US births per decade — source: Social Security Administration
August is more commonly given to boys than girls in the United States, reaching peak popularity in the 2010s. There are approximately 45,000 people named August in the US today.
The name August's root letters are AG.
In the Germanic languages the sound Ag or Ach, is used as an expression of distaste, and because the AG phoneme produces an altogether disagreeable sound, these names must overcome the prejudice of words like: agony, against, aghast, aargh, and agnostic. The names Agnes and Angus have the additional influence of the nasally dominated NS phoneme (associated with the words nausea, nose, nasty, and nostril), and with this double dose of awkward phonemes it's easy to understand why these names have largely fallen out of favor in modern times.
The traditional Greek meaning of Agnes is pure and chaste, and in the Middle Ages, the name was often given to young girls to remind them of their obedience to God. This resulted in the canonization of no less than three Saint Agneses: Agnes of Poitiers, Agnes of Montepulciano, and one of the church's most popular saints, Agnes virgin martyr of Rome. Because of her insistence on sticking to her Christian vows of chastity, she was sent to a brothel as punishment. Unfortunately, her purity and inviolability had such an adverse affect on the brothel’s clientele that she was eventually sentenced to death. With true AG toughness, she went to her execution more cheerfully than others go to their weddings.
But AG people have their upbeat sides too. They are generally highly organized people with punctuality and precision as built-in features of their personalities, both at work and play. But having a strong work ethic comes with the expectation that friends and co-workers will be able to match the Augusts’ high level of performance. And since Augusts are not shy about reprimanding sloppy behavior, they often develop a reputation for being boorish and morally superior.
If you have a job opening requiring decisiveness and leadership, an AG individual could well be your best bet. With their strong personalities and quirky appeal, Augusts excel in careers that give them the freedom to make up rules as they go, for with typical A-personality astuteness and alacrity, Augusts are able to anticipate events ten moves ahead. Whether this is a sign of their distaste for being caught by surprise, or symptomatic of their control-issues, it proves an effective instrument in both the Augusts’ professional and personal lives.
When it comes to matters of intimacy, the Augusts’ fixation for self-preservation often prevents them from exploring relationships that could be potentially fulfilling. Still, as any mate of an AG will tell you, their extraordinary loyalty and dogged determination to succeed makes them eminently desirable parents and partners.
