Another Playground Analysis - Overall Girls Since 1880

We looked at the boys on Monday... now it's the girls turn. You can see the original Top 25 in my original post on Nameberry,

Once I combined the spellings of the Top 1000 names, there are 745 names on the girls list. I would love to include all of them, but to save space I will just do the Top 100. The main name listed is the one that was given to the most babies and the other spellings incorporated into the total are to the right.

1	Mary	4,112,231
2	Catherine	1,761,314		Katharine, Katherine, Kathryn
3	Elizabeth	1,635,225		Elisabeth
4	Patricia	1,570,091
5	Linda	1,527,845		Lynda
6	Jennifer	1,486,418		Jenifer
7	Sarah	1,470,659		Sara
8	Barbara	1,432,454
9	Deborah	1,318,037		Debora, Debra
10	Margaret	1,237,972
11	Dorothy	1,125,482		Dorthy
12	Susan	1,120,028
13	Betty	1,059,795		Bettie, Bettye
14	Jessica	1,038,686
15	Michelle	1,025,489		Michele
16	Helen	1,015,038
17	Karen	1,011,400		Karin
18	Nancy	1,000,497
19	Lisa	963,508
20	Anna	962,147		Ana
21	Carol	926,158		Carole
22	Sandra	916,876		Saundra, Sondra
23	Ashley	905,025		Ashlee, Ashleigh
24	Kimberly	880,091		Kimberlee, Kimberley
25	Dona	848,888		Donna
26	Laura	842,074		Lora
27	Emily	840,385		Emilee, Emilie
28	Ruth	818,934
29	Teresa	814,028		Theresa
30	Rebecca	810,931		Rebekah
31	Ann	786,086		Anne
32	Amanda	780,639
33	Stephanie	770,190		Stefanie
34	Melissa	766,256		Melisa
35	Amy	755,675		Aimee, Amie
36	Kathleen	739,878		Cathleen
37	Sharon	720,198
38	Cynthia	706,439
39	Shirley	684,422
40	Rachel	669,677		Rachael, Rachelle
41	Christine	666,553		Kristine
42	Angela	657,475
43	Christina	656,179		Cristina, Kristina
44	Virginia	645,974
45	Nicole	640,155		Nichole
46	Kelly	639,134		Kelley, Kelli, Kellie
47	Maria	630,659		Mariah
48	Jean	620,223		Jeanne
49	Frances	615,550		Francis
50	Diane	612,567		Dianne
51	Brenda	605,398
52	Pamela	593,446
53	Emma	572,797
54	Megan	567,903		Meagan, Meghan
55	Janet	555,213
56	Carolyn	553,345
57	Samantha	550,105
58	Jacqueline	547,743		Jaclyn, Jacquelyn
59	Martha	546,694
60	Alice	545,984
61	Lori	545,178		Laurie, Lorie, Lorrie
62	Marie	533,942
63	Kaitlyn	526,733		Caitlin, Caitlyn, Kaitlin, Katelyn, Katelynn
64	Evelyn	523,878
65	Heather	523,352
66	Cheryl	517,492		Sheryl
67	Sherry	514,976		Cheri, Cherie, Shari, Sheri, Sherri, Sherrie
68	Joyce	505,752
69	Julie	505,063
70	Kathy	502,868		Cathy
71	Joan	479,460
72	Lauren	473,613		Lauryn
73	Rose	473,429
74	Brittany	470,923		Britney, Brittney
75	Doris	461,344
76	Grace	459,994
77	Allison	456,441		Alison, Allyson, Alyson
78	Victoria	456,174
79	Janice	453,495		Janis
80	Judith	450,877
81	Mildred	450,248
82	Julia	442,422
83	Hannah	437,502		Hanna
84	Brianna	424,247		Breanna, Briana, Bryanna
85	Tracy	421,161		Tracey, Traci, Tracie
86	Andrea	420,996
87	Lillian	412,968
88	Gloria	408,930
89	Diana	407,987		Dianna
90	Tammy	404,690		Tami, Tammie
91	Crystal	400,874		Krystal
92	Alyssa	400,394		Alissa, Alisa, Elisa
93	Kristen	395,018		Kristin
94	Jane	394,174		Jayne
95	Carrie	382,137		Keri, Kerri, Kerry
96	Judy	381,310
97	Olivia	376,907		Alivia
98	Beverly	376,261
99	Erica	373,159		Ericka, Erika
100	Stacy	373,071		Stacey, Staci, Stacie

Significant Notables:

Mary is obviously untouchable, so the most glaring difference is the new #2... Catherine surpasses Elizabeth, rising from #38! And how about Catherine being used more than Katherine? The difference is only two spots between the names on the overall list, but Catherine beats Katherine by over 30,000 babies.

Unlike the boys' Top 10, which only had one move within its ranks, the girls' Top 10 shakes up quite a bit after combining the spellings. Linda overtakes Jennifer, and Sarah jumps from #10 to #7. Finally, the name that peaked my curiosity in the first place, Deborah, moves up from #30 to #9. Susan and Dorothy drop out of the Top 10.

The biggest mover up is Kaitlyn, leaping from #234 to #63. A close second is Stacy, moving up from #226 to #100.

Other big movers up in the Top 100 include: Michelle (#24 to #15), Teresa (#81 to #29), Ann (#65 to #31), Rachel (#48 to #40), Kelly (#64 to #46), Maria (#55 to #47), Jean (#68 to #48), Diane (#58 to #50), Megan (#76 to #54), Jacqueline (#78 to #58), Lori (#98 to #61), Cheryl (#75 to #66), Sherry (#164 to #67), Kathy (#103 to #70), Brittany (#94 to #74), Allison (#131 to #77), Brianna (#157 to #84), Tracy (#150 to #85), Tammy (#105 to #90), Crystal (#107 to #91), Alyssa (#122 to #92), Kristen (#173 to #93), Carrie (#138 to #95), and Erica (#165 to #99).

Fun Notes and Surprises:

Sonya beats out Sonia by 276 babies.

Tricia beats out Trisha by 558 babies.

Dolly beats out Dollie by 578 babies.

Lillie has been used more than Lily.

Lindsey has been used more than Lindsay.

Sherry has the most alternate spellings in the Top 1000 with 7. The other names with 4 or more that aren't already listed above are:

• Hailey, Haley, Haylee, Hayley
• Christi, Christie, Christy, Kristi, Kristie, Kristy
• Jasmin, Jasmine, Jazmin, Jazmine
• Teri, Terri, Terrie, Terry
• Madalyn, Madeleine, Madeline, Madelyn
• Tania, Tanya, Tonia, Tonya
• Keira, Kiara, Kiera, Kira, Kyra
• Alaina, Alayna, Elaina, Elena

Which nickname suffix wins the battle? For the girls, I involved any name that ends with an "ee" sound at the end that had more than one alternative spelling included in the Top 1000. This would include -ie, -y, -i, -ey, -ee, and/or -eigh. The results are:

• Tops for -y (17): Betty, Kimberly, Emily, Kelly, Sherry, Tracy, Tammy, Stacy, Christy, Sally, Holly, Brandy, Molly, Shelly, Patty, Abby, and Dolly.
• Tops for -ie (9): Carrie, Jamie, Lillie, Leslie, Katie, Jennie, Kylie, Bobbie, and Callie.
• Tops for -ey (6): Ashley, Haley, Kelsey, Riley, Aubrey, and Lacey.
• Tops for -i (5): Lori, Vicki, Terri, Jodi, and Jeri.
• Tops for -ee (2): Kaylee and Lee.

Which wins between the C and the K? I separated out the names that started with the hard C sound (that included both a C and a K spelling in the Top 1000) and determined which spelling was used more since 1880:

• Tops for C (11): Catherine, Christine, Christina, Crystal, Christy, Carla, Chloe, Cassandra, Casey, Callie, and Carissa.
• Tops for K (5): Kathleen, Kaitlyn, Kathy, Kara, and Krista. 

Shawn ranks #567, James ranks #642, Michael ranks #676, and Robert ranks at #915 on the girls overall list (before combining spellings).

Another Playground Analysis - Overall Boys Since 1880

After using my database to compile the totals of names given since 1880 (as seen on Nameberry), and discovering that both Deborah and Debra were in the Top 10 for almost the entire decade of the 1950s, I wondered what a Playground Analysis using overall numbers would look like. While I sincerely wish I could use ALL possible names in my numbers, as has been so awesomely done by Name Nerds (boys and girls), I only used the top 1,000 names for my sums.

I have to say... this was so much FUN! So much more interesting than the analyses I've done over the past couple of years because this list included popular names from the past (Albert anyone?) and quite a few surprises in the results. We'll cover the boys today and the girls tomorrow.

Once I combined the spellings of the Top 1000 names, there are 811 names on the boys list. I would love to include all of them, but to save space I will just do the Top 100. The main name listed is the one that was given to the most babies and the other spellings incorporated into the total are to the right. Keep in mind that any name listed here is in the Top 1000 overall (Brayan anyone?)!

1	John	5,237,990	Jon
2	James	5,090,707
3	Robert	4,789,390
4	Michael	4,445,376	Micheal
5	William	4,038,015
6	David	3,564,806
7	Joseph	2,572,878	Joesph
8	Richard	2,552,110
9	Charles	2,356,638
10	Thomas	2,301,995	Tomas
11	Steven	2,121,022	Stephen
12	Christopher	2,043,687	Kristopher
13	Daniel	1,854,313
14	Matthew	1,612,583	Mathew
15	George	1,573,880	Jorge
16	Brian	1,552,467	Brayan, Bryan, Bryon
17	Mark	1,478,920	Marc
18	Donald	1,408,009
19	Anthony	1,391,262
20	Paul	1,378,834
21	Edward	1,278,445
22	Kenneth	1,274,944	Kennith
23	Jeffrey	1,265,218	Geoffrey, Jeffery, Jeffry
24	Andrew	1,244,448
25	Joshua	1,163,596
26	Kevin	1,147,119
27	Eric	1,086,530	Erich, Erick, Erik
28	Ronald	1,074,791
29	Timothy	1,057,417
30	Jason	1,037,818	Jayson
31	Nicholas	1,003,606	Nickolas, Nicolas, Nikolas
32	Jonathan	980,183	Johnathan, Johnathon, Jonathon
33	Gary	945,213	Garry
34	Frank	906,308
35	Ryan	891,029
36	Jacob	886,011	Jakob
37	Larry	803,136
38	Louis	793,849	Lewis, Luis
39	Scott	782,052	Scot
40	Sean	775,414	Shaun, Shawn
41	Raymond	766,283
42	Brandon	761,212	Branden
43	Justin	758,412
44	Samuel	706,532
45	Gregory	702,752
46	Alan	692,688	Allan, Allen
47	Benjamin	678,500
48	Patrick	662,370
49	Jack	650,749
50	Philip	640,106	Phillip
51	Henry	638,295
52	Dennis	634,420	Denis
53	Jerry	623,928	Gerry
54	Walter	615,975
55	Alexander	604,776
56	Carl	600,071	Karl
57	Zachary	587,818	Zachery, Zackary, Zackery
58	Peter	567,212
59	Tyler	564,675
60	Aaron	563,260	Aron
61	Douglas	555,478
62	Harold	548,324
63	Jose	539,819
64	Adam	528,687
65	Arthur	521,945
66	Jesse	516,145	Jessie
67	Nathan	509,323
68	Lawrence	493,206	Laurence
69	Albert	484,688
70	Gerald	471,717	Jerald
71	Kyle	468,985
72	Roger	458,610	Rodger
73	Christian	457,060	Cristian, Kristian
74	Joe	448,906
75	Willie	447,368
76	Keith	431,746
77	Johnny	428,933	Johnie, Johnnie
78	Jeremy	425,061
79	Terry	420,878
80	Harry	419,412
81	Billy	412,707	Billie
82	Ralph	411,563
83	Roy	402,065
84	Jimmy	395,452	Jimmie
85	Austin	384,942
86	Dylan	380,823	Dillon
87	Bruce	379,187
88	Derek	378,928	Derick, Derrick
89	Eugene	377,295
90	Glenn	371,611	Glen
91	Russell	366,014	Russel
92	Jordan	358,549	Jordon
93	Ethan	355,770
94	Wayne	350,665
95	Howard	343,977
96	Fred	342,391
97	Darrell	339,578	Darrel, Darryl, Daryl
98	Frederick	335,483	Frederic, Fredrick
99	Aiden	333,122	Adan, Aden, Aidan, Ayden
100	Juan	330,935

Significant Notables:

John/Jon overtakes James for the #1 spot.

Nothing else changes at the top, until you get to Steven, which jumps from #20 to #11.

The biggest mover up is no surprise to us in the modern world: Aiden leaps from #214 to #99.

Other big movers up in the Top 100 include: Brian (#24 to #16), Eric (#34 to #27), Louis (#79 to #38), Sean (#76 to #40), Alan (#92 to #46), Philip (#93 to #50), Carl (#63 to #56), Jesse (#77 to #66), Christian (#81 to #73), Johnny (#99 to #77), Jimmy (#114 to #84), Dylan (#97 to #86), Derek (#148 to #88), Glenn (#131 to #90), Darrell (#197 to #97), and Frederick (#123 to #98).

Fun Notes and Surprises:

Reid beats out Reed by 402 babies.

Reece beats out Reese by 629 babies.

Mohamed beats out Mohammad by 687 babies, and Mohammad beats out Mohammed by 754 babies.

Caden beats out Kaden by 809 babies. Caiden, Cayden, Kaiden and Kayden are also in the Top 1000 (the most alternative spellings in the bunch).

While Caden has the most spellings included in the Top 1000, the other names with 4 or more that aren't already listed above are:

• Corey, Cory, Korey, Kory
• Jared, Jarod, Jarred, Jarrod
• Daren, Darin, Darren, Darrin
• Braden, Braeden, Brayden, Braydon

Gael has been used more than Gale.

Xander has been used more than Zander.

More boys have been named Larry than Lawrence. Likewise, there have been more Freds than Fredericks.

Which nickname suffix wins the battle... -ie or -y? From the Top 1000 names (when both the -ie and the -y version of the nickname was in the Top 1000), the winner is -y by a close score of 8-7.

• Tops for -y: Johnny, Billy, Jimmy, Bobby, Ricky, Tommy, Sammy and Scotty. 
• Tops for -ie: Eddie, Ronnie, Charlie, Bennie, Freddie, Donnie and Robbie.

Before combining the spellings, there are 13 nickname-names in the Top 100, but they don't start until #30. In order of appearance: Frank, Larry, Jack, Jerry, Joe, Willie, Terry, Harry, Billy, Fred, Randy, Bobby and Johnny.

Mary ranks at #812 on the boys overall list (before combining spellings).

That's all I have for the boys (for now)! Look for the girls overall combined list tomorrow!

Close... But Not Quite

I just went on the hunt for names that were close to getting into Name-alytics but didn't make the cut. These would be names that only ranked as high as #101 since 1880. Much to my researching blues though, only two names fit this criteria.

Names are always shuffling around and those ranked at #101 are names either on the way out or up. All of the names ranked at #101 (except these two) were in the Top 100 at one time or another. The fact that these two names were both ranked at #101 in 1880 show me they were more than likely in the Top 100 in the years before the data was collected. This is a huge bummer (for my book's sake), because the "not quite" names are:

Perry and Matilda

Name-alytics includes Percy, but not Perry. I admit to really liking this name and was sad to discover that it gradually fell from its height of #101 in 1880 to completely out of the Top 1000 after 2006. It did have a resurgence in the late 1950s though, possibly due to the Perry Mason TV series.

As I researched Name-alytics, I often wondered why I wasn't seeing Matilda anywhere. We had Mattie, Maud and Maude in the mix, but no Matilda. Like Perry, it gradually fell out of the Top 1000, but did so much faster. Matilda was not in the Top 1000 (off and on) for 50 years, from 1957 through 2007. Unlike Perry, American parents are seeing its allure again and it is currently on the rise, up to #645 in 2013.

Important Note Making All of the Above Moot: Both Perry and Matilda didn't make the cut because I only took the Top 100 names from the list. Looking at the raw numbers, I see that they both actually tied the #100 names... Perry was given to 134 boys in 1880, the same as #100 Calvin; Matilda was given to 210 girls in 1880, the same as #100 Emily. So basically, Perry and Matilda were "not quite" names because they came after Calvin and Emily alphabetically. And/or because I didn't look at the raw numbers. However you want to look at it. ;)

Am I the only one missing Perry? Do you think Matilda will eventually break the Top 100 barrier?

If you are interested in seeing the names that did make the cut, get your copy of Name-alytics by clicking on the button below...

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Orphan Annie Names

I watched Annie with my kids the other day and couldn't help but sing along. ;) I also couldn't help but wonder if the orphans' names were their given names or just nicknames.

Annie is 10 years old in the movie and it's said to be the year 1932. Assuming all of these girls were born in or around 1922, let's look at the likelihood that they were named what they are called...

Annie - Annie was given to 7,472 girls in 1922 (0.5991%), ranked at #30. It's the most popular name out of the seven orphan girls. Was she born Annie though? Or was the fake birth certificate (in the 1982 movie) correct in saying she was born Ann Marie? The name Ann was actually less popular at the time, given to 5,054 girls in 1922 (0.4051%) and ranked at #49. She was always just called Annie in the original "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip, as far as I can tell.

Molly - Next is Molly, which is a possible nickname for the juggernaut Mary. However, it was a given name to 278 girls in 1922 (0.0222%), and ranked at #395. The Mollie spelling was more popular in the 1920s, given to 532 girls in 1922 (0.0426%) and ranked at #284.

Tessie - Tessie comes in third and was given to 251 girls in 1922 (0.0201%), ranked at #417. It is a nickname for Theresa, which was a Top 100 name in the later 1920s.

Kate - Surprisingly, Kate was less popular than Tessie, probably because it didn't have the popular-at-the-time -ie ending. It was given to 234 girls in 1922 (0.0188%), ranked at #444, while Katie was ranked at #194 with 1,051 girls given the name (0.0843%).

Pepper - Pepper does not have any recorded uses in 1922. In fact, there were no recorded uses of Pepper until 1937, and those were given to boys. The first girls were recorded as given the name in 1947. Keep in mind that all this means is that there weren't at least 5 babies given the name in a year.

Duffy - Duffy was only given to boys until 1958. It is an Irish surname, so maybe it was attached to her when she was left at the orphanage?

July - My favorite of the not-used bunch, July was not recorded as a given name until 1962. And because this girl was an orphan, I wonder if she was given the name in honor of her birth month, or maybe when she was dropped off at the orphanage?

I have no idea if names were even registered for orphans back in the 1920s (one of my fellow name bloggers is sure to know), but it's fun to speculate on these special little ladies. Which of these orphan names would you use?

On a side note, you may have seen previews for a new Annie movie coming out in December 2014 starring Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis. Name notes related to this movie: Molly, or the orphan/foster child billed as the youngest, has been renamed Mia for this new version. I see that there is still a Pepper and a Tessie. There is also an Isabella, but I am not sure if she replaces one of the other girls or is an original character. Will be fun to find out!