1995: 1998: 76 baby girls named Chelsi 1997: 111 baby girls named Chelsi 1996: 180 baby girls named Chelsi 1995: 303 baby girls named Chelsi [rank: 697th] 1994: 170 baby girls named Chelsi 1993: 267 baby girls named Chelsi [rank: 773rd] 1992: 324 baby girls named Chelsi [rank: 677th] Why? Because of beauty queen Chelsi Smith. She won the Mis ..read more

Harnaaz Sandhu According to the U.S. baby name data, the uncommon name Harnaaz jumped to peak usage in 2022: 2023: 24 baby girls named Harnaaz 10 born in California 2022: 27 baby girls named Harnaaz 12 born in California 2021: 6 baby girls named Harnaaz 2020: 5 baby girls named Harnaaz 2019: unlisted It was also one of the fastest-rising girl names in Canada that year. Why? Because of Indian beauty queen Harnaaz Sandhu, who was crowned Miss Universe in Eilat, Israel, in December of 2021. Notably, she was the first Sikh woman to win the title, and it’s likely that most of her namesakes ..read more

Flag of Jersey The Channel Islands, located in the English Channel, are divided into two territories: Jersey and Guernsey (both of which are British Crown Dependencies). The territory of Jersey consists of the archipelago’s largest and most populous island, Jersey. The territory of Guernsey consists of the next-largest and next-most-populous island, Guernsey, along with several smaller islands. Jersey Last year, Jersey welcomed a total of 795 babies — 370 girls and 425 boys. Here are Jersey’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023: Girl names Olivia Isla Mia Emilia Emily Isabella Luna ..read more

Amaryllis Minton The flower-name Amaryllis first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1926. The following year, the name came as close as it’s ever come to reaching the girls’ top 1,000: 1929: 28 baby girls named Amaryllis 1928: 28 baby girls named Amaryllis 1927: 45 baby girls named Amaryllis [rank: 1,139th] 1926: 7 baby girls named Amaryllis [debut] 1925: unlisted 1924: unlisted What caused the debut and the subsequent spike? The Magic Garden, a romantic tale written by Indiana author Gene Stratton-Porter. The protagonist of the story — which was originally published in McCall’s magazine ..read more

Florida-based social media influencer Kellie Gerardi isn’t a trained scientist, but she is a science communicator who’s obsessed with outer space. In 2015, she and her fiancé Steven got married in a space-themed wedding, complete with Star Wars Stormtroopers. In late 2017, the couple welcomed a baby girl named Delta Victoria, or “Delta V.” Why? Here’s how Kellie explained it: [W]e named her Delta Victoria for delta-v … aka “change in velocity” as used in spacecraft flight dynamics. Delta-v (In mathematics, the uppercase Greek letter delta, which resembles a triangle, denotes a change in qua ..read more

Eragon from “Eragon“ The curious name Eragon first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2006: 2008: 7 baby boys named Eragon 2007: 12 baby boys named Eragon 2006: 5 baby boys named Eragon [debut] 2005: unlisted 2004: unlisted Where did it come from? The epic fantasy film Eragon, which opened in theaters in December of that year. The main character of the movie, Eragon (played by Edward Speleers), was a farm boy who lived in a kingdom ruled by an evil monarch. One day, Eragon came across a strange-looking egg, which hatched to reveal a blue-colored baby dragon. Saphira (as an unnamed newbor ..read more

Motley Crue album In 1988, the names Crue and Tommylee appeared for the very first time in the U.S. baby name data: Boys named Crue Boys named Tommylee 1990 . . 1989 8 5 1988 10* 6* 1987 . . 1986 . . *Debut Both of these debuts can be attributed to the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. The band had more than a dozen songs reach Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart from 1984 to 1992. Their two top-ten hits — “Dr. Feelgood” and “Without You” — peaked in 1989 and 1990, respectively. So…what was drawing attention to the names Crue and Tommylee a year earlier, in 1988? My guess is the song “Girls ..read more