Rare but Real (2019)

My favorite part of the SSA lists: finding fun rare names. :)
These are names from the very bottom of the charts, given to only 5 babies last year.
As always, they cannot have alternate spellings further up the charts, and they cannot have appeared on any other 'Rare but Real' lists (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010)

Girls:

• Anwen (AN-wen, Welsh)--"very beautiful"
• Cassiana (kah-see-AH-nah, Italian, Portuguese, Latin)--feminine of Cassiano/Cassianus/Cassian
• Eduarda (eh-DWAHR-dah, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian)--feminine of Eduardo/Edward
• Fira (FEE-rah, Russian)--diminutive of Esfir/Esther
• Hestia (HES-tee-ah, English)--from ancient Greek Hestía, "hearth". Goddess of the home and family in Greek mythology. 
• Kyriaki (keer-ee-ah-KEE, Greek)--from ancient Greek, "of the lord"
• Nicasia (nee-KAH-see-ah, Spanish, Galician)--from ancient Greek Nikasía, prob. from Nike, Greek goddess of victory, and/or the island of Nikasia. 
• Setareh (set-ah-REH, Persian)--"star"
• Tulia (TOO-lee-ah, Spanish, Polish)--from Latin Tullius, poss. "support"
• Tvisha (TVISH-ah, TWISH-ah, Hindi)--from Sanskrit, "light, brilliance"
• Ylva (IL-vah, Scandinavian)--from Old Norse, "she-wolf"
• Zhenya (ZHEN-yah ['zh' like the S in "treasure"], Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian)--diminutive of Evgeniya/Eugenia
• Zephyra (zef-EER-ah, English)--feminization of Zephyr, "west wind"

Boys:

• Berend (BEH-rend, Dutch)--form of Bernard
• Eliodoro (eh-lee-oh-DOH-roh, Italian, Spanish)--from ancient Greek Heliodoros, "sun gift"
• Esmond (EZ-mund, English)--from Old English, "grace-protection"
• Florin (floh-REEN, Romanian, German; floh-RAHN, French; FLOR-in, English)--from Latin, "flower" [very popular in Romanian; rather archaic & rare elsewhere]
• Ives (IVEZ, English)--from Germanic, "yew"
• Micaias (mee-KYE-as, Spanish, Portuguese)--form of Micaiah/Micah
• Savin (SAV-in, English; sah-VEEN, [archaic] French)--masculine of Sabina [much more common as a surname in both languages]
• Sotero (soh-TEH-roh, Spanish, Galician)--from ancient Greek, "savior"
• Tekoa (teh-KOH-ah, [Biblical] Hebrew)--prob. "sudden strike, sudden sound"
• Yanai (yah-NYE, Hebrew)--"God answers". Also spelled Janai. 

% Changes, 2019

My previous posts were about changes in ranking, which measures names' popularity relative to each other. Especially near the top of the charts, a name can become more common without necessarily going up much in the rankings. So, to measure how much usage a name is actually gaining, I'll compare percentages between this year and last year. 

Girls:

1. Everleigh, +0.06% (0.08% --> 0.14%)
2. Alaia, +0.06% (0.03% --> 0.09%)
3. Luna, +0.05% (0.37% --> 0.43%)
4. Emilia, +0.04% (0.22% --> 0.26%)
5. Olivia, +0.04% (0.97% --> 1.01%)
6. Willow, +0.04% (0.21% --> 0.25%)
7. Amelia, +0.04% (0.67% --> 0.71%)
8. Isla, +0.04% (0.18% --> 0.22%)
9. Violet, +0.04% (0.26% --> 0.3%)
10. Hazel, +0.03% (0.27% --> 0.3%)
11. Eleanor, +0.03% (0.31% --> 0.34%)
12. Eliana, +0.03% (0.18% --> 0.21%)
13. Arya, +0.03% (0.14% --> 0.17%)
14. Everly, +0.03% (0.23% --> 0.26%)
15. Ivy, +0.02% (0.18% --> 0.2%)
16. Amara, +0.02% (0.08% --> 0.11%)
17. Camila, +0.02% (0.4% --> 0.43%)
18. Valentina, +0.02% (0.19% --> 0.21%)
19. Kehlani, +0.02% (0.05% --> 0.07%)
20. Elliana, +0.02% (0.09% --> 0.11%)

So Olivia, the most common name on this list, was given to about 1 out of every 1030 girls in 2018 (17,921 babies), which rose to about 1 in every 99 girls in 2019 (18,451 babies). 

Boys:

1. Brooks, +0.06% (0.12% --> 0.18%)
2. Noah, +0.05% (0.95% --> 1%)
3. Miles, +0.05% (0.21% --> 0.25%)
4. Theodore, +0.05% (0.36% --> 0.41%)
5. Mateo, +0.05% (0.42% --> 0.47%)
6. Liam, +0.05% (1.03% --> 1.07%)
7. Legend, +0.04% (0.09% --> 0.13%)
8. Luca, +0.04% (0.19% --> 0.23%)
9. Leo, +0.04% (0.35% --> 0.39%)
10. Maverick, +0.04% (0.26% --> 0.3%)
11. Waylon, +0.04% (0.14% --> 0.18%)
12. Luka, +0.04% (0.05% --> 0.09%)
13. Adonis, +0.03% (0.05% --> 0.08%)
14. Oliver, +0.03% (0.69% --> 0.73%)
15. Levi, +0.03% (0.44% --> 0.47%)
16. Ezekiel, +0.03% (0.22% --> 0.26%)
17. Jack, +0.03% (0.46% --> 0.49%)
18. Myles, +0.03% (0.11% --> 0.14%)
19. Roman, +0.03% (0.23% --> 0.26%)
20. Ezra, +0.03% (0.31% --> 0.34%)

Percentage difference favors names that are already popular, so if you want to see how less-common names are gaining usage, percentage ratios are more useful. 

Girls: 

1. Yalitza (16.1x)
2. Alita (6.89x)
3. Dayleen (6.35x)
4. Mazikeen (4.24x)
5. Vaeda (3.12x)
6. Alaia (3.09x)
7. Layne (2.92x)
8. Amoura (2.85x)
9. Maleni (2.8x)
10. Wrenley (2.74x)
11. Nuri (2.66x)
12. Alaiah (2.58x)
13. Cairo (2.51x)
14. Starr (2.22x)
15. Riverlyn (2.2x)
16. Blessyn (2.19x)
17. Vanellope (2.14x)
18. Kiari (2.14x)
19. Theodora (1.98x)
20. Atley (1.98x)

So, Yalitza was approximately 16x more popular for new babies in 2019 than it was in 2018. 

Boys:

1. Armias (≈54.57x)
2. Ermias (34.96x)
3. Sekani (21.14x)
4. Kross (5.87x)
5. Taysom (3.99x)
6. Amiri (3.79x)
7. Broly (3.56x)
8. Laine (3.14x)
9. Kyro (2.58x)
10. Lucah (2.56x)
11. Graycen (2.54x)
12. Amias (2.44x)
13. Ezriel (2.4x)
14. Eliel (2.37x)
15. Zayaan (2.36x)
16. Giannis (2.35x)
17. Khylan (2.33x)
18. Kacey (2.31x)
19. Natanael (2.21x)
20. Kasai (2.18x)

Most of these names are still pretty uncommon. Here are the names that gained the most popularity from 2019's Top 500.

Girls:

1. Alaia (3.09x)
2. Everleigh (1.71x)
3. Amora (1.67x)
4. Alaya (1.63x)
5. Palmer (1.59x)
6. Alayah (1.54x)
7. Everlee (1.48x)
8. Maisie (1.47x)
9. Kehlani (1.45x)
10. Reign (1.36x)

Boys:

1. Crew (2.09x)
2. Baker (1.86x)
3. Kairo (1.84x)
4. Cairo (1.81x)
5. Adonis (1.74x)
6. Luka (1.65x)
7. Colson (1.63x)
8. Legend (1.5x)
9. Brooks (1.49x)
10. Kyler (1.43x)

Everleigh and Kairo again! Kehlani was on last year's list as well.  Love Amora, Maisie, and Luka. 

Ranking Jumps, 2019 (boys)

Time for the boys' turn! 

As always, we start off with the names gaining popularity down near the bottom of the charts, from the #2500 up:

1. Armias, +≈12000 (unranked --> #2444)
2. Sekani, +5793 (#6664 --> #871)
3. Ermias, +5197 (#5737 --> #540)
4. Amiri, +3206 (#5484 --> #2278)
5. Kross, +3168 (#4584 --> #1416)
6. Taysom, +2940 (#4879 --> #1939)
7. Broly, +2767 (#4879 --> #2112)
8. Ezriel, +1840 (#4192 --> #2352)
9. Zayaan, +1810 (#4192 --> #2382)
10. Lucah, +1739 (#3769 --> #2030)
11. Kallum, +1558 (#3966 --> #2408)
12. Graycen, +1540 (#3357 --> #1817)
13. Navy, +1522 (#3966 --> #2444)
14. Kacey, +1465 (#3495 --> #2030)
15. Kasai, +1360 (#3427 --> #2067)
16. Laine, +1355 (#2622 --> #1267)
17. Khylan, +1337 (#3154 --> #1817)
18. Fulton, +1203 (#3357 --> #2154)
19. Ronny, +1192 (#3670 --> #2478)
20. Divine, +1145 (#3084 --> #1939)

Maybe I'm out of touch, but Armias seems totally out of nowhere to me! Ermias was the given name of a rapper/activist who tragically died in early 2019, but Armias is....an old Finnish name?  I must be missing a reference somewhere, because there's no way just the similarity to Ermias gave it such an insane boost. 
Sekani is, again, from The Hate U Give, and wow, that is a jump!  Interesting how Layne appears on the girls' list, but Laine on the boys'. 

Narrowing it down a bit to more familiar names, from the Top 1500: 

1. Sekani, +5793 (#6664 --> #871)
2. Ermias, +5197 (#5737 --> #540)
3. Kross, +3168 (#4584 --> #1416)
4. Laine, +1355 (#2622 --> #1267)
5. Giannis, +928 (#2219 --> #1291)
6. Jahseh, +822 (#2134 --> #1312)
7. Kolson, +772 (#1965 --> #1193)
8. Dior, +725 (#2037 --> #1312)
9. Amias, +680 (#1499 --> #819)
10. Kyro, +625 (#1343 --> #718)
11. Crue, +611 (#1965 --> #1354)
12. Kartier, +591 (#1945 --> #1354)
13. Kylin, +534 (#2021 --> #1487)
14. Waylen, +532 (#1799 --> #1267)
15. Ambrose, +525 (#1480 --> #955)
16. Aziel, +508 (#1459 --> #951)
17. Eliel, +467 (#1131 --> #664)
18. Damir, +446 (#1450 --> #1004)
19. Sevyn, +432 (#1928 --> #1496)
20. Shivansh, +427 (#1748 --> #1321)

Jahseh, Dior, and Kyro continue their rise from last year.  Amias and Ambrose are nice surprises. :)

And now the names on everyone's lists, the top risers from the Top 500:

1. Baker, +241 (#712 --> #471)
2. Crew, +234 (#573 --> #339)
3. Colson, +183 (#638 --> #455)
4. Kairo, +176 (#482 --> #306)
5. Cairo, +174 (#518 --> #344)
6. Adonis, +124 (#366 --> #242)
7. Callum, +109 (#557 --> #448)
8. Luka, +101 (#320 --> #219)
9. Niko, +99 (#515 --> #416)
10. Khalil, +93 (#395 --> #302)
11. Kamari, +88 (#554 --> #466)
12. Forrest, +80 (#571 --> #491)
13. Malakai, +70 (#383 --> #313)
14. Kaison, +69 (#564 --> #495)
15. Legend, +67 (#217 --> #150)
16. Kyler, +67 (#303 --> #236)
17. Malcolm, +66 (#394 --> #328)
18. Atlas, +65 (#291 --> #226)
19. Tate, +58 (#495 --> #437)
20. Brooks, +52 (#161 --> #109)

Baker and Kairo also continue their rises from last year. There sure are a lot of Ky/Kai/Cai-names in this post! Some nice surprises, too, like Callum, Forrest, Tate, and Brooks. And of course, I am pretty partial to Malcolm. ;)

Finally, the boys' names completely new to the SSA Top 1000:

• Aayan
• Amias
• Atreus
• Aziel
• Azrael
• Bear
• Bellamy
• Callahan
• Calum
• Dhruv
• Eithan
• Eliel
• Emir
• Ermias
• Jakari
• Kiaan
• Kylian
• Kyro
• Legacy
• Malakhi
• Mylo
• Niklaus
• Remi
• Salem
• Sekani
• Seven
• Tru
• Zyon