Saturday, February 14, 2015

Vintage Cinema

I love watching the credits of old movies. Although they definitely skew masculine, there're still lots of forgotten names to find for both genders! So, I went through popular, high-grossing, & award-winning films from 1917 all the way to 1950, and pulled out some fun and/or interesting vintage names. :)

Characters:
  • Addison (m)
  • Dale (f)
  • Della
  • Justyn (f)
  • Lewton (m)
  • Melisande
  • Sabra
  • Tira


Actresses:
  • Alida
  • Almeda
  • Almira
  • Alyn
  • Amelita
  • Amzie
  • Argentina
  • Arlette
  • Beryl
  • Deannie
  • Dulcie
  • Elvida
  • Enid
  • Ethelreda
  • Fern
  • Gale
  • Gene
  • Greer
  • Hallene
  • Jobyna
  • Joyzelle
  • Leopoldine
  • Leota
  • Lianella
  • Lorna
  • Maidel
  • Marcelle
  • Marlyn
  • Medea
  • Minna
  • Minta
  • Movita
  • Myrna
  • Spring
  • Tanis
  • Teala
  • Theda
  • Vivia
  • Willia
  • Yola
  • Zeffie

Actors:
  • Barton
  • Bryn
  • Elgin
  • Erskine
  • Esmond
  • Franchot
  • Grandon
  • Howland
  • Kenner
  • Lowell
  • Margarito
  • Marius
  • Mauritz
  • Milton
  • Noble
  • Philo
  • Pomeroy
  • Regis
  • Selmar
  • Sterling
  • Tammany
  • Tully
  • Winter

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

A Month's Worth of Names (Part 2)

As I mentioned a few days ago, I've not been completely idle these last few months; I've been looking at names on parenting sites (among other things) . This time around, I'm looking at the names below the Top 1000 taken from one month of online birth announcements--a very interesting mix.
  • Adence
  • Alando
  • Annora (2!)
  • Ansel
  • Arwen
  • Brand
  • Dallin
  • Devereaux
  • Domenico
  • Elizabelle
  • Ethel
  • Everlyse
  • Ezéchiel
  • Gita
  • Idris
  • Indiana
  • Jazaeyah
  • Joyanna
  • Karlo
  • Kip
  • Lazarus
  • Legion
  • Lightning
  • Lorraine
  • Lourdes
  • Lyris
  • Maeva
  • Marvel
  • Matida
  • Meta
  • Murron
  • Nabeeha
  • Neo
  • Nerissa
  • Nyota
  • Rafe
  • Rayce
  • Rosewood
  • Seville
  • Silvius
  • Swarnika
  • Sylvan
  • Treyton
  • True
  • Tylerann
  • Vaevictis
  • Wyla
  • Zarianna


For a bit more nerdery, there were also 462 reported middle names. The most common--

Boys:
  • Alexander (11)
  • James (11)
  • Joseph (10)
  • Michael (7)
  • John (5)
  • Alan (4)
  • Dean (4)
  • Matthew (4)
  • Anthony (3)
  • Charles (3)
  • David (3)
  • Patrick (3)
  • Paul (3)
  • Robert (3)
  • Roy (3)
  • Thomas (3)

Girls: 
  • Rose (18)
  • Grace (17)
  • Mae (14)
  • Marie (12)
  • Jane (10)
  • Elizabeth (8)
  • Anne (7)
  • Faith (5)
  • Abigail (4)
  • Nicole (4)
  • Hope (3)
  • Jean (3)
  • Violet (3)

Both:
  • Ray/Rae (6 boys; 2 girls)
  • Lee/Leigh (2 boys; 4 girls)
  • Lynn (1 boy; 5 girls)
  • Rene/Renee (1 boy; 3 girls)
Interesting how the middles (especially the boys') tend towards "dad" and "grandpa" names. Too bad the SSA doesn't track middle names; it'd be fascinating to see if that holds in general: one generation's common first names becoming subsequent generations' common middle names--honoring family, presumably. ;)

Saturday, February 7, 2015

A Month's Worth of Names (Part 1)

Due to the arrival of #4, I've been spending more time than I really should on my compy. On one parenting site I frequent, users can announce their new little one; it's divided into months.
People listing names? Don't mind me!

Now, I'm not going to list all 568 names (282 boy, 286 girl), but I did find it pretty interesting which names repeated.
(some of the spellings are rather...unique, so I'm only listing the most common)

Boys:
  • Alexander (7)
  • William (7)
  • Elijah (6)
  • Henry (6)
  • Jackson (5, + 1 Jack & 1 Jaxton)
  • Ian (5)
  • Mason (5)
  • Thomas (5)
  • Asher (4)
  • Gavin (4)
  • Isaac (4)
  • Liam (4)
  • Oliver (4)
  • Jacob (3, + 1 Jacoby)
  • James (3, + 1 Jameson)
  • Michael (3, + 1 Micah)
  • Benjamin (3)
  • Caleb (3)
  • Charles (3)
  • Daniel (3)
  • Jace (3)
  • Joshua (3)
  • Logan (3)
  • Noah (3)
  • Brandon (2, + 1 Brand)
  • Cameron (2, + 1 girl Cammie)
  • Dominic (2, +1 Domenico)
  • Lucas (2, + 1 Luke)
  • Nicholas (2, + 1 Nico)
  • Andrew (2)
  • Barrett (2)
  • Bennett (2)
  • Brayden (2)
  • Connor (2)
  • David (2)
  • Dimitri (2)
  • Eli (2)
  • Elliott (2)
  • Joseph (2)
  • Julian (2)
  • Julius (2)
  • Killian (2)
  • Levi (2)
  • Lincoln (2)
  • Maddox (2)
  • Malcolm (2)
  • Matthew (2)
  • Maverick (2)
  • Parker (2)
  • Ryker (2)
  • Simon (2)
  • Theodore (2)


Girls:
  • Olivia (6)
  • Isabella (5, + 1 Isabelle)
  • Riley (5)
  • Grace (4, +1 Gracie)
  • Emily (4)
  • Madelyn (4)
  • Scarlett (4)
  • Liliana (3, + 1 Lillian & 1 Lily)
  • Addison (3)
  • Callie (3)
  • Hailey (3)
  • Harper (3)
  • Hazel (3)
  • Hope (3)
  • Isla (3)
  • Molly (3)
  • Victoria (3)
  • Violet (3)
  • Lyla (2, + 1 Layla & 1 Lyra)
  • Abby (2, + 1 Abigail)
  • Adelyn (2, + 1 Adalina)
  • Annabelle (2, + 1 Annabella)
  • Aubrey (2, + 1 Audrey)
  • Eva (2, + 1 Ava)
  • Everly (2, +1 Everlyse)
  • Mia (2, + 1 Maya)
  • Nora (2, + 1 Nova)
  • Aislinn (2)
  • Alaina (2)
  • Annora (2)
  • Azalea (2)
  • Carly (2)
  • Caroline (2)
  • Carter (2)
  • Charlotte (2)
  • Cheyenne (2)
  • Clementine (2)
  • Eliza (2)
  • Ellie (2)
  • Emery (2)
  • Emma (2)
  • Hadley (2)
  • Kaylee (2)
  • Leah (2)
  • Lola (2)
  • Lydia (2)
  • Mila (2)
  • Sophia (2)
  • Vivian (2)
  • Zoey (2)


Both:
  • Avery (2 boys; 4 girls)
  • Aiden (4 boys; 1 girl)
  • Kai (2 boys; 1 girl, + 1 Kaia)
  • Cruz (2 boys; 1 girl)
  • Rylan (1 boy; 1 girl, + 1 boy Ryan)
  • Hayden (1 boy; 1 girl)
  • Joey (1 boy; 1 girl)

The most common boys' names, Alexander & William, were each given to about 2.5% of the boys reported, and Olivia, the most common girls', to about 2%. Interestingly, that's actually about 2x as high as we'd expect--the most common names on the SSA charts are usually given to about 1% of boys/girls. Not sure why there's such a discrepancy, but I imagine it'd be ironed out with multiple months' data.
Either that, or parents who give certain names are more likely to report it on the internet. ;)


Next time: middle names, as well as names below the Top 1000.