Count the Chloes
Let’s get this straight, I don’t like the name Chloe, but plenty of people do. For a long time, she ranked at #1 (between 1997-2002), and perhaps the over-saturation puts me off. I’ve checked my contacts list on my mobile – it includes 7 Chloes. I know more Chloes than Jacks, which says something. The name derives from Greek and means green shoot.
Since I live in a world of Chloe-saturation, I feel the need to share it all with you, so here is a quick rundown on the many forms of Chloe:
Chloe – #8, 3883 births
The most common English spelling of the name, she’s stuck around in the Top 10 in England&Wales for pretty much my entire life, since Chloe was at #11 in 1994, but interestingly only at #97 in 1984.
Chloë/Chloé
Worth a mention given that I have a friend with the latter spelling as her father got his accents mixed up when he went to register her, thus she is Chloé, not Chloë.
Chloee – #5707, 3 births
In French, you sometimes add an e to verbs to indicate you’re female, i.e. je suis allé becomes je suis allée. It mostly only applies to the Mrs. van der Tramp collection of verbs, that is, the ones which take être in the perfect tense (Each letter of Mrs.v.d.Tramp corresponds to a verb, i.e. s for sortir). I’m not sure this is the intention of the extra e in this name, given that Chloe is a distinctly female name. However, it does have me thinking about adding e to unisex names – Alexe, Harpere & Morgane. Thoughts?
Chole – #5707, 3 births
A completely different name or simply a misspelling of Chloe? You decide.
Cloe – #2235, 11 births
The actresses who played twins Tania and Tara in the rebooted St.Trinians film franchise were called Holly and Cloe Mackie. Whilst some deliberately misspell this name without the h, this spelling also happens to be the legit Spanish form of the name.
Cloé
I know two French girls named Cloé, and it’s a popular name in France at the moment. It’s worth noting that accents don’t count in the England&Wales data, so Cloé does not rank for this reason. Of the 11 Cloes above, some may actually be Cloés. This is the legit French and Portuguese spelling of the name.
Khloe – #485, 83 births
A spelling no doubt popularised by Ms. Kardashian, although the effect appears to have been felt more in the US than the UK, which mostly makes sense since she is American.
Kloe – #2589, 9 births
My sister has a friend with this name, she’s circa 9 years old these days. To be honest, without the h the name doesn’t look right in my eye, although I appreciate that Cloe/Cloé are indeed legit spellings in their native homes. Then again, I prefer Clotilde over Chlotide.
So, how do you spell the name Chloe? Is it just me that seems to know every Chloe going? Thoughts on this welcome as usual.
Mer de Noms 