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Baylor

Baylor is a name that sounds similar to modern favorites Blair and Taylor, giving it a slightly preppy vibe, yet it has an almost medieval underlying quality - like something out of a fantasy story. It is generally taken to mean "one who delivers goods" from the English term bailor. We are a bit uncertain, but it is first found as a surname after the Norman Invasion in the form of Baeler, in Westmoreland. As a German occupational surname, from beile, it means "measuring stick," given in reference to those who made them or inspected them.

Baylor is relatively new in terms of popularity, first popping onto the top 1000 in 2014 for boys, with 218 boys given the name that year, and soon it will break the top 1000 for girls because it was given to 215 girls in 2015. It remains an uncommon choice for either gender - at least until it climbs higher on the chart. Popularity might be in part thanks to Baylor University, founded by R.E.B. Baylor. The spelling Bailor was given to 5 boys in 2016.

Balor in Irish mythology is a completely separate name. From the Celtic name Baleros, this name means "the deadly one," and in myth Balor was a one-eyed giant, whose eye destroys everything in sight when open.

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