Peggy

According to Behindthename.com, Peggy is a pet form of Meg, which itself is a pet form of Margaret. That's a whole lot of petting. This information really only covers the origin of the name, however. In fact, Peggy has often been given as a first name in its own right, with no Megs or Margarets involved. For most of the 20th century Peggy was a top 500 name for baby girls in the United States, only dropping out of the top 1000 in the 1990's. Meg, on the other hand, has never enjoyed such popularity in the U.S. (which surprises me a little, but oh well.) Of course, Margaret is an old classic, and though not as popular as it once was, is still in frequent use--but that's another post. The meaning of Margaret is "pearl," so I suppose Peggy can be considered to mean "pearl" also, although personally I think the new official meaning of Peggy should be "teenager of the 1950's." Again, Peggy did drop out of the top 1000 in the early 1990's, mainly because Peggy was now a name borne by one's mother, or perhaps even grandmother. In other words, it was old-fashioned. Will it at some point come back into fashion? That is anyone's guess. Whatever it was that made parents fall in love with the name in the early 20th century may cause parents of the future to feel the same way.

Amber

Amber is simply the name of the gemstone amber used as a given name. Amber began to be used some in the late 19th century, when using gem names as given names was in fashion, but it wasn't as popular as some other gem names, such as Pearl and Ruby. The book Forever Amber, by Kathleen Winsor, and subsequent movie brought the name into the public consciousness, and in the 1970's and 1980's, when new parents were looking for feminine, yet less "girly" names for their daughters, Amber became hugely popular. Although currently not quite as popular as it once was in the U.S., Amber is still a top 100 name for girls, and has also become popular in other English-speaking countries. This late-starting gem name is likely to become a naming standard that will come into fashion again and again.

Jade

Jade is a gem name, and is simply the word for the precious stone used as a given name. Gem names, such as Ruby, were quite popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jade was not part of this trend, because "jade" was also a slang term used as a synonym for a floozy or hussy, and also a slang term used for a worn out horse--a nag. Jade only really began to be used popularly as a given name after Mick Jagger's daughter, Jade, was so named, in the early 1970's. Since then, Jade has been a fairly popular name in the U.S., mostly given to girls, but given to boys often enough to have made the top 1000 occasionally since the 1970's. Jade (for girls) has been even more popular other English speaking countries in recent years, and has become especially popular in France and Belgium, as well. Jada and Jayda are both names derived from Jade that have lately been gaining popularity.

Jayda

Jayda is another way to spell Jada. Both names come from the gem name Jade. This particular spelling appeared in the U.S. in the mid-to-late 1990's and has been working its way up the popularity charts ever since.

Ruby

Ruby means exactly what you think it means; the red gem, ruby. The word ruby comes from the Latin word rubeus, which means "red," so by association, ruby also means "red." Gem names, such as Ruby, Pearl, and Beryl, were popular during the 19th century, and into the early years of the 20th century, after which point most of them faded in popularity considerably. Ruby fared better than some--remaining in the top 500 names for girls in the U.S. throughout the 1900's. Over the past few years it has been creeping upward slightly in popularity, possibly due to a revival in gem names in general. Ruby hasn't enjoyed the popularity that two other gem names, Amber and Jade, have enoyed, but currently both those names are sliding downward in popularity, while Ruby continues to rise slightly. The name's popularity in the U.S. may be boosted also by the fact that it is currently a very popular name in England, Australia, and Scotland. Ruby has occasionally been used as a given name for boys. These uses are probably not examples of Ruby as a gem name, but rather, Ruby as a surname being used as a given name. In any case, the use of Ruby as a masculine name has been very rare if not non-existent since the 1930's.

Jewel

Jewel means, well, jewel. That is, a precious stone or gem. Back in the 1800's it was fashionable to use gem names as names for babies--mostly for girls, but in some cases for boys. Jewel is one of these names (though others were more specific, such as Ruby or Beryl.) The popularity of the name Jewel carried over from the 1800's into the 1900's, and the name was somewhat in use in the United States through the 1960's. After that, it disappeared from the U.S. top 1000 baby names until 1997, when it shot suddenly to #667. The reason for the reappearance of the name is most likely due to the popularity of the singer Jewel. The revival of the name hasn't been overwhelming, and its use has been declining steadily since 1998. Many people, rather than thinking of Jewel as a name in its own right, tend to think of it as a nickname for Julie or Julia, but by the same token, there is really no reason that a girl named Jewel could not use Julie as a nickname.