The baby name Poppy combines an upbeat sound and vibrant color with a powerful association.
Thanks to Elisabeth for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
THE MEANING OF POPPY
The baby name Poppy comes straight from the flower.
And the flower? There’s no mysterious meaning or deep backstory.
In Latin, it is papaver. In Old English, popæg.
It is tempting to link Poppy to Poppaea Sabina, second wife of Roman Emperor Nero. But it’s almost certainly just a coincidence.
REMEMBRANCE
The US celebrates Veterans Day on November 11th, in honor of the day fighting stopped during the first World War.
It’s called Remembrance Day elsewhere in the English-speaking world. While it’s less common in the US, the poppy is broadly associated with commemorating veterans and those who lost their lives in war.
Why this flower?
As the war ended, wild poppies grew in the fields where so many lost their lives. Two poems cemented the connection: Canadian John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields and American-born Moina Michael’s We Shall Keep the Faith, a response to McCrae.
… AND FORGETTING
But poppies can be about rest, peace – even oblivion.
Remember the scene in The Wizard of Oz, when the Wicked Witch curses the field of flowers? She’s plotting to keep Dorothy and friends from ever reaching Emerald City.
Can’t you just hear the green-faced Margaret Hamilton cackling, “Poppies … poppies will put them to sleep.”
Poppies are the source of opium, a powerful drug used in medicine – and also the source of heroin.
However, it’s not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions the name of the flower.
BY the NUMBERS
The baby name Poppy has been used in small numbers for well over a century. That’s not surprising – a great many floral names enjoyed at least some use. If we name our daughters Daisy, why not Poppy?
British actor Elsie Mackay took the stage name Poppy Wyndham. It’s not clear if she was influential enough to cause the name to rise in use. But she made her first film in 1919, the same year more than five girls received the name in the US for the first time.
Mackay went on to have a fascinating life. She became an interior decorator, working on opulent ocean liners. Later, she earned her pilot’s license. During an attempt to cross the Atlantic, her plane disappeared.
But she had dropped Poppy by then.
It rose again in the 1970s.
Sissy Spacek played a character named Poppy in 1972’s Prime Cut, a crime drama. It was controversial – for violence, among other things – at the time. It might be enough to explain the name’s modest rise.
But mostly, the baby name Poppy never caught on in the US. As of the year 2000, just 6 girls received the name.
By 2008, when the first version of this entry appeared, the number was just 73.
BRITISH BLOOM
In the UK, though, the story was very different.
EastEnders gave us a minor character called Poppy Meadow.
Another familiar figure is Harry Potter’s Poppy Pomfrey. While she appears throughout the series, the ever-busy Hogwarts school nurse is most often referred to as Madam Pomfrey.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and wife Jools Norton named their firstborn Poppy Honey Rosie, beginning a string of sweetly nature-named children, way back in 2002.
In fact, the baby name Poppy entered the England & Wales Top 50 in 2002, and spent a few years in the Top Ten.
The name caught on earlier elsewhere in the English-speaking world, too.
Australian actor Poppy Montgomery gets some credit for the name’s success. She’s one of several botanically-named sisters, including Rosie, Daisy, Lily, and Marigold. Her daughter is Violet.
MOVE OVER, SCARLETT and RUBY
As American parents fell hard for nature names, the baby name Poppy went from undiscovered possibility to white hot British import.
Plenty of high-profile parents chose the name, with designer and television hosts Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent welcoming Poppy Brent-Berkus in 2015.
2016 gave us Anna Kendrick as the adorable, pink-haired Poppy at the center of Trolls. Sequels followed.
Modern Family’s Haley Dunphy grew up and became mom to twins named George and Poppy.
Along the way, it has surely gained in use. As of 2022, the baby name Poppy reached #338 – a new high, with no signs of slowing down.
What do you think of the baby name Poppy?
Originally published on May 21, 2008. It was substantially revised and re-posted on July 29, 2013; March 30, 2022; and April 30, 2024.
Poppy
vibrant + vintage
Vibrant red Poppy fits with antique Lily and modern Willow. We associate this vibrant red name with remembrance, a powerful meaning.
Popularity
#338 as of 2022
Trend
gaining in use
Origin
from an Old English name for the flower, associated with remembrance
Hi.
I am a 20 year old (girl) from Sweden, my name is Lillielle.
In sweden there are only two people named Lillielle, and I would love to se more have my beautiful name. Do you know anyone named Lillielle? would like to know
kramar “Lillan”
Matilda Poppy Rae – that’s a GORGEOUS combo!
I have a real affection for names that end in y in the middle spot. Not sure why – and we actually haven’t gone that route – but I love them!
I absolutely adore Poppy. I may be biased, as it is my eldest’s middle name [Matilda Poppy Rae], but I love her zest and the reoccurring P sound is so enchanting to me!
Poppy may be set to spike on our shores, then – so often looking at the Top 50 in the UK is a good way to guess the next hot names in the US. You’re just a bit more fashion-forward than we are in this regard.
As for Lily – sigh. Add up the variants making the Top 1000 in the US in 2007 – Liliana, Lilianna, Lilliana, Lillianna, Lilyana, Lilian, Lillian, Lilia, Lily, Lilly and Lillie – there were 22,005 baby girls given this name. That makes it a Top Ten pick.
We’re living in a Garden of Girls these days.
I’m amazed that Poppy is not in the US top 1000 names because as Elisabeth noted, the name is incredibly popular in the UK. A friend of mine recently named her daughter Poppy as she was born on the aforementioned ‘Poppy’ day but I have to say that despite the obvious associations of this, I have never once linked the name to death (nor opium). It’s funny how people ascribe to a name such different connotations. For example – to me Holly is the least favourable of this name type as I cannot escape the image of a prickly, drab, winter plant.
The way I see it, (in the UK) Poppy like Daisy and Lily was seen as a natural, hippy cool, simple yet daring name to give your daughter 10-20 years ago but now seems a little ‘done’ and far too mainstream to be cool. To prove my point, the birth annoucement page in my local rag contained no less than 4 Lilys this week!
However, to my mind, the fatal flaw of these names is not their over-popularity but the ‘flimsiness’ that was mentioned above. Punchy, sweet and feminine they may well be, but they remain nicknames and can never transcend that status. For that reason, I adore your idea of using Poppy as a nickname for Penelope as much as I love the idea of Milly as nickname for the infinately more ‘proper’ Millicent….
I must admit, I am crazy about Poppy. Perhaps as a middle name or a nickname, but the triple P power and that orange-red color, not to mention that the poppies were in bloom in Provence when I was there, drives me wild. A little too wild, perhaps. The opium and heroine reference is not a great one, and I think a pre-teen could get terribly teased, so I too pause on this one.
Poppy is rated #28 in England for 2007.
~Elisabeth
http://www.youcantcallitit.com
I forgot about Uzi and Ari, LOL!
As for Miss Lillielle Jaidyn Maryssa – goodness, they packed every questionable naming trend onto one birth announcement, didn’t they? Well – she could’ve been called Lillielle Jaidyn Maryssa Destynii Savana, which would toss in misspelled noun names and place names, too. Wonder if they ran out of space on the form. 🙂
I like Uzi. It makes me think of The Royal Tenenbaums. Ari and Uzi are a great sib set, eh?
I saw a birth announcement for a Lillielle Jaidyn Maryssa a couple of days ago. It simply boggles the mind!
LOL at the seamy underbelly of baby names. Drugs, porn … time for a good name related to weapons. Gunnar, maybe? Uzi?
As for alstroemeria? I had them in my wedding bouquets. Maybe as a middle name. 🙂
I agree with you 100% on Lily – lovely but done to death. And Liliana, Lillianah, Lilyanna just crazes me. When you compare the stale Lily to the fresh Poppy – it sounds like quite the viable option.
Hey, if Maxim can make the list for boys with his own porn mag, Poppy can have drugs, right? 😉
I find it a fresh, English countryside sounding name. I’d love to hear it more than Lily right now. I’m so tired of Lily, even though it is such a pretty name and one of my favorite flowers. (I would never name a child Alstroemeria, which is my favorite flower!)