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SSA Reappearances


Nameberry recently did a post on names that had once been on the SSA charts, dissappeared for a while, then reemerged in 2011. You can find the post here, but I wanted to share some of the names I felt were quite special.

Girls:

Amalia, gone since 1932 (76 years) now ranks at #922. This Latinized Germanic name means "work, laborious," and comes from the same root as Amelia (a blend of Emilia and Amalia, which ranks at #30), and Ameline/Amelina. It is also related to Emma, Emilia, Emmeline and Emily - call them cousins. In Spanish, Maya is a short form of Amalia.

Nova - this celestial name caught on quickly. Meaning "new," nova refers to a star that releases a huge burst of energy in bright color for a short time. Other celestial names are beginning to gain interest, such as Nebula and Orion. Nova now ranks at #884. Quite the jump.

Renata - this Italian beauty means "to be reborn," meaning reborn by baptism in most cases. There was a Saint Renatus, from which come Renato and Renata. A cute nickname is Ren.

Galilea - Yes, like Galileo. It is Italian and Hebrew meaning "a rolled sheet." Boring meaning aside, Galilea is quite pretty. It is also Spanish for the place Galilee.

Yuliana - an international variant of Julia, which can also be spelled Ulyana. This could be due to an influx of nationalities.

Boys:

Miller - I saw this one coming. I had a friend whose last name was Miller, and it was such an attractive option that he went solely by his surname. However, this one is being used by girls now.

Harvey - this one could be due to Harvey Dent the Batman character.

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