Friday, May 17, 2019

Rare but Real (2018)

Now that I've finished the main part of the statistics-manipulation, time to have fun looking for rare names. :)
Here are the names that appear on the very bottom of the SSA lists, given to only 5 babies (of that gender) last year.
As usual, none of these names will have alternate spellings that appear elsewhere on the lists, nor have they appeared on previous 'Rare but Real's. [20172016201520142013201220112010]

Girls:

  • Apolline (ap-oh-LEEN, French)--from ancient Greek, "of Apollo"
  • Edwina (ed-WEEN-ah, English; ed-VEE-nah, German)
  • Ffion (FEE-on, Welsh)--"foxglove"
  • Fiammetta (fee-ah-MET-tah, Italian)--"little flame"
  • Galit (gah-LEET, Hebrew)--"wave" [of water]
  • Ghislaine (gee-LEN, zhees-LEN, French)--form of Giselle
  • Olwen (OHL-wen, Welsh)--"white footprint"
  • Tabassum (tah-BAS-sum, Arabic)--"smiling"
  • Taima (TAH-ee-mah, Finnish; TYE-mah, Estonian)--from Finnish, "seedling, sapling"
  • Theda (THEE-dah, THEH-dah, English; TEH-dah, German)--short form of Theodora or Theodosia
  • Titania (tye-TAYN-ee-ah, tit-AHN-ee-ah, English)--from Latin, "of the Titans"
  • Tomiris (toh-MEE-ris, Spanish)--from Hellenized Iranian Tomyris, "brave"
    [modern Turkish form Tomris, "TOM-ris", does not appear on the full SSA list at all!]
  • Trillium (TRIL-lee-um, English)
  • Xiadani (shee-ah-DAH-nee, see-ah-DAN-nee, Spanish)--from Zapotec, meaning uncertain
  • Ylenia (ee-LEH-nee-ah, Italian, German)--prob. a form of Helena/Elena


Boys:
  • Aubin (oh-BAHn, French)--from Latin, "white"
  • Bertram (BUR-tram, English; BEHR-tram, German)--from Germanic "bright raven"
  • Eldrick (El-drik, English)--from Germanic Aldrich "old-rule" or Adelrich "noble-rule"
  • Humphrey (HUM-free, English)--from Germanic Hunfrid "bearcub-peace"
  • Iwan (IH-wan, Welsh; EE-vahn, Polish)--forms of John
  • Liav (lee-AV, Hebrew)--"my father"
  • Ossian (OH-see-ahn, Swedish, Finnish; AW-see-an, AWSH-en, English)--from Irish Oisín, "little deer"
  • Roldán (rol-DAHN, Spanish)--form of Roland
  • Savino (sah-VEE-noh, Italian)--form of Sabine
  • Tynan (TYE-nan, English)--from Irish surname, prob. from Tuíneán, "watercourse", or Teimhnín, "dark"
  • Xiomar (see-oh-MAR, Spanish)--masculinization of Xiomara, prob. from Germanic "battle-famous"
  • Zanoah (zan-OH-ah, [Biblical] Hebrew)

2 comments:

  1. For some interesting names, watch Hinterlands. Ffion showed up, and I think possibly Iwan, though I wouldn't swear to it. It's filmed in both Welsh and English.

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  2. And actually, Ffion is the #27 most popular name in Wales for girls, so not really that rare.

    ReplyDelete