I have what might be good news for prospective parents looking to name their child. There are fewer total names in the world than you might think.

For example, here is an incomplete list of names that mean “John”:

1. John
2. Ian
3. Evan
4. Shane
5. Sean or Shawn
6. Jan or Yan
7. Johan or Johann or Yohann
8. Giovanni or Yovanny
9. Ivan
10. Juan
11. Jean (male French name)
12. Jane
13. Jan
14. Janet
15. Janice
16. Janelle
17. Jeanne (female French name)
18. Juana
19. Jana
20. Seana or Shawna
21. Joanne or Joanna? Needs some looking into.
22. Eva
23. Evelyn or Evalynn?

And then there are the last names, everything from Johnson to Ivanova.

Here are some derivations of Mary:

1. Mary
2. Mara
3. Maria
4. Anne-Marie
5. Marianne
6. Marion
7. Polly (a British nickname for Mary, apparently derived from a young child’s attempt to say it)

Margaret:

1. Margaret
2. Maggie
3. Greta
4. Gretchen (-chen is a German diminutive)
5. Gretel

Elizabeth:

Elizabeth, Betty, Betsey and Bess/all went together to seek a bird’s nest./They found one, with five eggs in it,/all took one, and left four in it.

And that’s not counting Liz, Lizzie, Lisa, Liza, Elspeth, etc.

Derivations of Augustus, a Latin word meaning “great”:

1. Augustus
2. Gus (or, in the Bertie Wooster books, “Gussie.” For a man. I know.)
3. August
4. Agus (an Indonesian name — via Holland?)

All that to say, to my delight I recently discovered the origin of another popular name, Louis.

Apparently, Louis, a traditional name for kings of France, is derived from Clovis, a Frankish king in the 400s – 500s, who converted to Christianity and expanded his territory so greatly that he may be properly said to be the first king of France.

So, we have derivations of Clovis:

1. Louise
2. Lewis
3. Lou
4. Louie-Louie!
5. Louise
6. Louisa
7. Luanne?
8. Lula? Tallula?

Imagine finding out that your name goes all the way back to the 400s. Or the first century (John). Or the beginning of the race (Adam).