January Name Spotting

It’s the last day of January, and time for the first name sightings post of 2018!

Here are a few interesting names I spotted this month:

• Tishaminga – Her siblings had names that would have been popular/trendy in the 70s or 80s…really makes me wonder about this one! I can’t find any numbers for it. Has anyone else ever seen this name, and if so, where?
• Shealyn – Given to 12 girls in 2016.
  
• Alynne (deceased) – In this case, apparently a feminine patronymic form of Alan. Last SSA appearance in 2010 (first in 1999).  This Alynne was likely born before the name ever debuted, though.
  
• Tishawn – Last appeared in SSA birth data c. 2014 as a boys’ name. The last time Tishawn appeared as a girls’ name was in 1990.
  
• Jennings (male, probably child) – In 2016 (at last count), 62 boys and 14 girls were named Jennings. It’s on the rise for both boys and girls.
  
• Payeton – 5 girls were named Payeton in 2016.
  
• Rogers (deceased) – 7 boys named Rogers in 2016; peaked in 1950 with 164 boys.
  
• Navy – Assuming this name wasn’t a Freudian slip where I saw it listed (military family), then Navy is probably an adult. 152 girls and 29 boys were named Navy in 2016; it first appeared as a girls’ name in 1985.
  
• Mekele (adult) – Mek’ele is a city in Ethiopia.
  
• Senecca (adult) – Senecca (a variant of already-rare Seneca) was a boys’ name that appeared in the birth data a few times in the late 70s and early 80s. This person is highly educated and has a good job, which I feel is important to point out because of this name’s “youneek” spelling. Too often, people act as though children’s lives are instantaneously ruined if their parents give them names with non-standard spellings; they aren’t.
  
• Falkon (teenager or young adult) – Another variant spelling of an already rare name! I can’t find Falkon in the birth data, but 21 boys and 7 girls were named Falcon in 2016.
  

I think I also saw a guy named Ushinsi, though I’m not positive on the spelling.

What do you think?  Did you spot any unusual names this month?  Let me know in the comments!