Skip to main content

Flora


Flora is a girl's name lurking just outside the U.S. top 1000, with 173 girls born in 2015 - a noticeable increase from 90 in 2006. It was last on the charts in 1972, but her heyday was in 1920. It seems F- names in general are not very popular.

Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, has a Latin name meaning "flower," and its spelling is one letter away from "floral," making it undeniably feminine and flowery, yet it can be considered more womanly than girlish with its vintage charm, and a name that truly ages well. Flora doesn't make you think of vain pretty-girls who wear floral prints, it somehow makes you think of a traditional, nurturing woman who is kind. Also, what better name for a springtime baby?

I'm not a big fan of nicknames for Flora, which usually include Flo, Flor, Florry and Flossie, so I suggest getting creative. Not all nicknames have to be a shortened version of the full name. Her nickname could very well be Flower or Fleur. Famous namesakes include Flora Tristan, a socialist/writer/feminist, and Flora MacDonald, a Scottish folk hero, and a Spanish saint of 851 whose name day is November 24.

There are plenty of variations on this name, including Floria, last seen in 2006 on 6 baby girls, an odd pop-up since it was last seen in 1989 on just 5 girls. It was used since at least 1898 but never on more than 37 babies in a year. Floriana is the frillier version, only seen in 2002 on 6, 2006 on 5, 2011 on 6 and 2012 on 5 baby girls. Florina falls somewhere between the previous two spellings, used more regularly but never on more than 12 girls in a year. There are a few more unusual options, including Florabelle and Florella, which haven't seen light since the 1940's.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Angie @ Upswing Baby NamesAugust 31, 2012 at 5:20 AM

    This is one of my favorites. But with Nora and Cora becoming more popular, it is surprising Flora isn't more popular.

    I feel F is more popular, but more in sound, than appearance (ph) and often in the middle of names. Sophia and Josephine come to mind. For F at the beginning, I think of the growing popularity of Fiona. Felicity made huge popularity leaps in 2011. Philippa gets a lot of attention, but still hasn't broken the top 1000. I think we will see more F and Ph names in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CristinaAugust 31, 2012 at 1:31 PM

    I agree. I think Freya will break out on to the charts next year. I always smile to think how well liked Felicity and Fiona are.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sailor Moon Baby Names

As a long-time fan girl of Sailor Moon, I was thrilled to hear about a potential reboot of the series, which was supposed to be in 2013 and has now been pushed to 2014. It's been over 20 years since Sailor Moon first aired, but many still get a warm fuzzy feeling when they think of the show. What is not often mentioned is how well researched Takeuchi's name choices were. She covered gems, minerals, astrology, mythology and creative word choices. Today I'll talk about Sailor Moon names. Usagi Tsukino- Bunny - Serena - Princess Serenity - Sailor Moon Usagi means "rabbit" in Japanese, referring to the Japanese legend of the rabbit on the moon, and Tsukino means "moon." In the translation of the comics, Usagi was renamed Bunny appropriately. Keeping with the mythological aspects of the moon and both Greek and Roman moon goddesses, Usagi's character was given the concept of "serene," which gave her the name Serena in the American TV series (a...
3 comments
Read more

Galician Baby Names

I grew up on a street that was named an Italian variant of Roger. When I got married and we bought our first house, it turned out to be on Roger Street. Once noting that coincidence, I started searching for other variants of the name. However, female variants turned out to be pretty nonexistent. Save for Roxeria, which I later discovered was the Galician female form, possibly pronounced rohz-AIR-ee-uh. That led me to a few lists of female Galician names, ranging from common to rare. Here is a sampling of names not often heard here in the states... Albina Alda Alma Alodia Aloia Amada Amadora Amalia Amparo Anisia Antia Araceli Aranzazu Artemisa Avelina Azucena Baia Balbina Baltasara Beatriz Benvida Berenice Bieita Branca Braulia Caetana Carola Casilda Casimira Ceferina Celsa Cipriana Cira Clorinda Coralia Cornelia Cosima Davinia Delfina Desideria Dionisia Dominga Dorinda Dorotea Dositea Edelmira Edenia Elba Elvira Emiliana Etelvina ...
2 comments
Read more

Witchy Baby Girl Names!

Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse Have a little girl due in October? Looking to name a character? Here's my [seemingly endless] list of witchy-sounding baby names. Most of them also fit in the "clunky but cool" category, or "vintage." Most plants, trees, herbs, spices, flowers, gems, space and nature names fit the bill, because in stories and current practice these things are useful to witches. I've put any actual witch names from legend, myth, literature, movies, etc in bold and up front. I have not considered the names of actual, living people or their Pagan names, and I've left out any characters that only have a surname, or truly ridiculous given names. In the second half you'll see a list of names that, to my knowledge, have not been used for witch characters. Please know that this is not a complete list. Wikipedia has an almost complete list you can view  here . Tabitha, Samantha, Endora, Clara, Serena  (Bewitched) Katrina...
25 comments
Read more