Thanks to Nicole (aka DirtyHippy) for suggesting today’s Name of the Day: Everett. As it just so happens, she’s the proud parent of an Everett herself.
We’ve never been opposed to last names in the first spot, though there are some who insist on drawing a hard line. Good luck finding the line with this name. Once upon a time, it was a variant of Everard, an English given name with Germanic roots. It appears that Everett (and the sometimes seen Everitt) developed as surnames for those descended from men called Everard, much as Jamison and John refer to patriarchs James and John. But Everett has been the preferred choice for both surnames and given names for generations. It is commonly seen as both, and has been for years.
While Everard might sound over the top unless you’re playing a knight at Medieval Times, Everett manages to sound both noble and comfortable at once. This isn’t about the name’s etymological derivation – it means roughly “strong as the wild boar” – but about what we hear in the name. Ever connotes faithfulness and loyalty; and something about the name conjures up forests of evergreen trees, too, an undeniably attractive image.
It’s a place name, worn by at least a dozen sites on the map, including the Everett Range in remote Antarctica and more familiar suburbs of both Boston and Seattle.
As a surname, there are plenty of Everetts, though none so distinguished or disreputable as to alter the name’s image. Some Everetts have been sportif – think Olympic medalist in track and field Danny Everett and former Chicago White Sox outfielder Carl Everett. Others boast wild intelligence. Hugh Everett III developed the “many-worlds interpretation” of quantum mechanics in the 1950s. The exact nature of that theory eludes us, but we assume Mr. Everett was no slouch. His son turned out to be quite creative, too – he’s Mark Oliver Everett, or Mr. E of alt rock darling the Eels. Toss in a few politicians and the handsome English actor Rupert Everett, and it’s a name that defies easy categorization.
While it sounds like it could be a recently revived choice, Everett’s charms have been evident to parents for well over a century. In the US, it has never been out of the Top 1000, and was a Top 100 choice for most of the 1880s, 90s, 1900s, 10s and 20s.
That translates to a lot of families with an ancestral Everett, just waiting for the name to be revived by a modern child.
In fact, Everett is fast on the rise. Nearly 800 little boys were christened Everett in 2007, up from 600 the year before and 450 the year before that. It’s still seldom heard, but as our fascination with two-syllable, ends-in-en names wanes, this is the kind of appealing, familiar three-syllable choice that is poised for success.
Everett makes my teeth ache as a first name. The only references I can find are as surnames. I find the sound rather harsh and while I like Yves on a guy (as well as Rhett), I can’t get into the smush of the two sounds. Weird, no? I wouldn’t blink at Everett in the middle but really find it unappealing up front. Surnames belong in the middle for me. There are very few exceptions.
Ooooh, not a fan of Everett. To me it’s a name one might give a pig. It reminds me of Elvira, of Elvis, but not as pleasant as either of them. I wonder where I got the idea it’s a hick-y name. I honestly can’t recall. I think there are a lot of better traditional names out there than Everett. (To be fair, I don’t like Evan, either. Maybe I just have a problem with names that have an E and a V close to each other.)
Haha, funny, I’m not a huge fan of Everett either. It just doesn’t sound very right, like too many syllables put together. I do love the name Emmett however.
Interesting reactions – my thought was that Everett would be a crowd pleaser! But I must say that I’m partial to the letter V … and I like Evangeline, Elvira and Evan.
Another, LOL at your pig comment! I’d probably call my pet pig Bacon.
Oh no! I think Everett is handsome, unusual, old-fashioned, and has a bit of a Southern flavor. If you saw Nicole’s little Everett, no doubt you’d fall immediately in love with him and his name.
Thanks for the reaction, AM. I think you hit the nail on the head with it being a name that is ripe for revival from the family tree. It’s a family name for us (but one we chose to use—-there were a lot of other family names it beat out) and a lot of times, the reaction I get to it is “Oh, that was my grandfather’s name” or “Hey, I have an 80 year old Uncle Everett.”
The syllable thing drives me batty, though. I pronounce the name “Ev-Rhett”, two syllables because that’s how my husband’s midwestern family pronounces it and I like the sound of it. But about 50% of the time, people say “Ev-Er-Rhett”, three syllables, which is pretty clunky to my ears. I don’t know if it’s a regional thing or what.
And thanks Elisabeth . . . he is quite the little charmer if I do say so my self!
I have an Everett, but he is a pet… everyone thinks it’s an unusual choice for man or beast but I hope they will become more familiar and there will be some little human Everetts soon…
Chloe, great choice! But I’m intrigued – is your Everett canine, feline or something more exotic?
Hi, my Everett is a guinea pig!
All of your comments are interesting to me. I’m now 76 years. I was neutral about my given name, “Everett”, until in my teenage years trying to play baseball well enough to be chosen by my peers to be their team mate. They took a vote on my name and decided I could play the game with greater skill if my name changed to “Harry”. Done, and for thirty LONG years. Everyone knew me as “Harry”. As I matured and took on my own personalty I grew to dislike the “sing-songy” full name of “Harry Harriman”. Only when I moved my career from Georgia to California was I able to begin the long but successful transition back to “Everett”, where I am today back in my native New England.
There’s a town near me called Everett, and so I suppose I have more exposure than most. I really like this name, but with the town, it might make it a tough choice.
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I love the name, though not it’s rising popularity. The name suits my three year old little monster perfectly and I love all the nicknames we’ve been able to call him over the years: Rett, Ev, Ever, even Evie.