• The name “Maura” has been relatively unpopular throughout history

• The name has traditonally been attributed to Irish or Celtic culture, dating back to a 4th century Irish saint, St. Maura.
  

• According to the Social Security Database, it was most popular in 1964, when it accounted for 0.025% of the female baby names.

• After 2006, the name Maura dropped out of the top 1000 baby names in the US

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• In the 1930s, following Ireland’s independence from Great Britain, the economy in Ireland was struggling, resulting in a wave of immigration to the US during the 40s and 50s
  
• Because Maura is such a traditionally Irish name, this boom in immigration would explain the rise in the popularity of the name “Maura” here in the US.

• For more recent trends in the name Maura, you’d have to look at pop culture
• Possible explanations include the popularity of the show ER in which actress Maura Tierney starred.
• Additionally, a character in the TNT show Rizzoli and Isles was named Maura

• I plan on studying the immigration patterns more to get a better understanding of how Irish immigration impacted the popularity of certain names in the US from 1880-1960.
• This will include looking at the Central Statistics Office of Ireland to find the most popular Irish names and then cross-reference that with the Social Security Database
• By doing this, hopefully I will be able to find a link between the historical anti-Irish sentiment in the 19th century (resulting in Irish immigrants choosing anglicized names for their children) and why the name Maura didn’t enter the top 1000 names until the 1940s.