Baby Name Lottie: Sweetly Vintage

The baby name Lottie mixes vintage nickname style with ties to a chart-topping favorite.

Thanks to Ella for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

CHARLOTTE

To talk about the baby name Lottie, it’s essential to begin with Charlotte.

The French feminine form of Charles, Charlotte shares the meaning “free man.”

A string of kings called Charles ruled France in the early Middle Ages. (You might’ve heard of Charlemagne, Charles the Great.) Charlot is the masculine diminutive form; add an extra -te and it’s feminine.

While it’s traditional, the name first spread across Europe around the fourteenth century, and wasn’t widely heard until the nineteenth century.

Both Charlotte and Lottie – as well as Charlotte-called-Lottie – enjoyed a spike of popularity. And some of those baby girls grew up to make their mark.

FORMER FAVORITE

Famous bearers of the name include:

• Born Carlotta Tompkins in 1844 to a respectable family, Lottie Deno would grow up to become a famous – and successful – gambler in Texas and New Mexico. The poker player’s new surname wasn’t a result of marriage; it’s said that “deno” came from the Spanish word dinero – money.
• The daughter of German immigrants born in 1867, Clotilde Brielmaier also became known as Lottie. She’s remembered as a successful painter of religious subjects, and may have been the first female artist to establish her own studio in the US.
• Lottie Dod was born in 1871, and went on to win Wimbledon five times. The champion tennis player also competed in golf, field hockey, and even won a silver Olympic medal in women’s archery.
• One of the few actresses to make the leap from silent film to talkies, Lottie Williams was born in 1874, and would make over 70 films over the course of her long career.
• Born in 1876, Lottie Blake became a medical doctor – the first black female doctor in Alabama, and a pioneer in missionary medical work, serving in Panama and Haiti, as well as in the United States.
• Lottie O’Neill, born in 1878 and elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1922, serving for four decades.
• In 1893, Lottie Pickford was born. Sister to early Hollywood icon Mary Pickford, Lottie also went into acting. She was named for her mother, Charlotte.

In the late 1800s, the baby name Lottie – as well as the name Charlotte – was common. The US Social Security Administration reports name popularity data from 1880 onward. And while numbers from those early years are less than reliable, it appears that Lottie was more popular than Charlotte in at least some of those years.

LOTTIE MOON

While many of the nineteenth century Lotties were women of accomplishment, there’s one that may still come to mind: missionary Lottie Moon.

Born in 1840 in Virginia, she was well-educated, earning a master’s degree at a time few women – particularly Southern women – had done so.

A member of the Southern Baptist church, she became a teacher, and then a missionary to China. Single women didn’t often take on such roles, but Moon’s sister, Edmonia, had recently left for the country. Lottie followed, learned Chinese, and convinced the entire Southern Baptist hierarchy to expand women’s roles in the field.

Her name lives on in Southern Baptist circles through the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.

LISA and LOTTIE

Outside of Southern Baptist circles, though, the baby name Lottie slid towards obscurity.

There were still Charlottes, of course. But by the 1970s, the classic name had left the US Top 200. And Lottie was out of the Top 1000 entirely.

The name might’ve gotten a boost from Disney.

Back in 1942, German author Erich Kastner wrote a tale of Das doppelte Lottchen – The Double Lottie. Identical twin sisters Lisa and Lottie were separated by their divorcing parents in infancy. They meet, by chance, at summer camp and decide to switch places. All ends happily, with the girls reuniting their parents in the process.

Sound familiar? In 1961, Disney adapted the book as The Parent Trap. Hayley Mills starred as both sisters – but they were renamed Sharon and Susan.

It was a smash hit. Sequels followed, as did a 1998 reboot starring Lindsay Lohan. But this time the sisters are Hallie and Annie.

Again, no boost for the first name Lottie.

DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET

In England, you might think of something different – The Duchess of Duke Street, a BBC period drama set in turn-of-the-century London. The “duchess” in the story is a humbly-born woman who works her way up to proprietor of a fashionable hotel.

Along the way, Louisa – the duchess – gives birth to daughter Lottie, who is adopted by another couple. Lottie discovers the truth, though, and Louisa pays to educate her.

The name would’ve sounded exactly right for the show’s era. But during its 1976 to 1977 run, very few English parents were naming their daughters Lottie.

THE PRINCESS and THE FROG

The times are changing, though, by the year 2004.

That’s when we meet Disney’s first princess of color, The Princess and the Frog’s aspiring chef Tiana, who also happens to spend some time as a frog and marry Prince Naveen along the way.

Released in 2004, the New Orleans-set animated movie also introduced us to the wealthy debutante Charlotte “Lottie” La Bouff, BFF to hard-working Tiana.

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE

By the time Will and Kate welcomed their second child, the girl’s name Charlotte was a Top 25 choice in the United Kingdom, and a Top Ten favorite in the US.

No question, though, that the 2015 birth of Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge – now Wales – helped raise the name’s profile.

More recently, Bridgerton introduced us to a fictional version of Queen Charlotte, cementing the name’s status as thoroughly royal.

But in more recent years, it’s been rumored that Kate calls her daughter Lottie, and she’s been heard using the nickname in public.

Of course, Lottie sounds different in British English. It’s a little crisper, with Ts enunciated. American Ts tend to sound more like Ds – Loddie.

Perhaps that’s why the most common short form of the popular name is Charlie instead.

YELLOWJACKETS

In November 2021, Yellowjackets debuted on Showtime. It’s the story of a girls’ soccer team flying to a tournament when it crashes. The survivors endure nineteenth months surviving in the Canadian wilderness before they’re rescued.

The story jumps between their harrowing struggle for survival as teenagers and their adult lives, still very much shaped by their experience.

It’s a dark and twisted story, but it’s also a smash hit. And one of the soccer players who makes it from the crash to the present day? Her name is Lottie.

There’s nothing like a television series to put a name on parents’ short lists.

BY the NUMBERS

From the late 1800s through the 1950s, the baby name Lottie routinely appeared in the US Top 1000. In fact, the name held a Top 100 rank around the turn of the twentieth century.

It fell out of favor, leaving the charts in midcentury America.

By the 1990s, it was almost extinct.

But the rapid rise of Charlotte, combined with a popular princess and a television character all helped push the baby Lottie back into the spotlight. Over the last five years, the name’s use increased quickly, until Lottie returned to the charts.

SADIE and MILLIE

Another factor? We’re wild about vintage, nickname-style names. It’s not just Lottie. Goldie and Birdie are relatively fresh to the popularity rankings, too. And favorites like Sadie, Hattie, Millie, Winnie, and Frankie are all choices parents love. It’s a trend that hasn’t slowed.

It’s also worth noting that Lottie could be short for other feminine forms of Charles, like Carlotta. There’s also Loretta, a separate name. And Germany gives us Lieselotte, a mash-up of Elisabeth and Charlotte nicknames.

Any name with an L and a strong T sound could potential become Lottie, or even names like Dorothy and Clotilde, mentioned aboved.

SWEETLY VINTAGE

Overall, the baby name Lottie is a sweetly vintage choice. Just like Sadie and Millie, it stands on its own now. But the overall image is delicate and gently antique.

Of course, watching Lottie from Yellowjackets survive in the wilds of Canada might shift that image a bit. And Princess Charlotte helps brings the nickname into our moment, too.

Now that Lottie has entered the list of the most popular baby girl names in the US, perhaps more parents will embrace this vintage favorite.

What do you think of the baby name Lottie?