Taylor, Tyler, Madison, Jackson…sure, they’re presidential surnames, but if you met a kid with one of these names you wouldn’t assume that he/she was named after a former commander-in-chief.
Not so with Eisenhower.
The one and only time Eisenhower made the SSA’s baby name list was the year Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president (the first time):
- 1954: unlisted
- 1953: unlisted
- 1952: 5 baby boys named Eisenhower
- 1951: unlisted
- 1950: unlisted
And the SSDI reveals that at least four more people have been named Eisenhower — two were born in the ’40s, one in ’53, and one in the ’70s.
The German occupational surname means “iron-hewer” or “iron-cutter.”
The name Dwight became more popular during the 1950s as well, seeing peak usage in 1953:
- 1959: 1,595 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 186th]
- 1958: 1,695 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 176th]
- 1957: 2,024 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 159th]
- 1956: 2,368 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 139th]
- 1955: 2,150 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 142nd]
- 1954: 2,036 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 145th]
- 1953: 2,689 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 122nd]
- 1952: 2,405 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 123rd]
- 1951: 2,049 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 134th]
- 1950: 1,813 baby boys named Dwight [rank: 146th]
And let’s not forget Eisenhower’s famous campaign slogan, “I Like Ike.” His nickname — typically short for Isaac, but in this case based on the first syllable of his surname — also got a boost:
- 1959: 52 baby boys named Ike*
- 1958: 56 baby boys named Ike
- 1957: 76 baby boys named Ike
- 1956: 68 baby boys named Ike
- 1955: 77 baby boys named Ike
- 1954: 76 baby boys named Ike
- 1953: 110 baby boys named Ike
- 1952: 90 baby boys named Ike
- 1951: 61 baby boys named Ike
- 1950: 55 baby boys named Ike
And people still like Ike — in 2010, 59 boys were named Ike (coming down from a spike in 2008, courtesy of Hurricane Ike.)
*Here’s one more baby Ike from 1959.
I wonder if Ike remains more popular in Missouri, where one of their long time Congressmen (unseated last year) was Isaac Newton “Ike” Skelton IV.
I like Ike as a nn for Isaac but I would never just use Ike.
Hmm re: Missouri (I’m there myself). I liked the name Ike, but more for a dog than for a person (I don’t mean that in a bad way–I put a lot of thought into my pets’ names!). But after the hurricane, being that I am from the TX coast, I just couldn’t. It would be like naming a girl Katrina, Betsy, Camille or a boy Hugo. I just couldn’t. It’s too attached to the storm (as opposed to, say, Andrew).
I’m in MO, too, work in a school district in which I see hundreds of student names on a daily basis, and don’t know of a single ‘Ike’…