Emma Witmer
Greene Publishing, Inc.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
- Shakespeare
A name is one of the biggest parts of us. It is also one of the things we have the least control over. We may even wonder at times, “what were my parents thinking?” Chances are, however, they were not the first! Throughout history and across continents names have been passed down through generations, changing a bit here and there, before one was eventually printed on your birth certificate. Where does your name come from? Do you share a name with kings, pirates or both? How popular was your name when you were born? How popular is it now? To have your name featured in “What's in a name...” email Emma Witmer at emma@greenepublishing.com.
As in every year, someone, somewhere, is steadfastly collecting data on the most popular baby names of 2016 so far. Currently, Emma and Liam are the most popular girl and boy names (respectively) of this year.
Emma is a traditional French girls' name. Of Germanic (Frankish) origin, Emma stems from larger names, such as Ermintrude, whose root word translates as “entire.” From ancient France to Norway and Medieval England, popularity of the name Emma exploded based on the popularity of Queen Emma of Normandy, mother of Edward the Confessor. She became Queen Consort of England, Denmark, and Norway through her marriages and was one of the first Medieval queens to be visually portrayed on historical documents. The name Emma may also have roots in the Hebrew word immahאִמָּ֑הּ, a cognate of em אֵם — meaning "mother." The name was revived in modern history in the 1970's and has been extremely popular intermittently since that time.
Liam is a traditional French or Irish boys' name, and is derived from the names William, Wilhelm, Ulliam and Gwilym. Popularized in Ireland during the Norman Conquest there, Ulliam and William were eventually shortened to Liam. While Liam was specific to Ireland for many years, it spread to England, Wales and beyond during the Great Famine of the mid-1850's as 1.5 million Irish immigrants fled their boarders. Liam takes its meaning from a compounded old German phrase that translates to "helmet of will" or "guardian." Liam also has a Hebrew meaning which translates to "my people," or "I have a nation."