Which name will be LEAST popular this...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Which name will be LEAST popular this...
7
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 5:38pm

Which name will be LEAST popular this year (lowest on top 100 list)?



  • Elizabeth Rose
  • Lillian Rose (nn Lily)
  • Isabel Rose


You will be able to change your vote.


iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2005
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 6:33pm

I think the best predicter of this year is to look at last year's numbers. I don't foresee a major increase or decrease in the popularity of any of these names. I compiled the numbers for the various forms of these names. I included spelling variations (including adding an "a" to the end of Lilian or Isabel) but I did NOT include other similar names (ie Lilah, Bella, Eliza, Beth, etc). I was trying to keep it as close as possible to the exact names you are looking at. The numbers are pretty clear.

Last year there were:

23,306 babies born with the name Isabel -- Isabella (14,908), Isabel (3,552), Isabelle (3,220), Izabella (819), Isabela (532), Isabell (275)

16,722 babies born with the name Lilian nn Lily --- Lily (5980), Lillian (5141), Lilly (1879), Liliana (1764), Lilian (639), Lilie (587), Lilliana (489), Lilianna (243)

13,118 babies born with the name Elizabeth -- Elizabeth (12,453), Elisabeth (665)




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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 6:42pm

Wow! Thanks for the reply and the data. I think our choice will come down to what she looks like, what we feel, when she is born. But, I just don't want her to go to school with 3 or 4 girls of the same name (there were 3 Samantha's and 3 Daniel's in ds kindergarten class this year!).

If you have time and a chance, I would LOVE to hear what the numbers are for Ellie. We would probably, but not definitely, use that as a nn for Elizabeth.

Thank you so much Annie!

melissa

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2006
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 6:54pm

I think it's hard to predict how many people will use certain nicknames.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2005
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 7:19pm

You're welcome. I love crunching the numbers. :-)

Before I even look at the numbers, I'll tell you that Ellie is going to be painfully popular. This is THE big trend right now for girls. Ellie is a bit of a challenge though because there are SO many possible full names -- Elizabeth, Eliza, Elise, Eleanor, Gabrielle, Isabel, Giselle, Anabelle, etc. But there's no way of knowing how many of those girls will actually be called Ellie. Just for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to only look at names that START with El- since that is where nicknames normally come from. But we all know that is not the only place they come from. Here we go...

Elizabeth (12,453), Ella (8930), Ellie (1867), Elena (1575), Elise (1470), Eleanor (1213), Eliana (1026), Eliza (1021), Elaina (687), Elisabeth (665), Elle (584), Elisa (529), Ellen (505), Elaine (462), Elyse (383), Elsa (344), Elissa (269), Elsie (267), Elliana (262), Elyssa (244)

That's a total of 34,756. Now, again, not all of these girls will actually be called Ellie. But there are also thousands more names that are natural full names for the nickname Ellie that aren't included in this list. And, unlike the the others I discusses earlier, Ellie has not yet peaked. I DO expect these names to climb this year. Especially some of the names in the middle of the list -- Elena, Eleanor, Eliza, Eliana, and Ellen.

Of your three names, Elizabeth is my favorite. I think it's timeless. And although it's very popular, it won't ever seem dated in the way Isabel and Lilian will.

Don't get me wrong, I like Isabel and Lilian a lot. It's just that they went through a long dormant period before spiking up in popularity:

Lilian bounced around the top 20-30 on the SSA list up until 1928. Then it fell rapidly and didn't renter the top 100 until 2002. Now it's #49 and still falling. Isabel bounced around 200-500 until 1996 when it started rising rapidly in popularity. Now it's hovering in the 80s. The other names in their groupings went through similar usage curves. Long periods of flying under the radar and then rapid escalation to extreme popularity. When parents get sick of them, they will fall just as rapidly, and eventually will feel very dated to this decade.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, has not left the top 25 for well over 120 years. It's actually LESS popular as Isabel and Lilian (when you consider their alternate spellings) and it has the added perk of being timeless. The name has been used equally for centuries. It's not going to go out of style anytime soon, and it will never sound dated. It also has the bonus of providing TONS of nickname possibilities. (Including Lily, by the way.) If there are other Ellies in her class, she can be Elizabeth or Eliza or Lizzie or Beth or Lily or Betsy or Ella or ... you get the idea.

Clearly Elizabeth is my favorite of your choices, even in spite of the Ellie issue. I think Ellie is adorable, and if it's too popular at school she can be Elizabeth (or whatever) there and Ellie at home.




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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 7:35pm

Thanks Annie.

I posted a while ago asking about Lily as a nn for Elizabeth. I just don't see where it comes from as a nn. I told dh that if Lily was indeed a real nickname for Elizabeth then our choice was made, but I am still feeling a little like I would be making up a nn and I'm not much on made up names. Any ideas on where it came from as a nn for Elizabeth, or maybe it was just SO many Elizabeth's way back when that there needed to be different nn's. ????

Anyway, thank you so much for the info. If the baby is born on 11/19, my grandma's bday, then she will be elizabeth no matter what. Otherwise, we are still throwing the 3 names around and will probably be deciding when the birth certificate people walk into the hospital. :)

Thanks

Melissa
max, dylan, and dd due 11/23

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2005
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 8:24pm

I'm not entirely certain where Elizabeth nn Lily came from. But I can tell you that it's a legitimate nickname that has been used for centuries. I know that Lili is listed as a German pet name for Elizabeth. I also know that Queen Elizabeth was called "Lillibet" as a child because she couldn't pronounce her name. So it's likely that this childish pronounciation of Elizabeth is actually what sparked the usage centuries ago when there were so many Elizabeths that they all needed to use nicknames. (In the same way that Margaret became Meg which became Peg which became Peggy. Who would guess Peggy was a nickname for Margaret?)

I've met a handful of Elizabeths nicknamed Lily and none of them have ever had a problem with it and pointed to these examples if asked. It's a long-time favorite of mine.




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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2005
Sun, 10-08-2006 - 9:59pm

I was going to suggest Elizabeth, nn Lily (a two-fer! ), but I see it's already being discussed. As Annie mentioned, it has been used as a legitimate nn for Elizabeth for a loooong time, so you have no reason to feel like you're "making up" a nn ... and even if you were, so what? It's a nn -- a term of endearment, if you will. But then most on here know my youngest has an unconventional nn, so that's just my opinion. Oh, and as Annie also mentioned, I think Lily as a nn stems from the childish pronunciation "Lillibet/Lilybet," but I've also heard that as a form of Elizabeth itself, so who knows? If I were you, I'd say you have your winner. ;)

~Kelli


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