NamePlayground.com News

The name Eris first entered the Top 1000 for the first time in 1923 at #458, the 41st-highest debut of any name for which we have data. This was probably due to the novel Eris by Robert W. Chambers, published in serial form in the popular magazine McCall's beginning in February of 1923.

This particular year is made more interesting by the fact that 23 is the sacred number of the religion Discordianism, whose primary deity is Eris Discordia.

In September of 2006, a dwarf planet discovered in 2003 was officially named Eris. Watch for the name Eris to perhaps return to the Top 1000 in 2006 or 2007!

The name "Derek" for a boy peaked in 1980 (along with several variants such as Derrick, Derick, Derik, and even Erik). Also, the name "Bo" peaked in 1981.

In an amazing coincidence, Bo Derek achieved megastardom in 1979 with the movie "10", and in 1980 with a Playboy cover.

Prior to 1973, Aubrey was a boys' name. It was not in the Top 1000 for girls. However, it was represented every year for boys. Then, in 1973, Aubrey cracked the Top 1000 for girls and has gained popularity ever since. Now, the overall total number of boys and girls named Aubrey are almost the same. However an interesting thing has happened. Since Aubrey has
recently become primarily a girls' name, it dropped out of the
Top 1000 for boys in 2002 and never came back.

The name "Darrin", as well as many similar names (Darren, Darin, Daren, Daron, Darron, Daryn, Darryn, Derwin, Darryl, Darryle), peaked in 1965. Then Deron peaked peaked in 1966

I wonder why.

Not surprisingly, Samantha had a huge leap in popularity in 1965.

The 2005 first name data has now been included.

Welcome to NamePlayground.com! Expect many more interesting first name discoveries soon!