Name of the Day: Amelia
She’s a daring aviatrix and gently old-fashioned, too.
Thanks to Rocking Fetal for suggesting Amelia as Name of the Day.
There’s a lot to love about Amelia. Like many a current chart-topper, she was a favorite in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She feels nicely antique, while still being easy to wear for a modern child.
Little wonder that Amelia has been a Top 100 pick since 2004, and reached as high as #68 last year. And that’s before factoring in Emilia (#401), Emelia (#960), Amelie (#781) and Amalia (unranked in the US since the 1930s, but common internationally.)
The name has two sources. Most agree that Amalia and Amelia stem from the German amal, meaning work, while Emilia and company trace back to the Latin aemulus, rival.
In all her variant forms, Amelia has been worn by a host of women over the years:
- Saint Amalia – or Amalberga – lived in the 600s;
- Aristocrats and princesses were called Amelia, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when two British princess wore the name. Today Princess Catharina-Amalia – still a child – is heir apparent to the throne of the Netherlands;
- Amalia Freud named her baby boy Sigmund – and influenced psychology and pop culture alike;
- Nineteenth century suffragette and writer Amelia Bloomer advocated for, among other things, less restrictive wardrobes for women – lending her surname to bloomers forevermore;
- Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. Earhart became a media darling. She disappeared near Howland Island while attempting a Pacific crossing in 1937;
- Fictional Amelias range from Vanity Fair’s Amelia Sedley to Amelia Bones, a minor character in the Harry Potter universe. There’s also Amelia Bedelia, a comical children’s book character, and Princess Amelia “Mia” Thermopolis, Crown Princess of Genovia in Meg Cabot’s popular Princess Diaries books.
Amelia’s possible nicknames are many:
- Some parents take a page from Meg Cabot and use Amelia as a formal version of another current favorite, Mia;
- There’s 1970s chart-topper Amy;
- Lia is less often heard, but just as valid;
- Mimi or Millie might also work;
- Opt for the Emilia spelling, and Emmy emerges as an option;
- Amalia sounds like she could be nicknamed Molly – though that might be a stretch.
And there’s no absolute need to choose a nickname for this one, either – Amelia would fit right in with Sophia and Isabella.
If there’s any drawback to Amelia is it her steady rise in the rankings. She feels like a logical sister to Olivia or Abigail – or maybe a substitute for parents looking for something just a little bit less common.
Filed under: Hot Names of 2010, Literary Babes, Little Ruler, Names for Girls, Names of the Day, Saints | 9 Comments
Tags: Mia, Mimi, Amy, Amelia, Emilia, Emelia, Amelie, Amalia, Amalberga, Millie, Lia, Emmy, Molly
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I’m terrible at figuring out familial relationships. I have a half first cousin with a daughter named Amelia (nn Mia), her brother is Alexander (nn Lex). I really want to like Amelia, just for Amelia Earhart alone, she was a hero of mine when I was little. But that “meal” sound in the middle? Makes me curl my lip funny when I say it. And I hate that. The “cousin”? She’s adorable! Almost seels the name for me, but I still make that face. *BAH*
Now Amalia and Amelie are two versions that appeal quite a bit to me though. Amelie is light and lovely, although I know a fair amount of people who’d butcher the pronuncation. Amalia is pudding; rich, lush and simply beautiful. And Molly doesn’t seem that that much of a stretch when I say it: ah-MAHL-yah.
The “E” versions do nothing for me. And Emmy? Blah. So tired of Emmy. Almost ALL the Emilys in my area go by Emmy. Yell it at the mall here and a hundred kids will turn around. SO I’m going to give Amelia a :thumbsup: but it’s a reserved one. Not quite wholehearted.
I am absolutely in love with Amelia! I just worry about her similarity to Emily, I wouldn’t want her to blend in with that crowd. I really love Amelia, though, I’d love to use her.
Emilia is so so pretty on paper, it’s a shame it sounds so similar to Amelia. I am also crushing on Amelie and Amalia.
But Amelia? It’s always sounded kind of… pharmaceutical to me. I looked it up, and it’s the name of a medical condition – the congenital absense of one or more limbs. But that aside, it has a nice meaning and several worthy namesakes. So I don’t mind the name, but it’s not for me.
Thanks so much! Amelia’s popularity turns me off, and I think it will continue to climb. Besides that, I love it. I have it as a middle name in one of my favorite combos, Ingrid Amelia. Amelia and Charlotte are my husband’s favorite names, and I try to throw him a bone every once in a while.
Amelia sat at #15 in my Australian state in 2008, with Amelie at #77. I do rather like her, and my daughter’s mn is Emilia (We chose the spelling because it seemed more visually appealing in the combo?) . Most Amelia’s in Australia go by Millie, I’ve never heard any go by Mia, funnily enough (probably because she’s our #1 name).
I much prefer Millie anyway, I kind of despise Mia because of the amount I hear her!!
She’s lovely and feminine with a subtle sophistication and I do really like her, plus, she’s easy to spell and say! I agree, I really like Amelie – I have a 4 year old cousin with the name – but people really, really destroy the pronunciation, so she’s out for me!
I really like Amelia, she’s dipped in and out of my top ten for a while now. I flirted with the idea of Emilia too, because like Sophie Gray I find her just slightly more visually appealing but always revert back to Amelia. The problem is she’s just so darned popular and so close in look and sound to Emily – and just about all my friends have an Emily. Still, she is lovely…
I have a huge soft spot for it: it’s my baby (okay, she’s 18 now) sister’s name! Amelia Margaret. She’s named after our great-grandmother Lois Amelia and our grandmother Margaret Isobella. She mainly goes by Amelia, but we also call her Mimi and Me-la and Meems. I find it so funny how trendy it’s getting. It was in the low 200s when my Miss Meem was born in 1991. Teachers always called her Amanda or Emily, and she hated it! Even now, as a senior, she’s one of two Amelias in her whole school. As a Kayt/Kate/Katherine, I was so jealous as a child. If I ever have a girl, her middle name will be Margaret, but if we had a second girl, her middle name just might be Amelia. I pushed for Charlotte Amelia to make our list when we were pregnant with James, but the huz hates it!
Haha I like this post.
I *love* Amália… I’m planning on using that for my baby if I have a girl (5 weeks til I know), and having Mali as a nickname. Amália isn’t an extremely common name in Portugal, where I spent a year, but it’s a legendary name, as Amália Rodrigues was the “Queen of Fado,” a soulful style of Portuguese music that expressed blues and protest during the Portuguese dictatorship in the middle of the 20th century.
It’s such a gorgeous name. And it’s amazing how different it really sounds from Amelia.