The name Nevaeh has become the 70th most popular name for baby girls in the US, ahead of Sara, Vanessa and Amanda.
The spectacular rise of Nevaeh (commonly pronounced nah-VAY-uh) has little precedent, name experts say. They watched it break into the top 1,000 of girls’ names in 2001 at No. 266, the third-highest debut ever. Four years later it cracked the top 100 with 4,457 newborn Nevaehs, having made the fastest climb among all names in more than a century, the entire period for which the Social Security Administration has such records.
Nevaeh is not in the Bible or any religious text. It is not from a foreign language. It is not the name of a celebrity, real or fictional.
Nevaeh is Heaven spelled backward.
The name is particularly popular with blacks and Christian evangelicals.
And how did this all get started?
The surge of Nevaeh can be traced to a single event: the appearance of a Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, Nevaeh. “Heaven spelled backwards,” he said.
Among the many inspired by Mr. Sandoval’s appearance was Jade San Luis, who named his first daughter Nevaeh two years later. “It felt original,” said Mr. San Luis, 26, of Cerritos, Calif. “Now, not anymore.”
Well, that’s the problem when everyone tries to be original together …
(via kottke)
Interesting. I know a Neveah from Ben’s playgroup. I didn’t realize the name was part of a trend.