Communist Revolution Names

Currently overshadowed by the bright and lively Leo, Leon feels a slightly more serious, more quietly confident than its short and trending counterpart.

This pet form of Helena and other ena-ending names, long used as an independent name, is attracting notice again as an option both multicultural and simple. Lena was a Top 100 name from 1880 to 1920.

A Top 100 name from 1896 to 1921, Leona reached as high as Number 72. Since then, Leona had seemed to be one of the most unfashionable of the pride of lion names, but singer Leona Lewis has done a lot to rejuvenate it. Leona returned to the Top 1000 in 2009 after decades of being away.

A lovely (and uncommon) longer form for Nora, one of the most fashionable international nickname names around. Lenora fell off the US charts in the 70s, but just re-entered in 2022 as parents' love for short forms Leni and Nora is growing.

Vladimir is a cultured and deep-rooted Slavic name associated in this country with cultural figures including piano virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz and the author of Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov.

Manly almost to the point of macho.

Justice, one of the rare virtue names for boys, entered the popularity ranks in 1992, and has remained on the list ever since. Parents' search for names implying virtue has led to a mini-revival of this long-neglected name in both its German homonymic form, Justus, and as the word itself. Steven Seagal was ahead of the curve when he used it back in 1976.

Marlene Dietrich made it famous when she condensed her first two names, Maria and Magdalena. Now more often pronounced with two syllables rather than three.

Melor is the name of a Breton saint who in legend was also a prince, suggesting he was the son of a Cornish king (Mylor is the Cornish variation of the name). Melor was said to have a foot and hand made of silver,

A name with various origins, Elmira combines the sounds of multicultural Mira with the popular El- beginning. Despite this, the name is rarely heard in the US, though it does rank in the Top 100 names in Azerbaijan.

Best associated with Vladimir Lenin, the Russian Revolutionist and the founder of the Soviet state, this surname-style name is used in Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and sometimes India. Also spelled as Lenín, around 50 babies have received the name each year in the US since the mid 2000s.

Both Karla and Carla are sliding down the ranks, though Karla remains far more popular in the USA than Carla.

German philosopher and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx will be most people's immediate association with this uncommon name. The author of The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital is widely considered to be the father of international communism.

A vocabulary word used as a name in many Slavic countries, Iskra means "spark" or "sparkle". It was the name of a revolutionary communist newspaper founded by Lenin in 1900. A famous modern bearer is English model Iskra Lawrence.

Justice is a fashionable word name, used for both girls and boys. Justice has the distinction of being a virtue name without the religious implications of Faith or Grace. It still feels more male than female, perhaps partly due to the classic Roman name Justus, but Justice has become a more common pick for girls in recent years.

Though most Mels are playing pinochle with Murray and Morris, there was a notable Saint Mel. He is one of the earliest Irish saints, a nephew of St. Patrick. He became a priest, then built a great monastery where he served as abbot.

Once a short form of names containing this syllable, it is now used on its own, though we'd prefer Sven.

Not one but two Spice Girls are named Mel, which led to it briefly being more popular for girls than boys in the 90s and early 00s, but it has now fallen out of favor for both sexes.