The Social Security Administration released its list of the top baby names of 2025, and I have grouped them by spelling. Sophia is #1 again since at least 2012 (possibly longer, but my data got eaten and I'm trying to restore it)!
Full list here:
Monday, June 01, 2026
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Top 100 Names in the UK That Weren't As Popular in the USA
Recently I found a dataset (and you know how much I LOVE datasets!) from the UK Office of Statistics that details the top 100 baby names in England and Wales from 1904-2024. It only gives the top 100 for each year in a decade (i.e., 1904, 1924, 1934 etc.) I am not sure if each top 100 list represents all the names from the decade before it, or just the names from just that year. At any rate, it gives a snapshot of which names were popular in England and Wales over the last 120 years.
Many of these names were more popular in the UK than they were in England. For example, Welsh names. Irish names have been popular in the USA lately (Kevin, Brian, and Sean have been around forever, and Aidan, Declan, and Liam are popular now), but Welsh names have never held the same place in the US naming pool. For example, Siân, Gareth, Cerys and Rhiannon have never made the top 100 in the USA, unlike on the other side of the pond.
Another glaring difference is that in the UK, babies regularly are named diminutives, like Freddie, Vinnie, Katy, Evie and Ellie. In the USA, though we probably call babies diminutives at the same rate, we have a tendency to give long, formal names and then using pet forms everyday. In fact, this is so normal that we have even registered longer versions of names that aren't normally diminutives (like Brandy and Kelly) and made longer versions of them (Brandalisha, Brandina, Kellina). In the USA, it is also common to name kids more unusual long names and use standard nicknames (e.g., Lexington -> Lexi, Arlington -> Arlie, Arlo). Anyway, here are names that are more popular in the UK than in the USA.
Note: I have put the year the name was the most popular in the UK from the dataset I had. A name may have been more popular in the in-between years.
Monday, February 16, 2026
Presidential Children, Wives and Name Popularity
Happy Presidents' Day!
Presidential names have always been popular in the USA. According to the Social Security Name Database, In 2021, the state of presidential names was thus:
Jackson, if you count variant spellings, was the most popular name for boys in 2021, though this is probably not directly because of Andrew Jackson, who was president from 1829 – 1837, but having had a president with a name makes it somehow more appealing. Names like Taylor, Madison, and Harrison are so ubiquitous they aren't necessarily associated with presidents, but still they are more popular than similar English surname-names that are non-presidential (for example, Miller, Anderson, Garrison). In my non-scientific opinion, I think an air of presidentiality gives these surname-names an a certain cachet that the other names lack. Even if you can't name a single fact about presidents William Henry or Benjamin Harrison, the name Harrison still has more style than the similar-sounding Garrison or Morrison. It may because of the association with actor Harrison Ford, but who's to say that he wasn't named with the president in mind?
Unlike surnames, presidential first names do not often affect baby name popularity. This is probably because most presidents have had fairly standard names, like John, James, Joe, etc., that don't really stand out much. If you named your kid Joe or John, it doesn't scream "PRESIDENTIAL NAME!" like if you named a boy Biden or Kennedy, since there have been boys named John and Joe since before their namesake presidents were in office, and will continue to be used after. Occasionally a president has an unusual first name, like Barack, Woodrow, or Rutherford, and you can track the popularities of those names. Surprisingly, none of these names ever achieved the popularity of the surname-names. However, in 2021 Biden was given to 11 boys as a first name for the first time.
One presidential phenomenon that does affect baby name popularity is the names of presidential children, particularly if they live in the White House during their father's presidency. It extends somewhat to the names of First Ladies as well, but only if they have a name that is unusual, or not considered too unfashionable.
The Social Security Name Database tracks names that are given to 5 or more children in the USA per year. That means, if only 1-4 children get a given name in a year, it won't appear in the database. It's possible that some names are given to exactly 4 children year after year, and we'll never know because it didn't reach the popularity threshold to be included in the database!
45th & 47th President: Donald Trump
The current U.S. president, Donald Trump's first name has been on the decline for generations. It peaked at #6 in 1936, and has been slowly sliding in popularity ever since, being at #672 in 2024 (the most recent data we have). Trump's presidency has not seemed to have any affect on the name Donald, or on the name John (his middle name). There is more info about the name Donald a few paragraphs down when detailing Donald Jr. and Eric Trump. No babies have been recorded being named Trump, either. Trump's affect on the naming pool is reflected largely in the names of his children. It is interesting to note that Trump has been in the public eye since the 1980s, so his antics have been affecting popularities of baby names since before he was elected president in 2016.
Donald Trump has a daughter named Ivanka who, while not living in the White House, was appointed a White House advisor and worked along side her father during his first presidency. Ivanka is a name that is associated almost exclusively with Ivanka Trump; there were no famous Ivankas before her to be named after, nor was the name very popular on its own. Ivanka Trump was born in 1981, but her name did not appear in the SSA database until 1996, meaning that the year she was born, she was one of fewer than 5 babies given that name, making it very rare! The name Ivanka is a diminutive of Ivana, which is Ivanka's mother's name. Ivana is a Slavic form of Jane/Joan/Jean (feminine of Ivan, which is a form of John). The name Ivanka has had upticks in popularity that coincide with Ivanka Trump's father's visibility in the media, and ultimately his presidency. Donald Trump has been in the public eye for decades; he made headlines in 1995 for starting the Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts chain, which may have inspired people to name babies Ivanka. here is how his presidency and other events have impacted that name's popularity:
Trump has another daughter, Tiffany. However, Tiffany did not live in the White House, and her name's popularity was not affected. She has stayed largely out of the public eye. The name Tiffany had already been in use for a while, probably originally inspired by the 1961 Audrey Hepburn film "Breakfast At Tiffany's," and then again by the pop singer Tiffany in the 1980s. It was on the decline in popularity when Tiffany Trump was born, and continues to slide in numbers.
Donald and Melania Trump had a son named Barron in 2006, who was 10 when Trump became president. Although he didn't live in the White House, and generally stayed out of the public's eye, Trump's presidency still had an effect on the popularity of the name Barron. The name Barron had never been particularly popular; it peaked in the mid 1960s, but still fewer than 100 boys were ever named Barron in a given year... until Trump became president. The name Barron reached a popularity never before seen after Trump's election, and then had another spike in popularity after Trump left office. Barron's popularity was probably also helped by the fact that the name "Bear" has become popular in recent years, so names that could use the nickname Bear (Barrett, Barron) have gotten a boost in popularity (also with spellings like Bearett and Bearon). In 2024, after Trump's re-election, Barron reached it's highest popularity yet, with 219 boys given the name that year, putting it at #1014 in the Top 12,000 baby names of the year. Alternate spellings are very trendy right now, and if you count Barron (the most popular spelling) with its alternates: Baron, Bayron, Beren, & Bairon, it ranks #630 out of 6751.
Donald Trump had two more sons, Eric and Donald Jr., and though they showed up in the public eye frequently, Trump's presidency didn't have any effect on their name popularity. This may be because both names peaked in earlier decades and had been declining in popularity for years. Not even a presidency could save them.
46th President: Joe Biden
The previous president, Joe Biden, had 11 namesakes in 2021, the year he took office. No baby before or since has been named Biden! Biden has a daughter named Ashley, and one named Naomi "Amy" who died along with her mother Neilia in a car accident at age 13 months in 1972. Though he has a granddaughter Naomi named for her who got married at the White House, I am not counting the names Naomi or Amy in the popularity chart, because it seems unlikely that Biden's political career had an effect on either name as neither one lived in the White House, or was in the public eye. Biden's sons, Beau (1969-2015) and Hunter (born 1970), were adults at the time of his presidency and never lived in the White House. Although the name Beau is on the upswing, the beginning of its popularity started before Biden's presidency and were probably not influenced by it, though Beau Biden died from brain cancer while Biden was the Vice President, bringing the name briefly into the spotlight. Hunter's name has been slowly losing popularity since hitting its peak for both boys and girls in 2000. Ashley was born right before the name's peak in popularity, and it has been declining since the 2000s. 
Joe Biden's wife's name is Jill, a name that hit its peak in popularity in the 1970s and has been on a decline ever since. Biden's presidency did not affect its downward trajectory. Though Jill had a brief spike in the year that the Bidens were married, this was probably due more to the popularity of the character on the popular TV series at the time Charlie's Angels than to the news that a senator from Delaware was getting married! However,
44th President: Barack Obama
Barack Obama made history by being the first African-American president of the USA. He had two young daughters, Malia (age 10) and Sasha (age 7), who moved into the White House with him and his wife, Michelle. A Russian diminutive of Aleksandra/Aleksandr, the name Sasha had already been popular in the 1980s for girls. Often when a presidential daughter whose name is already on the popularity decline moves into the White House, the name's popularity doesn't change much. However, you can see a slight uptick in Sasha's popularity with Barack Obama's being elected and leaving office. Presidential children's names also seem to get a boost in popularity when a president leaves office. Side note: Sasha Obama's full name is Natasha, but this is kind of a obscure-ish piece of trivia, and Obama's presidency had no effect on the popularity of the name Natasha.
Malia, on the other hand, had never been that popular in the USA until President Obama took office. Malia is a Hawaiian form of Mary, a nod to Obama's Hawaiian roots. In addition to Malia, there were tons of alternate spellings of the name that also gained popularity, among them, Maliah, Maliya, Maliyah, Maleah, etc. Here's the trajectory of the names Malia and Sasha:
Michelle Obama was the First Lady during the Obama presidency. The name Michelle had already peaked in popularity in the mid 1960s, after the song "Michelle" by the Beatles song was released in 1965. By the time the Obamas moved into the White House, use of the name Michelle had been in decline for years, and was already considered a "mom" name. The Obama presidency didn't have an effect on the name's popularity. Michelle is a French feminine form of Michael, which is a biblical Hebrew name meaning "who is like the lord?"
As for Barack and Obama, neither name had appeared in the SSA database before Obama's presidency. in 2007, when Obama began his presidential campaign, the name Barack appeared for the first time with 5 babies getting the name. At its peak in 2009, Barack Obama had 69 namesakes. Obama as a first name appeared in the SSA Database twice, the first time in 2008, when 14 boys were named Obama. The second time was a year later in 2009, when 16 boys got the name.
The president before Obama was George W. Bush. In 2003, 5 babies were named Bush, the first time the name appeared in the SSA Database since 1992. Was it in anticipation of his re-election? The name George seems not to have been affected by his presidency (see chart under George HW Bush below).
GWBush had twin daughters named Jenna and Barbara. Though they did not live in the White House, Jenna was sometimes in the news. Jenna Welch Bush was named after her maternal grandmother, Jenna Hawkins Welch. The name Jenna is a Cornish form of Jane, though it is probably more thought of in the 20th century as a short form of Jennifer, which was super popular in that era. The name Jenna spiked in popularity in the early 1980s with the character Jenna Wade on the tv show "Dallas" played by Priscilla Presley. By the time George W. Bush became president, the name Jenna had leveled out in popularity, however Bush's presidency caused a small spike in popularity after he was elected.
Jenna's twin sister Barbara Pierce Bush was named after her paternal grandmother Barbara Pierce Bush (First Lady 1988-1992). The name Barbara is from a Greek root meaning "foreign" (the same root as the word "barbarian"), and its popularity as a name has been in steep decline since the 1950s. That, coupled with the presidential daughter's absence from the limelight meant that Bush's presidency didn't have any impact on that decline.
The name George had been declining in popularity since the 1950s, and was not affected by the Bush presidency (see 41st President George H.W. Bush for chart)
Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 and served as president from 1993-2001. He had one daughter, Chelsea, who was 12 at the time of his election, and moved into the White House with Bill and the First Lady, future US Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Chelsea is an English place name, coming from Anglo-Saxon Cealc-hyð meaning "chalk wharf." In the USA, Chelsea didn't appear with any regularity as a girls' name until 1968, possibly owing its rise in popularity to the song "Chelsea Girls" by Nico (released 1967). Chelsea Clinton was born in 1980, a year before the name got a massive boost in popularity by the film "On Golden Pond" where the character of Chelsea is played by Jane Fonda. Chelsea seemed to be slightly leveling off in popularity when Clinton was elected, but then reached its peak the year after he was elected.
Hillary Clinton was also a public figure, and her popularity affected the name Hillary as well. Most First Ladies have names that don't have much of an impact on baby naming because they are "mom names." With girls' names, usually once members of a generation become old enough to start having kids of their own, their names sound out of date and fall out of favor. There are only a handful of perennially popular classic names (Elizabeth, Sarah, Maria, K/Catherine, etc.) that never seem to sound dated. Hillary was not a "mom name" at the time of Bill Clinton's election; it had never really been that popular to begin with, so people initially looked at it as a fresh, new name. Hillary comes from a Latin root meaning "cheerful" and was originally a surname. Like many surname-names, it gained popularity as a first name for girls in the 1970s and 80s (others in this vein included the more popular Shannon, Tracy, Kimberly, Ashley, Kelly etc.). Hillary had a small spike in popularity following Bill Clinton's election in 1990. It also had a tiny spike in popularity in 2007, when Hillary Clinton became the first woman to run for president with a major party. Hillary registered a teeny spike in 2016 when she was the Democratic candidate for president against Donald Trump, but the name's popularity plummeted the next year after she lost the election. Hillary Clinton's career didn't have an effect on the name Chelsea. This is probably because once Bill Clinton was out of office, Chelsea was grown up and off on her own and not in the public spotlight much.
41st President: George Herbert Walker Bush
George H.W. Bush was elected to office in 1988. In 1992, the year GHW Bush was defeated by Bill Clinton for the presidency, 8 boys were named Bush. It was the first time Bush had been used as a first name since 1949. Perhaps it was given by people who were sad he lost the election? Otherwise, his first name, George, registered a slight spike in popularity in 1988 when he was elected president, but it's not certain if that was due to the president, or some other factor, as there are lots of sources of the name George.
Likewise, the names Herbert and Walker didn't seem to be much affected by Bush's presidency. Walker, the middle name he shared with his son who became president seemed to enjoy a spike in popularity during George Walker Bush's presidency. Currently the name Walker is at an unprecedented popularity level, its spike starting just after George H.W. Bush died at age 94. Did his death cause the uptick in popularity? It could have also be inspired by the TV series Walker that debuted in 2021.
40th President: Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan had three daughters, Maureen (1941-2001), Michael (1945–2026), Christine who died at birth in 1947, Patti (born 1952), and Ronald Jr. (born 1957). The living children were all adults at the time of Reagan's election, so they were not in the spotlight much. Reagan's presidency had no effect on the popularity of their names. Reagan's presidency did not affect the name Ronald, which had been in popularity decline since the 1960s, but it did cause a boost for the name Reagan. Reagan for girls saw a spike in usage in the early 1970s when the film "The Exorcist" was released. The main (female) character's name was Regan, not Reagan, but the spelling Reagan likewise gained popularity. Reagan declined in popularity for girls when Reagan was elected president, though it showed a very slight uptick for boys. Reagan became popular in the 1990s for girls, when unisex-sounding surname names for girls became a trend (think Taylor, Madison, Riley, Skylar, Bailey). The name showed an uptick for both genders in 2004, after president Ronald Reagan died.
The name Regan was recorded as a girls' name by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his quasi-historic book Historia Regum Britannia (History of the Kings of Britain) where it was taken by Shakespeare for use in his play King Lear. In this usage, the name may be related to the Latin words regina ("queen") or regal ("majestic; resembling a monarch") as it was pronounced /REE gan/. President Ronald Reagan's surname is Irish, an anglicization of Ó Riagáin, which means "descendant of Riagán" Riagán is a name that is derived from the Irish Gaelic Rí, meaning "king" + a diminutive ending.
The First Lady at the time of Reagan's presidency was Nancy Reagan. At that time, Nancy was already on the decline in popularity having peaked in 1950 at #6 in the country and was considered a "mom" name.
The First Lady at the time of Reagan's presidency was Nancy Reagan. At that time, Nancy was already on the decline in popularity having peaked in 1950 at #6 in the country and was considered a "mom" name.
39th President: Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter took office in 1977. Into the White House moved he, his wife Rosalynn, and his 9 year-old daughter Amy. The name Rosalynn had never been terribly popular in the USA, but it did show a slight uptick in numbers when Carter took office. Rosalynn is a combination of Rosa and Lynn, based on a mispronunciation of the Germanic name Rosalind, which is formed from elements meaning "horse" and "smooth; flexible." Likewise, the Carters became renowned for their work with Habitat for Humanity in the years following Carter's presidency, making the couple possibly more beloved in the post-presidential years than they were during the time in office. The name Rosalynn saw a spike in popularity after her death in 2023.
Amy Carter was born at the beginning of a boom in popularity of the name Amy. Amy comes from French aimée and means "beloved." Jimmy Carter took office right as the name peaked and started to decline. President Carter's election didn't do anything to reverse the decline in the name's popularity, but Amy did register a temporary spike after Carter left office.
James is a pretty standard name in the USA, but nonetheless it did register a tiny uptick after Carter's election. We have no way of knowing how many of those baby Jameses got called Jimmy, as opposed to Jamie or Jim, but we can track how many boys got just "Jimmy" as a full name on their birth certificates. Jimmy alone too registered a tiny uptick after Carter's election. Carter's middle name, Earl, which had not been popular for decades, remained so. The name Carter did not start becoming popular as a first name until the 21st century, with the rise of unisex surname-names for babies.
38th President: Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford came into office in 1973 after President Nixon resigned. At this time, his youngest child and only daughter Susan was 16. The name Susan had been in decline for several years at this point, and even though Susan took over as White House Hostess after the First Lady was hospitalized for breast cancer, Ford's presidency did not effect the popularity of the name.
Gerald Ford's wife was named Betty, which was short for Elizabeth. The name Betty peaked in the mid-1930s, and was considered a "mom" name in the 1970s. Not even a First Lady with the name could save its declining popularity, though Elizabeth remains perennially popular. Elizabeth is one of those names whose nickname changes with each generation. In the 1970s, most Elizabeths were called Liz or Beth, and Betty sounded hopelessly out-of-date. In 1973, when Ford came to power, all Elizabeth-names were on the decline, though Betty was almost at the bottom of its popularity slide.
37th President: Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon took office in 1969, when his daughters Julie and Patricia "Tricia" were 21 and 22. Neither daughter lived in the White House, though they were in the news occasionally. Though the name Julie had reached a peak in the mid 1950s and was in a decline, the name got another chance at popularity following Nixon's election. Whether this was directly due to Nixon's presidency, or some other factor is up for debate.
Tricia was a novel name in 1968. Though it had been sporadically used since the late 1930s, it took off in popularity with the Nixon Administration, and became the favored nickname for Patricia, replacing Pat and Patty for several years.
Meanwhile, though Tricia boomed in popularity, the names Patricia and Pat (what Nixon's wife was called) didn't change their downward trajectory, having peaked two decades previously.
36th President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson became president in 1963 following the assassination of the former President John F. Kennedy under whom he served as Vice President. At the time he became Vice President, Johnson's two daughters, Lynda Bird and Luci were 17 and 14. When Johnson became president, Luci moved into the White House along with LBJ's wife, Claudia, who was always known as Lady Bird. The name Lynda is an alternate spelling of Linda, which started out as a short form of names containing the Germanic element "linde" meaning "smooth; flexible" (i.e., Sieglinde, Rosalind), but came entangled with the Spanish word "linda" meaning "beautiful." Linda was the first name to surpass Mary in popularity in the USA, doing so in the 1940s. Lynda's popularity peaked in 1947 and was declining in popularity when LBJ took office. However, it registered a brief spike in popularity after he became president.
Luci's name was originally spelled Lucy, but she changed the spelling as a teenager. The spelling Luci had never been terribly popular at the time LBJ became president, with the most recorded uses until that time being 32 in 1952. Luci got a spike in popularity after LBJ became president, but it quickly lost popularity again.
LBJ's wife was always called Lady Bird, but none of the names Claudia (her real name), Lady, or Bird, changed in popularity during his presidency. The name Ladybird has never appeared in the database at all.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was (and still is) the youngest president ever elected to office, and the first president to be born in the 20th century. JFK and his wife Jacqueline "Jackie" Bouvier Kennedy moved into the White House with their young children Caroline (age 3) and John Jr. "John-John" (2 months). FUN FACT: John F. Kennedy Jr. was the last boy to live in the White House! All the in-residence First Kids since then have been girls. Before the Kennedy children, the last time kids had lived in the White House was in the 1930s-40s when Franklin Roosevelt's grandchildren made headlines for their mischief while living there. This may have contributed to the hype that made the entire country go nuts for what was termed "America's Royal Family," which in turn may have influenced baby naming practices throughout the USA.
JFK's presidency is one instance where boys' names as well as girls' names were affected. Fitzgerald as a first name for boys appeared for the first time in the SSA database in any regularity (it had shown up sporadically every few years since 1919, but JFK's election made it a permanent addition, showing up in the database every year since 1963). Bouvier, Jackie Kennedy's maiden name, was also given to 5 boys in 1963, the only time it has been used before or since. JFK's brother, Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy was a senator who ran for president in 1968 and was assassinated that year. His death seemed to also have on effect on the name Kennedy.
Though Fitzgerald was never used for girls, Kennedy showed up for girls for the first time in 1957, and then wasn't seen again until 1963 (when JFK was assassinated) when 6 girls got the name. There were 5 girl Kennedys born in 1965, and then it disappeared from the database again until 1969 (possibly influenced by Robert F. Kennedy's assassination). As a girls' name, Kennedy became popular in the 1990s after Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, known by the mononym Kennedy started hosting the MTV show "Alternative nation." For girls, Kennedy peaked in popularity in 2016, though it continues to be popular today (2022).
A couple of months before JFK was assassinated, Jackie Kennedy gave birth to a baby boy named Patrick, who only lived about a day. In 1963, the name Patrick, whose popularity had previously plateaued, spiked to a popularity that hasn't been reached since.
34th President: Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower
Dwight David Eisenhower's presidency came in the middle of a long uptick in the popularity of the name David. The year after he was elected, the name hit its peak. Dwight also registered a tiny uptick in popularity the year after he was elected. In 1953 5 boys were named Eisenhower, a name that never before registered in the SSA database, and hasn't shown up since.
Eisenhower's nickname was Ike, a name that is usually short for Isaac. However, after he became president, the name Ike by itself registered a slight uptick in popularity, which it has never achieved since.
Eisenhower had two sons, Doud Dwight "Icky" Eisenhower, who died of scarlet fever in 1921 at the age of 3. His other son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower, was born in 1922 and was already in his 30s at the time of his father's presidency and did not live in the White House. His name did not show any change in popularity during Eisenhower's presidency.
Eisenhower's wife, Mary Geneva "Mamie" Doud Eisenhower's name seemed to have enjoyed a slight popularity boost from his presidency. Usually a nickname for Mary or Margaret, the name Mamie by itself registered a tiny uptick after Eisenhower's election, though it is difficult to say if it is directly related, since Mamie seems to have had a number of small ticks in popularity during its decline.
33rd President: Harry S Truman
FUN FACT: The "S" that is Harry Truman's middle name didn't stand for anything; it was just S. That's why it often is not followed by a period. Rather than pick one relative to honor with a name, Truman's parents just used "S" in honor of Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young, his grandfathers.
The name Harry had been popular for decades, though was declining at the point of Truman's presidency (he became vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1945, and then took over as president when FDR died in April of the same year), peaking in the early 1920s. Truman's presidency seems to have given a slight boost to a name that was already beginning to recover from a decline in popularity.
Harry S Truman had one child, a daughter named Mary Margaret, but called Margaret. She was in her early 20s at the time Truman took office, but she was often in the spotlight, as she often accompanied her father on campaign trips in his re-election, and became a media darling. The name did register an uptick in popularity during the Truman presidency, but it's difficult to attribute that to just Margaret Truman, as there were many other Margarets in the spotlight during this time (notably the future Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister). Margaret is one of those names that remains perennially popular, with its most common nickname changing with the generations. At this time, the most common diminutive of Margaret was Peggy, which also spiked in popularity. Later on, Meg and Maggie became more popular.
Harry Truman's wife was Elizabeth, always called Bess. At the time of his presidency, Bess was considered an "old lady name," having peaked in popularity in the 1880s, the decade in which Bess Truman was born.
The one name that was directly influenced by Truman's presidency was the name Truman, which hit a peak the year he was elected, and has never achieved the same popularity since.
FDR was elected president 4 times, though he died in office 3 months into his 4th term. His wife was named Eleanor, and at least Franklin saw an uptick in popularity when FDR was first elected.
Likewise, Delano and Roosevelt both saw Roosevelt-related popularity spikes after his election.
FDR and his wife Eleanor had 6 children: Anna Eleanor (1906–1975), James (1907–1991), Franklin Delano Jr., who died at age 7 months in 1909, Elliott (1910–1990), Franklin Delano Jr. II (1914–1988), and John Aspinwall (1916–1981). None of his children lived at the White House with him consistently, though they visited often. Anna moved into the White House with her two children, Anna Eleanor (born 1927, called Sistie) and Curtis (1930-2016, called Buzzie) in 1933 for a time. She and the children returned in 1944 where she acted as FDR's personal secretary. James worked as an aide and lived in the White House from 1936-1938. The grandchildren were often in the spotlight, photographed playing on the White House lawn. John A.'s daughter Nina (b. 1942) and James's daughter Katherine "Kate" (1936-2002) were other media favorites. The popularity of the grandchildren and children in the spotlight didn't seem to have much of an effect on the popularity of their names.
Perhaps I'll chart the popularity of presidents before FDR later on, but that's what I have for now!
Saturday, February 07, 2026
Extinct Boys' Names in the USA
Not every name has staying power. You probably know very few toddlers named Eustace or Irwin today, but there are still a few getting named those names every year. However, some names have gotten so unfashionable they have gone extinct. Whether it was a weird spelling that never caught on (e.g., Bengiman & Domineck), the commemoration of an event or person that was in the zeitgeist for a small time (Argonne, Armistice), or a name that just fell out of fashion (Euliss, Hargus, Odbert), this is a list of names that have not appeared in the SSA database for at least a century. There tend to be fewer boys' names that girls names that have gone extinct because there are fewer boys' names in general. Boys' names go in and out of fashion at a much slower rate than girls' names. Also, girls get more creative names as well as creative spellings. For example, in 2024, there were 14,243 distinct boys' names in the database and 17,661 for girls. In 1924, there were 5901 girls' names and 4971 boys' names. In every year, there are more girls' names than boys' names, and more boys are named the top names. In 2024, 139,139 girls got a name in the top 10, but 146,454 boys got names in the top 10. This is largely because boys often get named after their fathers or grandfathers, whereas girls don't get named after their mothers and grandmothers as often. This preserves the boys' name pool more than that girls' pool. Anyway, if you are looking for a rare name, this list provides a bunch!
Like the Extinct Girls' Names in a previous post, there are a bunch of Japanese names on here, though not as many.
Friday, February 06, 2026
Nicknamey-Sounding Names For Boys 1880-1926
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was much more common to give children names that sound more like nicknames to us today. Many of these names sound downright odd by today's standards! Names like Clellie and Azzie are not sounds that are common in today's names, rendering them a little quaint or old-fashioned sounding. I also have a post for girls' names in a similar vein: Nicknamey Names for Girls
Here are all the names ending in the long E sound for boys, found in the Social Security Database from 1880-1926, when this practice was the most common. Many of these are surnames, like Hedley, Moultrie, and Holsey, but a lot of them are both.
Sunday, February 01, 2026
Nicknamey Names
In previous eras, girls' names ending in -ie were not unusual. Currently, and throughout the second half of the 20th century, it was more common to give a long form of a name, and then call a child by a pet form (i.e., Katherine -> Katie, Elizabeth -> Lizzie etc.). In fact, this was such a norm that people invented or coined long forms of names to use for nicknamey names, like Brandisha, Brandalina, Brandalyn -> Brandy; Lexington, Lexianna -> Lexi. In the 1880s-1920s, however, there were a lot of names in use that sounded like they should be short for something, but that was the whole name! A lot of these sound strange by today's standards (Leafie? Brownie?... Assie?!?). I also included some -lee names. We think of adding -lee or -leigh to a name today as being fashionable (i.e., Riverlee, Wrenlee, Jayleigh, Zaeleigh etc.) This was also a thing back in the early 20th century! (note Paralee, Opalee, Rubylee etc.)
Here is a list of all the -ie (and sometimes -ee or -ey) names I found from 1880-1926 that were not also found in 2024.
Nicknamey names are still found today, though! Here is a list of -ie names from 1880-1930 that were also on the 2024 list:
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Extinct Girls' Names
Are you looking for a name that is rare, but not unheard of? These are names that have gone extinct. That is, these names haven't appeared in the SSA database since 1926-- I figure since they haven't shown up in 100 years, they're fairly extinct!
A lot of them are typos or alternate spellings for names that are still around:
Many of them are Japanese. After a large influx of Japanese immigrants in the early 1900s, the Immigration Act of 1924 banned Japanese immigration until 1952. It is probable that children of Japanese parents were not widely given Japanese names as first names during this time:
The rest of the extinct names are a combination of names commemorating events (i.e. Jeannedarc-- St. Jeanne d'Arc was canonized in 1920), names that just fell out of style (i.e., Dormalee, Euphrasia, Myrlie, Ozeller), or names that weren't very popular to begin with and never really caught on!
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Myrtis and friends
Do you want a name for your baby that has gone completely extinct? How about Myrtis? The youngest Myrtises are going to be 39 this year, and there are only 5 of them! The name peaked in popularity the 1920s. I first became aware of this name when I was volunteering at a retirement home in the 1990s and met a lady who lived there named Myrtice. I thought it was the weirdest, ugliest name I had ever heard (although the lady was super nice!)
In the Social Security Database it has 12 different spellings.-
The most common is Myrtis, which was used from 1882-1987 and given to 6117 girls. The peak year for that name was 1921 with 216 babies named Myrtis.
Myrtice was the first spelling recorded, first showing up in 1881, but dying after 1981, with only 4342 namesakes. Its peak year was 1921 with 144 babies named Myrtice.
The other common spellings are:
Mertis 466 total, used 1908-1961 (peak year 1923 with 23 namesakes)
Mertice 414 total, used 1897-1954 (peak year 1922 with 20 namesakes)
Merdis, 220 total, used 1913-1956 (peak year 1924 with 16 namesakes)
Murtis 55 total, used 1920-1950 (peak year 1925 with 8 namesakes)
There were 2 spellings that were used twice each:
Myrdis (1919, 1921 5 babies each year)
Myrtise (1920, 1926, 5 babies each year)
A few spellings showed up in one year only with 5 namesakes each:
Myrtus (1925), Mirtis (1927), Merdice (1933) Myrtes (1920)
And two spellings showed up in one year with 6 spellings each:
Myrtus (1915) & Mirtis (1927)
Where does this name come from? It was probably derived from Myrtle, a name that was popular at that time. Names ending in -s were also trendy then, like Frances, Doris, Florence, Gladys, Lois, Beatrice, Agnes and Phyllis were all in the top 100.
Myrtis seems to be a southern phenomenon. I looked through the state data for 1919-1921, the peak years for the name, and it only shows up in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. It was most popular in Georgia.
So, if you need a name for a kid that is guaranteed to not be shared with any classmates, Myrtis is it!
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