A fortnight ago I spent the week looking at some less than popular A names. Therefore, as almost a follow up of sorts, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a look at the other end of the spectrum at some popular names beginning with the letter A, specifically those in the Top 200 in England&Wales in 2013. With that in mind I’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 A names who’ve risen the most in the rankings since 2008, and now lie within the Top 100.
In total there were 16 names that have risen in the past five years.
1. Amaya
From her 2008 ranking of #464 to her 2013 one of #198 (a rise of 266 places), Amaya is the highest climbing female A name within the Top 200. This name is a variant of Amaia, which means the end in Basque. Amaia is also the name of a mountain and village in the Basque region of Spain.
2. Anaya
It’s interesting to note that the second highest climbing name is only one letter different from the first. Anaya climbed 249 places from #404 to #155. As for her meaning, that’s less clear than Amaya. She is possibly a variant of the Biblical name Anaiah, which means God answers in Hebrew. I’ve also seen some give the name as being from Sanskrit and meaning complete freedom.
3. Ariana
This name rose 174 places from #360 to #186. She’s the Italian form of Ariadne, which comes from Greek means most holy.
4. Arabella
Between 2008 and 2013, this name rose 168 places from #325 to #157. Arabella is a medieval Scottish form of Annabel, a name that is a variant of Amabel, who means lovable.
5. Ayla
This name rose 157 places from #329 to #172 between 2008 and 2013. She has two different origins: she’s Turkish and means moonlight; she’s also a variant of the Hebrew name Elah, and means oak tree.
6. Amira
From #306 in 2008 to #198 in 2013, this means this name has risen 108 places in the last 5 years. Like Ayla, this name has two different origins. The first is that she’s the feminine form of Hebrew name Amir, which means treetop; the second is that she’s the feminine form of the Arabic name Amir, and means commander/prince(ss).
7. Aoife
From a ranking of #298 in 2008 to #192 in 2013, that’s a rise of 106 places. Aoife (pronounced EE-fa) is an Irish name meaning beauty. In Irish legend, Aoife was a warrior princess.
8. Autumn
The first name on the list to have climbed less than 100 places is Autumn, who rose 61 places from #258 to #197. This makes her the second most popular season name in England&Wales, after Summer who ranked at #48 in 2013, down from her peak at #23 in 2008. Whilst Spring does not rank, Winter does at #1018 for the girls and #4685 for the boys.
9. Aleena
This name climbed 55 places from #217 to #162. She could be one of two things: a variant of Alina, or a variant of Alena. The latter is simply of short form of names like Helena and Magdalena. As for Alina, she could also be a short form of names like Adelina and Carolina.
10. Annabelle
The only name on the list inside the Top 100, as she’s risen 51 places from #114 to #63. This is also the second entry on the list for the Amabel family of names, with the first being Arabella at #4.
The other six names are as follows: Alexis (#166 to #120, 46 places); Annie (#162 to #125, 37 places); Alexa (#184 to #162, 22 places); Alice (#46 to #27, 19 places); Ava (#21 to #4, 17 places); Aisha (#105 to #94, 11 places).
What I think is nice about this list is it gives an indication of names that could be on their way into the Top 100 (except for Annabelle, who already is). Whilst it’s unlikely that they’ll all make it into the Top 100, it remains endlessly fascinating to me that the top 5 names are all from wildly different languages.
Mer de Noms 