Jason pointed me to a fun toy: the NameVoyager. It’s an interesting way to navigate a data set of the most popular baby names in the U.S. over the last century.

I note based on my explorations that the opening “ur” syllable has been out of fashion (with a few “Cur-” and “Kur-” exceptions and barring the recent popularity of Uriel) for such a long time that a revival is perhaps in order. Prospective parents, I commend your attention to the names Burnell, Eura, Lura, Muriel, Murphy, Pura, and Urban.