Usual Nickname, Unexpected Name--Sam

I was surprised to find that Samuel & Samantha are currently ranked #25 & 29 in the US (for boys & girls, respectively, of course). Admittedly, they peaked 20-30 years ago, and have been dropping since, but still--30 years is decent staying power for a girls' name! Most don't stick around that long.
Of course, all this means that you probably know a Sam or two of either gender (or both), so finding new ways to get to spunky, solid Sam is understandable.
(note: I did start to delve into boy-Sam possibilities on a previous post, so if you feel a bit of déjà vu, you're not crazy)

Boys:

• Bassam (bah-SAHM, Arabic)--"smiling"
• Isamu (ee-sah-moo, Japanese)--"courage"
• Salman (SAL-mahn, Arabic)--"safe"
• Samad (sam-AHD, Arabic)--"eternal"
• Samang (sahm-ANG, Khmer)--"lucky"
• Samay (sam-EYE, Khmer)--"daydream"
• Sambor (SAM-bor, Polish)
• Samir (sah-MEER, Arabic, Hindi)
• Samson (SAM-son, English)--from Hebrew "sun". Another form is Sampson.
• Samuli (SAH-moo-lee, Finnish)--form of Samuel
• Stamatis (stah-MAH-tis, Greek)--another form is Stamatios.

Girls:

• Belisama (bel-ee-SAH-mah, Gaulish mythology)--poss. "brightest one"
• Gethsemane (geth-SEM-ah-nee, [Biblical] Greek)
• Ibtisam (ib-tee-SAM, Arabic)--"smile"
• Psamathe (SAM-ah-thee, [Ancient] Greek)--"sand goddess". Another form is Psamathea. 
• Salima (sah-LEE-mah, Arabic)--"safe"
• Samar (SAM-ar, Arabic)
• Samara (sah-MAHR-ah, sam-EHR-ah, English)
• Samaria (sah-MAHR-ee-rah, sah-MEHR-ee-ah, [Biblical] Hebrew)
• Samika (SAM-ik-ah, Hindi)
• Samina (sah-MEEN-ah, Arabic)--"healthy"
• Samira (sah-MEER-ah, Arabic)
• Samiya (sah-MEE-yah, Arabic)--"sublime, supreme". Also transliterated as Samia.
• Samuela (sam-WEL-ah, Italian)--feminine of Samuel
• Samuline (sah-moo-LEE-neh, Norwegian)--feminine of Samuel
• Stamatia (stah-MAH-tee-ah, Greek)

Unisex:

• Masami (mah-sah-mee, Japanese)

Vowel-Names for Boys

It occurred to me the other day that I do a lot of 'names by construction' posts for girls, but not really many for boys. So then I had to think of what I could do--besides the overplayed -aidens, and surname-y -sons & -tons, boys' names don't really have a lot of distinct patterns.
However, while vowel-y names for girls are in abundance, there aren't a lot for boys....

• Abijah (ah-BYE-jah, [Biblical] Hebrew)
• Adamo (ah-DAH-moh, Italian)--form of Adam. Other forms include Adão (ah-DOW, Portuguese) and Akamu (ah-kah-moo, Hawaiian)
• Adino (ah-dee-noh, [Biblical] Hebrew)
• Adlai (AD-lay, AD-lye, [Biblical] Hebrew)
• Aimo (EYE-moh, Finnish)--"good, real"
• Aldo (AHL-doh, English, Italian, Swedish)
• Alejo (ah-LEH-hoh, Spanish)--form of Alexis. Other forms include Aleksey (Russian), Aleksi (Finnish), & Alessio (Italian)
• Arlo (AR-loh, English)
• Asa (AY-sah, [Biblical] Hebrew)
• Elio (EL-yoh, Italian)--from Greek, "sun"
• Eliseo (eh-lee-ZEH-oh, Italian; eh-lee-SEH-oh, Spanish)
• Eloy (eh-LOY, Spanish)--from Latin, "chosen". French form is Éloi (AYL-wah). 
• Ezio (ETS-yoh, Italian)--from Latin, "eagle"
• Iago (ee-AH-goh, English, Portuguese; YAH-goh, Welsh)--form of Jacob. Spanish form is Yago. 
• Ibai (ee-bye, Basque)--"river"
• Ingo (EEN-goh, German)
• Ithai (ith-EYE, [Biblical] Hebrew)--"with me". Also transliterated as Ittai or Itai.
• Ivailo (ee-VYE-loh, Bulgarian)--prob. "wolf". Also transliterated as Ivaylo.
• Obadiah (oh-bah-DYE-ah, [Biblical] Hebrew)
• Obi (OH-bee, Igbo)--"heart"
• Omri (AHM-ree, [Biblical] Hebrew)
• Orsino (or-SEE-noh, Italian)--from Latin "bear". Another form is Orso.  
• Otto (AH-toh, English, Danish, German, OH-toh, Swedish)--from Germanic, "wealth". Other forms include Ottone (Italian) & Udo (German). 
• Yermolai (YEHR-moh-lye, Russian)--also transliterated as Ermolai.

Random Fact of the Day:

Unlike in modern times, in the medieval world, your name would change as you travelled from place to place. So, if your name was John, you would answer to (and even sign documents as) Juan in Spain, Johann in Germany, Gian in Italy, Jehan in French, etc.

A side effect of this is that when parents imported names from Latin (or used Latinized versions of names from other languages), they often "translated" it by chopping off the gendered ending, since English doesn't use those (sometimes replacing it with a Y, sometimes not).
Thus, there are names that could be feminine in Medieval English that we wouldn't expect--Christian (from Christianus/Christiana), Adrian (Adrianus/Adriana), Julian (Julianus/Juliana), Denis (Dionysius/Dionysia), Phillip (Philippus/Philippa), Johan (Johannes/Johanna), Cecil (Cecilius/Cecilia), and probably many others!

No Alternates Allowed! (boys, 2013)

Boys' turn! Here are the names from the Top 1000 with no spelling variants, from most to least common.
Enjoy!
(can't believe how many more there are for boys than girls! Well, no....maybe I can. :/ )

• Hunter
• Charles
• Thomas
• Robert
• Parker
• Juan
• Vincent
• Jesus
• Sawyer
• Richard
• Edward
• Harrison
• Jude
• Alejandro
• Grant
• Abraham
• Paul
• Peter
• Seth
• Travis
• Manuel
• Fernando
• Mario
• Martin
• Edgar
• August
• Roberto
• Joaquin
• Walter
• Pedro
• Grady
• Archer
• Walker
• Gideon
• Dexter
• Porter
• Keith
• Pablo
• Ronald
• Raul
• Enzo
• Julio
• Rodrigo
• Donald
• Bruce
• Albert
• Jaime
• Hugo
• Saul
• Trent
• Davis
• Randy
• Gustavo
• Nash
• Moses
• Alberto
• Larry
• Warren
• Yahir
• Jonas
• Marvin
• Arjun
• Alfredo
• Sullivan
• Royce
• Ahmed
• Mauricio
• Maurice
• Aldo
• Sam
• Moshe
• Joe
• Channing
• Orlando
• Lance
• Alvin
• Nelson
• Salvador
• Terry
• Amare
• Harvey
• Rodney
• Hank
• Ernesto
• Rex
• Memphis
• Santino
• Joey
• Bruno
• Harper
• Flynn
• Theo
• Chad
• Lee
• Bobby
• Reginald
• Guillermo
• Augustus
• Tomas
• Otto
• Valentino
• Harry
• Duke
• Chaim
• Vicente
• Urijah
• Wayne
• Rene
• Amos
• Eugene
• Brent
• Atlas
• Fletcher
• Abdiel
• Craig
• Duncan
• Gibson
• Maximo
• Alvaro
• Rolando
• Heath
• Ramiro
• Vance
• Yael
• Santos
• Steve
• Marley
• Valentin
• Mike
• Salvatore
• Gilbert
• Turner
• Hezekiah
• Anders
• Harold
• Royal
• Rodolfo
• Bridger
• Briggs
• Hugh
• Clinton
• Xavi
• Foster
• Gilberto
• Miller
• Stetson
• Truman
• Castiel
• Magnus
• Yair
• Todd
• Alfred
• Santana
• Pierre
• Yadiel
• Dario
• Thatcher
• Abner
• Ross
• Ralph
• Howard
• Gordon
• Elvis
• Jean
• Sutton
• Avi
• Benicio
• Ignacio
• Ford
• Sheldon
• Octavio
• Clarence
• Humberto
• Mariano
• Milton
• Lyle
• Bernard
• Ledger

100 Years Later....

We name nerds love to cite the "100-Year Rule". It's common wisdom that a name will be up for revival in 4-5 generations (≈100 years), when current new parents no longer know anyone with the name.
It certainly seems to hold true for a few modern picks (Emmett and Sophie for instance), so I thought it'd be fun to take a look at names that were at their most popular (and at least in the Top 200) in the late 1800s - early 1900s, but have since died off. Perhaps they're ready for use today? Or are all the names worthy of revival already back....?
*note: since boys' names as a rule decline more slowly than girls; the genders were held to slightly different standards. Boys' names were considered "dead" if they're currently below the Top 500; girls' if they are currently below the Top 700.

Boys:

• Alton
• Amos
• Archie
• Bernard
• Bert
• Booker
• Cecil
• Clarence
• Claude
• Clifton
• Clyde
• Edmund
• Elmer
• Ernest/Earnest
• Floyd
• Francis
• Grover
• Herman
• Hugh
• Irving
• Lee
• Lloyd
• Luther
• Mack
• Maurice
• Milton
• Morris
• Otis
• Otto
• Percy
• Ralph
• Roy
• Rufus
• Sidney
• Stanley
• Sylvester
• Vernon
• Wilbur
• Willard
• Willis
• Wilson
• Woodrow

Girls:

• Agnes
• Alberta
• Alma
• Augusta
• Bernice
• Bertha
• Beulah
• Blanche
• Cleo
• Della
• Dora
• Dorothea
• Edith
• Edna
• Effie
• Erma/Irma
• Estella
• Estelle
• Ethel
• Etta
• Eula
• Eunice
• Fern
• Florence
• Freda/Frieda
• Gertrude
• Gladys
• Goldie
• Henrietta
• Hilda
• Ida
• Ina
• Inez
• Leola
• Leona
• Lottie
• Louise
• Luella
• Lula
• Mabel
• Mamie
• Maud/Maude
• Mildred
• Myrtle
• Nell
• Nettie
• Opal
• Ora
• Pauline
• Thelma
• Velma
• Verna
• Viola
• Winifred

Volcanoes!

You can thank my 7-year-old's obsession for this list. While watching a documentary on Icelandic volcanoes, I couldn't help but notice how interesting many of the names are. And so, another just-for-fun name post is born.
(note: none of these have done any major or modern destruction. :) )

• Amiata (ahm-YAH-tah)--Italy
• Dutton (DUT-ton)--USA
• Elbrus (EL-brus)--Russia
• Genovesa (hen-oh-VEH-sah, jen-oh-VEH-zah)--Ecuador ['Genoese' in Spanish & Portuguese]
• Graciosa (grah-see-OH-zah)--Portugal ['graceful, elegant' in Portuguese]
• Iraya (ee-RAH-yah)--Philippines
• Ischia (EES-kyah)--Italy
• Kaena (kah-eh-nah)--USA ['the heat' in Hawaiian]
• Katla (KAHT-lah)--Iceland [from Old Norse, 'helmet'] *a feminine name in Iceland
• Krýsuvík (KREE-soo-veek)--Iceland. Also spelled Krísuvík. 
• Yali (yah-LEE)--Greece. Also spelled Gyali or Yiali. ['glass' in Greek]
• Yelia (YEH-lee-ah)--Papua New Guinea
• Zimina (zee-MEE-nah)--Russia