Patches of Names

Once upon a time, around 300 years ago, the throne of Hanover came to England. Hanoverian princess Amelia Sophia Eleanor brought along her nickname.  Emily, despite having separate origins, often anglicized Amelia in her early days of consistent usage. Her root form, the Roman Aemilia, even looks like Amelia in structure. While Amelia comes from the Germanic Amalia, meaning "work," Aemilia, as with many Roman girls' names ending in "a," is a feminization of Aemilius, meaning either "rival" or "persuasive."   Emily, alongside Latinate Emilia, saw occasional use in England during the two centuries before Hanover's 1700s arrival. Her usage only increased over time; Emily spent the entire Victorian era in the top 20, ranking in the top 10 during 1870 and 1880. She then declined, leaving the top 100 by 1934. In the United States, Emily first ranked in the top 100 most years between 1880 and 1917, moving in and out throughout her last several y...

New year, new names! It is time to list 25 names prominent in pop culture and/or on trend at the moment, 13 girls' and 12 boys' names, that are bound to make it big in 2025: GIRLS' NAMES: Violet (#16) Lady Bridgerton Penelope (#23) Third season of Bridgerton focuses on Penelope's romance Eloise (#80) Popularity of "elle" sound Daughter of Sofia Richie and Elliot Grange born May 2024 Lucia (#109) Character Greco in TV series The White Lotus   Phoebe (#191) Fame of American singer-songwriter Bridgers and English actor Waller-Bridge Stevie (#244) Daughter of Kristin Hodge and Jon M. Chu born November 2024 Florence (#521) Fame of actor Florence Pugh Actor Florence Hunt as Hyacinth in Bridgerton Louise (#586) Daughter of Mandy Moore and Taylor Goldsmith born September 2024 Romy (unranked) Character in upcoming Disney Plus animated series The Doomies Joan (unranked) Daughter of Cayley and Brandon Jenner born July 2024 Annabeth (unranked) Character in Disney ...

With 2024 drawing to a close, I am going to nominate one girls' name and one boys' name that defined the year: Elle The sound has appeared in several celebrity babies' names this year, including Sofia Richie and Elliot Grange's Eloise, and Erin Heatherton and Karol Kocemba's Elia. Influencers Aspyn Ovard and Parker Ferris also had their third daughter, Elle, this year. This is becoming the sound of this generation. Santiago Mateo recently became the first Spanish boys' name to enter the top 10. Besides, Elaine Welteroth and Jonathan Singletary had a son named SantiGold this year. The trend for Spanish boys' names and the "santi" sound might allow Santiago to catch up with Mateo. What names do you think defined 2024?

As with many masculine surname-names, Wyatt has plenty of history, associating itself with outlaw Earp and ranking in the charts almost every year since 1880. However, it was never popular until the last few decades; Wyatt has only been a top 100 staple since 2004. Wyatt Earp gave his name a rustic cowboy charm as well as reminding parents of its history. Alongside being a modern traditional, Wyatt has a distinctive sound with one dominant spelling. Finally, despite its roots as a surname, Wyatt feels more like a first name and is almost fully masculine in usage.  Parents who find Wyatt too popular, or those searching for brother names or simply more names to love, will find this list useful. Here are multiple names below the top 100 inspired by Wyatt: Atticus Famously connected to Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird , this name hails to Alabama. Nothing rhymes or sounds like Atticus, either, and it has a bit of history despite being more popular today (but still below the top 2...

Around the start of the Middle Ages, Paris had a female savior who kept Attila the Hun away. She served as the ultimate namesake for several women in France (and beyond) throughout the ages.  The story of St. Genevieve may be clear, but the name's origin is not so. It either hails from Germanic or Gaulish (Celtic) roots; in Germanic, the name means "women's clan" and, in Gaulish, "worthy clan." Either way, Genevieve entered common usage in medieval France. There was also Genevieve of Brabant of medieval legend, who got falsely accused for infidelity and exiled to a cave with her son only to be saved by her husband; that could have helped the name's ongoing popularity.  In the English-speaking world, Genevieve first experienced occasional use in Britain between the 1100s and 1300s, often shortened to Geva. It did not enter regular usage again until the eighteenth century. Genevieve became more common during the Victorian era, but it was never overly commo...

In the past, names have been borrowed from family members, friends, politicians, and literature; for instance, Queen Victoria's use of the name Alice for her daughter popularized the name in England and Charlotte Brontë's Shirley shifted the titular name from masculine to feminine usage. In today's world, names are often borrowed from celebrities alongside television and film characters. As film and television became more prominent in the United States and elsewhere in the English world, parents began to look to the media for name inspiration. Entertainment names are mostly twenty-first century phenomenons that haven't seen heavy usage until recently.  CELEBRITY NAMES: Cash was the surname of Johnny Cash that rose beyond his era; after his death in 2003, it reentered the top 1000 and has ranked in the 200s since 2008. Florence has started its American revival in the late 2010s, but it made a rapid rise from the 900s to the 700s in 2020, the year after actor Florence Pug...