by Megan Smolenyak

Yes, I know – you’re too busy to squander time on the internet, but give yourself a few minutes off to play with your name at Behind the Name.  It’s oddly fascinating.  Of course, we’re all interested in our own names, but who knew there was so much to learn about them and so many ways to tinker with them?

Like most of us, I started with a vanity search by entering Megan.  The first thing I did was check out its popularity.  Way back in the Dark Ages when I was born, it was only the 390th most popular girls’ name in America.  But then it soared to 89th in the 1980s and climbed yet again to hover between 10th and 15th all through the 1990s.  Since then, it’s lost its novelty and dropped to 36th place–in the U.S., that is.  In Scotland, Canada, England and Northern Ireland, it’s still quite the trendy name.  I’ve often suspected I was the world’s oldest Megan since I never met another one until I was a teenager–and she was an Irish Setter.  Now armed with this substantiation, I plan to use this knowledge to my advantage by knocking a few years off my age as I get older.

Then I checked out related names and found everything from Gretchen to Margaret to Peggy to Rita to Maret (the last being Estonian, of course).  When traveling in Guatemala, I was called Margarita, and sure enough, that was one of the versions.  But according to this site, my relatives in Slovakia should be calling me Marketa instead of Magdalena.  Next, I inspected a page on a Medieval Scotland website devoted to the name, as well as a variety of comments, such as, “I hate the name Megan, it really gets on my nerves!”  I might have taken offense, except that this remark was anonymous, so I figured the contributor was equally dis-enamored with his or her own name.

Then I checked out name days around the world, based on my birthday.  Apparently, possibilities for me include Sara, Mariina, Ilona, Helga, Atanazja and Ingrid.  From there, I perused the top names in Slovenia in 2004 (Nika and Luka are really hot, in case you’re curious), the top names for the U.S. for 1900-1909 (John and Mary – now there’s a surprise!), and the top 200 names for adult males in Florence, Italy in 1427. (Giovanni was all the rage.)  After that, I poked around the U.S. Popularity Analysis and learned which names were the most consistently popular (Michael and Elizabeth), the top rises, the top falls, the most steady, the most volatile, the biggest recovery, and the biggest flash-in-the pans. (My apologies to anyone named Greg or Debra.)

But wait – there’s more!  I ventured into the Random Name Generator and asked it to serve up suggestions for Smolenyak.  How does Ruslan Kornel Smolenyak sound to you?  Or Esme Santos Smolenyak?  I limited it to Irish names and was surprised when it popped up Maeve Neasa Smolenyak–surprised, because the two other names my parents had considered for me were Maeve and Siobhan. (My mom had to get her Gaelic in there.) Then I set it on Slovak names and it suggested Jan Ondrej Smolenyak–Jan and Ondrej being names that probably half of the Smolenyaks on the planet actually sport.  If anyone in your family is expecting, I promise they could whittle away hours playing with the possibilities here.

At this point, I had finally exhausted my self-interest and started playing with family names.  My sister Stacy’s name only made an appearance in the U.S., but included rankings for both boys and girls.  And my mother’s name – Seton – stumped the band.  Since there was no entry, I submitted it for consideration.  After this, I explored theme names such as ones with lucky, airy, purple and sea creature meanings.  And who could resist having a look at names for twins. (Probably not what you’re expecting, so I’ll leave it for you to go see yourself.)

Yes, I know–you’re too busy to squander time on the Internet, but c’mon!  Aren’t you at least a little curious about your name?

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, co-author (with Ann Turner) of Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree (as well as In Search of Our Ancestors, Honoring Our Ancestors and They Came to America), can be contacted through http://www.genetealogy.com and http://www.honoringourancestors.com.

Upcoming Events Where Megan Will Be Speaking
— Genealogy Federation of Long Island
(April 8, 2006, Stony Brook, NY)
— Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia
(April 10, 2006, Elkins Park, PA)
— Virginia Genealogical Society
(April 22, 2006, Richmond, VA)
— Rockland County Genealogical Society
(May 6, 2006, New City, New York)
— Tidewater Genealogical Society
(May 20, 2006, Newport News, VA)
— Roots in the Boot
(July 15, 2006, Pittsburgh, PA)

Details and links to upcoming events