The name Halley

Halley's comet is one of the most famous astronomy objects. This bulk of ice and dust is about 15 km long and it orbits our sun in a very eccentric orbit; going from twice as close to the Sun as us to 35 times further out. This orbit takes about 75 or 76 Earth Years which makes it the only comet that it is possible for a human to see twice in a lifetime.

Various cultures have noted its appearance since 240 BCE which has made it, along with large volcanic eruptions, a useful way of historians syncing up calendars from around the world. The last few appearances were 1835, 1910 and 1986, with the next one predicted in 2061, a couple of months after my 70th birthday.

The name of the comet comes from Edmund Halley who observed the 1682 appearance and correctly predicted the 1759 return. His surname was pronounced to rhyme with valley. During the 1910 appearance of the comet there was a sudden popularity in giving boys the first name Halley (or variations). This name died down in popularity, but then in 1986 there was another spike in the popularity of the name, only this time with girls. Here are graphs with data from the Social Secretary Administrator of the US:

I love that you can see peaks in the data when the comet makes its path nearest to us. It is a strangely long period affecting our society in a tiny way and that makes me rather happy.