Mind Your Qs

I've already done name lists of the least common vowels (U, O, & I), so now it's time for the least common consonants. No surprise--it's Q (second only to U overall).
Quinn is the sole Q-name in the girls' Top 1000, and it also ranks for boys, along with Quentin, Quinten, Quintin, & Quincy.

Q is also the least common ending letter, so let's do those, too. :)

Boys:

• Faruq (fah-ROOK, Arabic)--"one who can tell right from wrong". Also transliterated as Farooq.
• Khaliq (KHAH-leek, Arabic)--"creator". One of the names of Allah.
• Qadir (KAH-deer, Arabic)--"able". Another of the names of Allah.
• Qais (kah-ees, Arabic)
• Qasim (KAH-sim, Arabic)--"one who shares"
• Quanah (KWAH-nah, Comanche)--"fragrant"
• Quidel (kee-DEL, Spanish)--from Mapuche "torch"
• Quillan (KWIL-lan, English)--from Irish patronymic, "holly"
• Quim (KEEM, Catalan, Portuguese)--short form of Joaquim
• Quintillus (KWIN-til-lus, Latin)--"little Quintus"
• Quintus (KWIN-tus, Latin)--"fifth"
• Qusay (koo-SYE, Arabic)--also transliterated as Qusai.
• Rafiq (rah-FEEK, Arabic)--"friend"
• Shafiq (shah-FEEK, Arabic)--"compassionate"
• Tariq (TAH-rik, Arabic)--"one who knocks"
• Tawfiq (taw-FEEK, Arabic)--"good luck"

Girls:

• Qadira (kah-DEER-ah, Arabic)--feminine of Qadir
• Qiana (kee-AH-nah, [American] English)--from the synthetic fabric
• Quena (KWAY-nah, [archaic] English)--from Old English, "woman, queen"
• Quenilda (kwen-IL-dah, [archaic] English)--from Old English, "queen-battle". Other forms include Quenell & Quenilla.
• Queniva (KWAY-niv-ah, kwen-EE-vah, [archaic] English)--from Old English, "queen-gift"
• Queralt (keh-RAHL, Catalan)--Marian name, from a Spanish mountain sanctuary
• Quetzali (ket-SAH-lee, Spanish)--from Nahuatl, "feather". Also spelled Quetzalli.
• Quezia (keh-ZEE-ah, Portuguese)--form of Keziah
• Quintina (kwin-TEE-nah, Latin)--feminine of Quintin.
• Quinturay (keen-too-RYE, Spanish)--from Mapuche, "seeking flowers"
• Rahiq (rah-HEEK, Arabic)--"nectar"

Unisex:

• Qamar (kah-MAHR, Arabic)--"moon"
• Quinlan (KWIN-lan, English)--from Irish patronymic, "beautiful shape"

A great number of Inuit language names (Greenlandic, Inuktitut, etc) also seem to begin/end/contain Q, but verifying the accuracy of such names online, as well as pronunciation, has proven difficult. :(

Southern Names

I often see on forums posts about "Southern names". Admittedly, the closest I've ever been to The South is a layover in Houston, but I really have no idea what a "Southern name" is.
Being a dork, of course I set out to discover that statistically.

I combined the lists of 14 states of "The South" (yes, I know, what's in the South is up for debate. For your interest: AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV), and pulled out which names are proportionally more common in The South. The results were surprising.

The most "Southern" names in the Southern states' Top 1000:
Boys:

1. Alexandre
2. Jamarcus
3. Jamarion
4. Cason
5. Braylen
6. Tylan
7. Demarcus
8. Braylon
9. Lawson
10. Zaylen
11. Kason
12. Brentley
13. Kylan
14. Courtney
15. Judson
16. Hayes
17. Coleman
18. Braylin
19. Chandler
20. Cayson

Girls:

1. Romina
2. Mariajose
3. Landry
4. Gentry
5. Eiza
6. Renata
7. Nahomi
8. Vianney
9. Aracely
10. Martina
11. Ariadna
12. Angelie
13. Regina
14. Jaqueline
15. Sterling
16. Adamaris
17. Arleth
18. Azul
19. Geraldine
20. Ivanna

And to narrow down a bit further, from the states' Top 500:

Boys:

1. Cason
2. Braylen
3. Braylon
4. Lawson
5. Kason
6. Brentley
7. Kylan
8. Hayes
9. Chandler
10. Cayson
11. Case
12. Princeton
13. Raylan
14. Cannon
15. Channing
16. Jamari
17. Bryson
18. Jayceon
19. Karson
20. Joe

Girls:

1. Romina
2. Landry
3. Renata
4. Regina
5. Jaqueline
6. Ivanna
7. Aranza
8. Araceli
9. Ayleen
10. America
11. Fernanda
12. Alisson
13. Ariadne
14. Violeta
15. Ximena
16. Arely
17. Frida
18. Galilea
19. Paulina
20. Montserrat

And even more narrowed down, from the states' Top 100:

Boys:

1. Bryson
2. Brantley
3. Braxton
4. Juan
5. Ayden
6. Kaiden
7. Kayden
8. Jose
9. Jeremiah
10. Jase
11. Easton
12. Bentley
13. Grayson
14. Josiah
15. Carson
16. Christian
17. Christopher
18. Levi
19. Brayden
20. Jordan

Girls:

1. Regina
2. Fernanda
3. Ximena
4. Alejandra
5. Jimena
6. Alondra
7. Alessandra
8. Carolina
9. Aylin
10. Daleyza
11. Camila
12. Melany
13. Ana
14. Angelique
15. Kamila
16. Valeria
17. Nayeli
18. Catalina
19. Daniela
20. Melanie

I'm pretty surprised at how much more Spanish-influenced the girls' list is! Crazy. (you can mostly blame Texas, as far as I can tell)
If you take out the names that are currently trending in Spanish-speaking countries from the girls' side, the list changes quite a bit:
(from the boys', just take Juan & Jose out, and tack Tristan & Joshua to the end)

1. Alessandra
2. Angelique
3. Leslie
4. Giselle
5. Ashley
6. Nicole
7. Daniella
8. Valerie
9. Alison
10. Amy
11. Londyn
12. Madeleine
13. Vanessa
14. Alina
15. Juliette
16. Camille
17. Leilani
18. Kayla
19. Juliana
20. Rose

Now, I noticed an interesting phenomenon when I looked at the bottom of the lists, the least Southern names--lots of boys' names ending in -o! Nico, Rocco, Theo, Arlo, Milo, Leo. And for the girls', quite a few word-names: Luna, Ruby, Melody, Daisy, Jade, Hazel, Iris.
What's the opposite of Southern? Hipster? ;)

And in case you wanted any more trivia, the Southern Top 10, and the national SSA lists for comparison:

	Southern	National
1.	Noah	Noah
2.	William	Liam
3.	Mason	Mason
4.	Liam	Jacob
5.	Jacob	William
6.	Elijah	Ethan
7.	James	Michael
8.	Ethan	Alexander
9.	Michael	James
10.	Aiden	Daniel

	Southern	National
1.	Camila	Emma
2.	Melanie	Olivia
3.	Ximena	Sophia
4.	Ashley	Isabella
5.	Emma	Ava
6.	Olivia	Mia
7.	Sophia	Emily
8.	Ava	Abigail
9.	Natalia	Madison
10.	Abigail	Charlotte

And if you want to see the whole Southern Top 1000, it is here, on Google Sheets. :)

Anders & Andras

I like the -anders. Alexander is the most wide-spread, of course, and name-nerds can probably name a few others--Evander, Leander, Lysander. Most have a place in Greek mythology & legend--ander is the Anglicized form of andros "man", usually feminized as -andra.
Let's see if we can find some more fun names....

• Agesander/Agesandra--"leader of men". Also transliterated as Hagesander. 
• Alcander/Alcandra--poss. "strong man"
• Alexander/Alexandra--"defender of man"
• Amynander/Amynandra--"defender of man"
• Anaxander/Anaxandra--prob. "ruler of men"
• Archander/Archandra--"highest man"
• Aresander/Aresandra--prob. "favorable man"
• Aristander/Aristandra--"best of men"
• Cassander/Cassandra--poss. "shines upon man", "plots against man", or "tester of men"
• Charisander/Charisandra--"beauty of man" or "grace of man"
• Cleander/Cleandra--"glory of man"
• Dexander/Dexandra--prob. "courteous man"
• Eteander/Eteandra--poss. "true man"
• Ethelander/Ethelandra--poss. "willful man"
• Evander/Evandra--"good man"
• Isander/Isandra--poss. "equality of man" or "fair man"
• Kleitander/Kleitandra--"famous man"
• Kratander/Kratandra--"power of men"
• Leander/Leandra--"lion man"
• Lycander/Lycandra--prob. "wolf man" or "light of man"
• Lysander/Lysandra--"release of man"
• Melesander/Melesandra--prob. "care of man" or "study of man"
  [no, the resemblance to 'Melisandre' is not lost on me!]
• Menander/Menandra--prob. "patient man" or "might of man"
• Nicander/Nicandra--"victory of man"
• Onasander/Onasandra--prob. "prosperity of man" or "help of man"
• Ophelander/Ophelandra--"helping man"
• Peisander/Peisandra--poss. "persuading men"
• Periander/Periandra--prob. "among men" or "beyond men"
• Philander/Philandra--"love of man"
  [is 'philanderer' still a word people use? Hmmm....]
• Poemander/Poemandra--poss. "shepherd of men"
• Praxander/Praxandra--"practice of man"
• Proander/Proandra--"before man"
• Pyrander/Pyrandra--"fire of man"
• Sosander/Sosandra--prob. "secure man"
• Stasander/Stasandra--prob. "standing man" or "stable man"
• Telesander/Telesandra--prob. "accomplishment of man"
• Terpander/Terpandra--"delight of man"
• Thrasyander/Thrasyandra--"bold man"
• Thersander/Thersandra--prob. "brave man"
• Timander/Timandra--prob. "honored man"
• Tisander/Tisandra--"vengeance of man"
• Tychander/Tychandra--"lucky man"
• Xenander/Xenandra--"foreign man"

Names and Letters

What was that? You want more statistics? Well, okay! :D
(yes, I realize you probably don't, but I find it fascinating, and I'm sure someone else might)

The most common starting letter for boys' names in the U.S. is J, with 13.5% of boys getting names that start with J. The most common ending letter is probably no surprise--N, with 33% of boys getting names that end with N.

Starts      Endings

1. J: 13.5% N: 32.9%

2. A: 9.5% R: 8.7%

3. C: 7.8% E: 6.5%: 

4. M: 6.5% S: 6.3%

5. L: 6.0% L: 6.2%

As for girls, A easily beats out all other letters for as both a starting and ending letter, although not by as wide a margin as I expected for endings.

Starts Endings

1. A: 16.8% A: 33.8%

2. M: 8.6% E: 16.9%

3. E: 7.3% N: 12.1%

4. S: 6.7% Y: 10.8%

5. K: 6.4% H: 6.3%

H? That seems weird, doesn't it? Most of the -h names turn out to be -ah, with -th being a distant second.

What's interesting to me is how much more diverse boys' names are, particularly with ending letters (once you get past that ubiquitous -n, of course). The top 5 ending letters make up 80% of girls' names, but only 60% of boys. You'd think the fact that -e endings are (mainly) split up between -ie, -ne, & -le for girls and -se, -ce & -ke for boys would help, except that -ie blends with -y, -ne with -n, and -se/ce with -s. 

The least common letters are what you'd expect, really, with U being the least common start and Q the least common ending for both genders.

Exactly which letters are most common in standard English words differs slightly by source, but J & K are pretty uncommon as starting letters no matter the counting method or analyzed materials. Interesting that both are among the most common for American names.

A few interesting points:

• By far, girls' names end in A more often than boys--about 25x more often! And the -h names don't help either--they're a bit more common for girls as well. 
• Boys' have so much more diversity with name endings! A, E, Y, I, & H are more common as ending letters in girls' names, but everything else is more common for boys.
• The girls may have the -as, but there are several letters that are incredibly more common as boys' enders--K (58x more common for boys), B (52x more common for boys), P (41x more common), O (36x more common, and the few -ot, -ow, -owe, & -oh girls' names don't add all that much), C (16x more common), F (16x more common), D (14x), & M (11x)...and that's just the ones that are 10x or more! Sheesh.
• Oddly enough, the starting letter most disproportionately common on girls is V--it's about 3x more common for girls than for boys. S & A names are about 2x for common for girls as well. 
• As for starting letters for boys, they got W (6x more common for boys) and U (4x more common for boys), J & D (3x more common), as well as X & T (2x more common). 
• Surprisingly, there isn't too much difference between length of boys' & girls' names--both average at 6 letters. Girls are a bit more likely to have a longer name, but not significantly so: 6 letters ± 1.6 for girls, as opposed to 5.8 ± 1.6 for boys.