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Hurricane Paula: Baby Name Inspiration?
hurricane paula
Last month, when Hurricane Earl hit the East Coast, I asked, “Would you really want to name your baby after a hurricane?”
Now Hurricane Paula has hit the Caribbean and may reach the Southeast portion of the United States. Will it popularize my name?I’ve always been ambivalent about my name. I like the fact that it’s international (and I love it when foreigners call me “Paola”). I also appreciate the fact that people are familiar with the name and know how to spell it, but it’s not very common.
The name “Paula” also feels sort of dated to me — like it belongs to a 50s Bobby soxer. In fact, it’s been quite a while since the name Paula was popular.
I checked the Social Security Name Index and found that “Paula” peaked in popularity in 1954 when it ranked as the #38 most popular name (it was #45 in 1968, the year I was born). Last year, it ranked #786, the lowest since baby ranking began.
Perhaps Hurricane Paula will give it a much-needed boost.
On the one hand, you don’t want your child to be associated with devastation and destruction (as in Hurricane Katrina). On the other hand, there are some really great Hurricane names.
The Atlantic Hurricane list for 2010 features classic and cute names such as Julia, Matthew, Otto, Alex, Danielle, Colin, and Nicole.
It’s certainly an unusual method for choosing a baby name, but scanning the list of Hurricane Names over the years could yield some terrific names. How about Felix, Clio or Claudette?
Would you name your baby after a hurricane? And do you think the name Paula will make a comeback?
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photo: NOAA Photo Library
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0 Comments
Paula commented on Oct 12 10 at 5:17 pmComments
I named my baby Karl (28 years ago), and there was a Hurricane Karl this year. My name’s Paula, so there you go.
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