# Popular baby names. Pronouncing "George". **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036 "2007-12-23T18:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/41 "2007-12-24T04:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] Apparently if “George” doesn’t have an e on the end it’s pronouced “Gay-Org.” (Cite: The Sound of Music) [/QUOTE] In proper German, though, the final G would be pronounced more like a K. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/42 "2007-12-24T04:58:18Z")
[QUOTE=Ms. Pumpkin] Wow. My name was #832 last year, but in the 60s it was #8. Cool site. [/QUOTE] My mom had some affectionate names for all three of her sons. There was Punkin, and pidge, and snickelfritz. None was assigned to any particular son. Jakob Dylan’s influence on baby names may or may not be significant. Jacob fronts the Wallflowers, and his dad is ol’ Bob. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/43 "2007-12-24T05:56:01Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] It sounds like a variant of Eleanor. Nora, Elllie, Ellenor, Elinor, Elenore, Elanor… But ONLY one is correct: Eleanor. As it is written, so shall it be done. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I think it is. Possibly her parents didn’t know how to spell the name correctly. Back in the day it would been quite rude for the hospltal staff (or anyone else “official”) to correct them. I liked her a lot. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/44 "2007-12-24T06:05:34Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] But I think there was a popular Gene Stratton Porter heroine named Elnora, and people in Oklahoma do read a lot… [/QUOTE] Interesting. Thanks. I used to read a lot too, and I got a lot of pronunciation wrong. That’s why I think m-w’s site is so cool. I read, in front of a classful of 2nd graders I think it was, the name of a famous park as Yo-se-might. :smack: This was in a catholic school full of rich kids who had been there. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/45 "2007-12-24T06:11:10Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] My mom had some affectionate names for all three of her sons. There was Punkin, and pidge, and snickelfritz. None was assigned to any particular son. Jakob Dylan’s influence on baby names may or may not be significant. Jacob fronts the Wallflowers, and his dad is ol’ Bob. [/QUOTE] And he’s pretty talented. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/46 "2007-12-24T06:15:47Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] Abagail was the #6 female name for 2006? Seriously?! What next, a resurgence in Prudence, Mabel, and Mildred? [/QUOTE] Abigail is a very popular name in my area right now, it seems. I first heard it several years ago; the best man at my wedding has a young daughter named Abigail, “Abby” for short - when I worked at a children/maternity consignment shop, it was very popular. I also know of several Prus and a decent handful of Mabels. No Mildreds, yet. Unless Millie counts? But I thought her name was Millicent. So maybe not. Yet. I should name my child… Agnes! Or Edith! I wonder what it would be like giving birth to an 80 year old? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/47 "2007-12-24T06:20:13Z")
[QUOTE=Anastasaeon] Abigail is a very popular name in my area right now, it seems. I first heard it several years ago; the best man at my wedding has a young daughter named Abigail, “Abby” for short - when I worked at a children/maternity consignment shop, it was very popular. I also know of several Prus and a decent handful of Mabels. No Mildreds, yet. Unless Millie counts? But I thought her name was Millicent. So maybe not. Yet. I should name my child… Agnes! Or Edith! I wonder what it would be like giving birth to an 80 year old? [/QUOTE] Thanks for that quip at the end of your post. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Nya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@Fish\_Nya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Nya)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/48 "2007-12-24T06:45:50Z")
[QUOTE=Anastasaeon] Abigail is a very popular name in my area right now, it seems. I first heard it several years ago; the best man at my wedding has a young daughter named Abigail, “Abby” for short - when I worked at a children/maternity consignment shop, it was very popular. I also know of several Prus and a decent handful of Mabels. No Mildreds, yet. Unless Millie counts? But I thought her name was Millicent. So maybe not. Yet. I should name my child… Agnes! Or Edith! I wonder what it would be like giving birth to an 80 year old? [/QUOTE] I work at a nursery and there are several Abigails. Which is a bit weird for me, as I am Abby (not ‘Abigail’ as I’ve had to tell people all my life). I had only met one other Abby/Abigail until highschool or so, and then I see them everywhere. Actaully, before I started to see them, the only other place I saw Abbys were dogs or in old books. I’ve known at least one dog named Abby where ever I lived. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/49 "2007-12-24T06:55:40Z")
The stats for my niece’s name, Lily, are interesting. In 1890 it was ranked 283. Except for a brief resurgence around 1910, it went steadily downhill until it dropped off the top 1000 chart in the late 1980s. About two years later, it started rising and by the time my niece was born, it was about as popular as it was in the 1890s again. And then it really took off! Today, it comes in as the 33rd most popular girl’s name in the country. I wonder what caused such a rapid rise like that? Probably people like my sister, who wanted something nice that wasn’t too common. :smack: [QUOTE=jasonh300] Re: the pronunciation of George Are you talking about pronouncing the G more drawn out instead of the hard G sound. Kind of like the J in Jeanne (not pronounced like Gene or Jean but a French pronunciation or the Zs in Zsa Zsa? [/QUOTE] I’d forgotten about the French way of saying it. Thanks for the reminder. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/50 "2007-12-24T08:47:28Z")
My name peaked in the 1970s at 368, went down to 542 in the 80s, peaked again in the 90s at 455, then has gone down since. My name is Angelique and I was born in 1986, btw. Oh, and for what it’s worth: my name is pronounced wrong at least half of the time. Let’s not even start on spellings! Hell, even my nickname (Angel) is spelled wrong at least 75% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/51 "2007-12-24T10:14:42Z")
[QUOTE=Tikki] I wonder what caused such a rapid rise like that? [/QUOTE] Not usre how recently you mean, but Harry Potters mother is named Lily. Might be that’s fueling it. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/52 "2007-12-24T11:05:44Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Ruby, Lily, Millie, Daisy? Not long ago these were the names of aunts, not neices. [/QUOTE] With the exception of Millie, those are also the names of the maids in “Upstairs, Downstairs.” I wonder how Rose is doing these days? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/53 "2007-12-24T11:26:21Z")
[QUOTE=Anastasaeon] I should name my child… Agnes! Or Edith! I wonder what it would be like giving birth to an 80 year old? [/QUOTE] If your daughter looks like [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Bowman), then you’ve got other things to worry about 😉 [QUOTE=Miss Mapp] With the exception of Millie, those are also the names of the maids in “Upstairs, Downstairs.” I wonder how Rose is doing these days? [/QUOTE] No. 95 in England & Wales. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/54 "2007-12-24T14:23:29Z")
Those Edwardian names started re-appearing in the 1990s, as far as I could tell. Some of my friends and relatives in the UK have children called things like Maisie, Evie, Daisy, Ruby, Florence, Lily, Grace and Alfred - all born in that decade. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/55 "2007-12-24T16:47:47Z")
The French form has an s on the end, like in Georges Bizet. Zhorzh BeeZAY. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/56 "2007-12-24T16:48:20Z")
I’ve personally had about 6 or so “Jake’s/Jacob’s” come through my learning center in the past year. One thing which is certainly true is a rise in the number of “androgynous” names, like Jordan, Taylor, Madison, et al. We’ve had at least one male and one female example of each. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/57 "2007-12-24T17:16:11Z")
One interesting thing that I noticed is how you will see a quick uptick in a name’s popularity if said name shows up in a prominent piece of popular art. For example, my sister is named Michelle (b. 1966), and dontcha know that is the year when the name experienced just such a surge in popularity? And that it was the same year (1965 actually) in which the Beatles’ song of the same name made it into the charts? The name Annie (c. 1978) likewise benefited from **Annie Hall** and the musical **Annie**. Even Forrest got a short-lived rise in popularity after 1994’s **Forrest Gump** , but then became even LESS popular than before in a few years. (from the 400’s to the low 200’s, then back down into the 800’s), I’m guessing because of the mental nature of the protagonist and the numerous parodies which came out afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/58 "2007-12-24T17:32:49Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] The French form has an s on the end, like in Georges Bizet. Zhorzh BeeZAY. [/QUOTE] As we learned from the Hurricane Georges that came into the Gulf a few years back. Strangely, most people from Louisiana still refused to pronounce it properly. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/59 "2007-12-24T17:45:05Z")
[QUOTE=jasonh300] As we learned from the Hurricane Georges that came into the Gulf a few years back. Strangely, most people from Louisiana still refused to pronounce it properly. [/QUOTE] That’s not all that unusual, is it? I’ve been told by Louisianans that French don’t pronounce a lot of (french) words correctly. Baton Rouge, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036/60 "2007-12-27T03:44:35Z")
[QUOTE=Anastasaeon] I should name my child… Agnes! Or Edith! I wonder what it would be like giving birth to an 80 year old? [/QUOTE] I had a friend whose cousin wanted to honor both of the baby’s grandmothers. That is how Vera Agnes got her name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-baby-names-pronouncing-george/431036.md?page=4)