Dark names for baby girls, related also with brown, secret, night, deep, and evening, with 138 entries. Girls’ names that mean ‘dark’ originated as nicknames describing a girl’s beautiful physical features, such as dark hair and eyes. The name Melanie was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and was the name of two out of five members in the 90s British band Spice Girls. ‘Dark’ names were also used to refer to dwellers of certain settlements, such as the name Ebony, which means ‘from the black wood’. Dark is also associated with evil and names with this definition are used to describe wicked spiritual beings.
Dark names are popular as baby girl names, and they are also regarded as fairly trendy. The names' popularity increased from the 1930s up to the 1950s. Their usage peaked in 1954 with 2.438% of baby girls being given Dark names. Within the top 1000 baby names then, there were 12 Dark names. The names have slipped in popularity since then. In 2018, their total usage was 2.336% with 17 Dark names listed among the top 1000. Among all Dark names, Olivia (English, German, and Italian) was the most widely used, with a ranking of #2 and a usage of 0.9707%.
