Heather (given name)

Heather

Heather from the Hills, Arran, by Robert Herdman, 1864.

Pronunciation| /ˈhɛðər/
Gender| Female
Origin
Word/name| English derived from Middle English, hather
Meaning| Named after the plant Heather, which are a variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas
Region of origin| Scotland
Other names
Related names| Heath (Masculine form)

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.[1]

Heath is often regarded as a masculine form of the name.[2] Heath has also occasionally been used as a girl’s name in the United States.[3]

Heather is also a surname.

## Usage

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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.[4]

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 has been a similarly popular name for girls in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.[5]

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.[6]

## Notable people

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* Heather Altman, American real estate agent and reality television presenter
* Heather Angel (actress) (1909–1986), English actress
* Heather Angel (photographer) (born 1941), English photographer
* Heather Armitage (born 1933), British retired sprinter and British record holder for the 100 yards and Olympian
* Heather Armstrong (1975-2023), American blogger and internet personality
* Heather Bresch (born 1969), American business executive
* Heather M. Ferguson, professor, malaria vector biologist
* Heather B. Gardner (born 1971), American hip-hop artist
* Heather Bresch (born 1969), American business executive and CEO of Mylan
* Heather Booth (born 1945), American civil rights activist, feminist, and political strategist
* Heather Bown (born 1978), American volleyball player
*   * Heather Brooke (born 1970), British-American journalist and freedom of information campaigner
* Heather E. Bullock, American social psychologist
* Heather Burge (born 1971), American basketball player
* Heather Burns, American actress
* Heather Childers, anchor for Fox and Friends First
* Heather Crowe (activist) (1945–2006), Canadian anti-smoking campaigner
* Heather Dewey-Hagborg (born 1982), information artist and bio-hacker
* Heather Doerksen (born 1980), Canadian actress
* Heather Donahue (born 1974), American actress
* Heather Dubrow (born 1969), American actress and television personality
* Heather Rae El Moussa (née Young; born 1987), American model
* Heather Engebretson (born 1990), American lyric soprano
* Heather Foster (born 1966), Jamaican-born American professional bodybuilder
* Heather Gay (born 1974), American television personality, businesswoman and author
* Heather George (1907–1983), Australian commercial photographer
* Heather Goldenhersh, American actress
* Heather Graham (born 1970), American actress
* Heather Hadwick (born 1979), American farmer and politician
* Heather Headley (born 1974), Trinidadian singer and actress
* Heather Hemmens (born 1984), American actress
* Heather French Henry (born 1974), American fashion designer, politician, veterans advocate and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss America 2000
* Heather Henson (born 1970), American contemporary puppet artist, the daughter of Jim Henson
* Heather Hiscox (born 1965), Canadian news anchor
* Heather Horton (born 1974), Canadian fine artist
* Heather Hunter (born 1969), American entertainer
* Heather Jones (born 1970), Canadian field hockey player
* Heather Kozar (born 1976), American model Playboy's Playmate of the Month, January 1998
* Heather Kuttai, (born 1969 or 1970) Canadian Paralympic shooter
* Heather Kuzmich (born 1986), American fashion model and America's Next Top Model, Cycle 9 participant
* Heather Langenkamp (born 1964), American actress
* Heather Lawless, American actress, comedian, and voice actress
* Heather Lind (born 1983), American actress
* Heather Locklear (born 1961), American actress
* Heather Maahs, Canadian politician
* Heather Mac Donald (born 1956), American political commentator, essayist, attorney, and author
* Heather Mack (born 1995), American heiress convicted of murdering her mother
* Heather MacRae (born 1946), American actress
* Heather Marks (born 1988), Canadian model
* Heather Matarazzo (born 1982), American actress
* Heather Matthews (born 1946), New Zealand middle-distance runner
* Heather Mazur, American actress
* Heather McCartney (born 1962), American-British potter and artist, daughter of Linda McCartney and adopted daughter of Paul McCartney
* Heather McComb (born 1977), American actress
* Heather McDonald (born 1970), American stand-up comedian, actress and author
* Heather McMahan (born 1987), American actress, comedian, and writer
* Heather Menzies (1949–2017), Canadian actress
* Heather Mills (born 1968), British model and activist; the second wife of Paul McCartney
* Heather Mitchell, Australian actress
* Heather Mitts (born 1978), American professional soccer player
* Heather Morgan, American actress and comedian
* Heather Morris (born 1953), New Zealand author who lives in Australia
* Heather Morris (born 1987), American actress and dancer from Glee
* Heather Moyse (born 1978), Canadian bobsledder and rugby union player
* Heather Nauert (born 1970), American broadcast journalist and former U.S. State Department spokesperson
* Heather North (1945–2017), American voice actress
* Heather Nova (born 1967), Bermudian singer-songwriter and poet
* Heather O'Reilly (born 1985), American soccer player
* Heather O'Rourke (1975–1988), American actress
* Heather Parry (born 1971), American television and film producer
* Heather Peace (born 1975), British actress
* Heather Podesta (born 1970), American lawyer and lobbyist
* Heather Raffo (born 1970), American actress
* Heather Cox Richardson (born 1962), American historian, author, and educator
* Heather Ripley (born 1959), Scottish former actress
* Heather Shipley, American environmental engineer and academic administrator
* Heather Simms (born 1970), American actress
* Heather Small (born 1965), British singer
* Heather A. Smith, American nurse and academic administrator
* Heather Standring (born 1928), British illustrator
* Heather Stephens, American former actress
* Dita Von Teese (born Heather Renée Sweet in 1972), American burlesque performer
* Heather Thomas (born 1957), American actress
* Heather Thomson (born 1940), Canadian soprano
* Heather Tom (born 1975), American actress
* Heather Wallace (born 1961), Canadian squash player
* Heather Watson (born 1992), British professional tennis player
* Heather Watts (born 1953), American former ballet dancer and teacher
* Heather Whitestone (born 1973), Miss America winner
* Heather Wilson (born 1960), American politician and university president
* Heather Young (born 1945), American former actress
* Heather Young, Canadian filmmaker

Heather Bowie Young (born 1975), American professional golfer

## Fictional characters

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* Heather Mason is a fictional character in Silent Hill, a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Konami
* Heather, a character from the 1997 American television sitcom Arsenio
* Heather, the protagonist in the young adult novel The Faraway Lurs
* Heather, a main character in the Canadian animated series Total Drama
* Heather, a character from the game Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
* Heather, a character in 1996 American black comedy movie The Cable Guy
* Heather, a character from the Dreamworks 2006 3D computer-animated film Over the Hedge
* Heather Badcock, a victim in Agatha Christie's 1962 novel, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.
* Heather Campbell, the first love of Connor MacLeod, the main protagonist of the Highlander film franchise (not to be confused with Duncan MacLeod of the television series spinoff)
* Heather Chandler, Heather Duke, and Heather McNamara, the eponymous clique from the 1988 teen film Heathers and the 2014 musical adaptation
* Heather Dante, daughter of Tony Soprano's consigliere, Silvio Dante, on The Sopranos
* Heather Farrell, a former character from the original Degrassi series
* Heather Gushue, a character in the film Cyberbully
* Heather Hart, a character in the novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
* Heather Haversham, fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Brookside
* Heather Holloway, a character from the Netflix TV series Stranger Things
* Lady Heather (real name Heather Kessler), a character in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
* Heather Mason, the female protagonist in Silent Hill 3
* Heather McCallister, Kevin's eldest cousin in Home Alone
* Heather Owens, a character from Mr. Belvedere
* Heather Scott, a character in the 1989 action comedy film Speed Zone
* Heather Sinclair, a character in Degrassi: The Next Generation
* Heather Stevens Williams, a character from the American soap opera The Young and the Restless
* Heather Trott, a character from the British soap opera EastEnders
* Heather Roth, a character on a TV series The Ranch
* Heather Webber, character on the American soap opera General Hospital
* Heather the Violet Fairy, from the children's book series Rainbow Magic
* Heather Wold, the name of the Little Red-Haired Girl from Peanuts

## References

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1. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 120\. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.
2. ^ Evans, Cleveland Kent (December 2007) [12-1], "Tsunami Curve and Popular Culture Influences on Given Names", Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 55 (4): 335–342`{{citation}}`: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
3. ^ Charbonneau, Karen (March 17, 2023). American Baby Girl Names: 1587-1920s. Post Falls, Idaho: A Ship's Cat Book. p. 390\. ASIN B0BYTTGH3L.
4. ^ "Passengers Arrived". Newspapers.com (archive of The New York Times). Retrieved December 10, 2016.
5. ^ https://www.behindthename.com/name/heather
6. ^ Kopf, Dan (15 September 2018). "The epic rise and fall of the name Heather". qz.com. Quartz. Retrieved 23 December 2024.

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