Heather (given name)


Heather is an English primarily feminine given name. The botanical name refers to a variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas. The brush is native to Scotland and England, but it is more commonly found in Scotland due to its rocky territories. The name is derived from Middle English hather. The spelling was altered in the 18th century due to associations with the English word heath, denoting a location where the plant heather often grows.
Heath is often regarded as a masculine form of the name. Heath has also occasionally been used as a girl's name in the United States.
Heather is also a surname.

Usage

Heather has been in use as a name for girls throughout the Anglosphere since the 1800s, though it was most common in the United Kingdom and in British Commonwealth countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Newspapers.com records the use of "Miss Heather" in reference to a girl's name as early as 2 August 1852, in The New York Times. An infant by the name of Miss Heather Campbell arrived on a ship from Glasgow in New York, with her mother.
The name first appeared among the top 1,000 names for American girls in 1935. It was among the top 100 names for American girls from 1967 to 1998 and a top 10 name from 1972 to 1987. The name remained among the top 1,000 names for American girls until 2016 but has since declined in popularity. Heather was also among the top 1,000 names for American boys between 1974 and 1977.
Heather was among the top 100 names for girls in England and Wales from the 1930s to the early 1990s. It has since declined in use but remained among the top 1,000 names for girls through 2023. It has been a similarly popular name for girls in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.
Popular culture has affected usage of the name. The name steadily increased in use through the 1950s and 1960s but spiked in popularity after the Walt Disney Company television movie Guns in the Heather aired in the United States in 1969. The 1989 American teen black comedy film Heathers, featuring three evil characters named Heather, likely contributed to a decline in use of the name. The name was out of step with current fashions by 2018.

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Fictional characters