The name Sivi appeared on the SSA’s baby name list for just four years:
- 1971: unlisted
- 1970: 7 baby girls named Sivi
- 1969: 5 baby girls named Sivi
- 1968: 8 baby girls named Sivi
- 1967: 27 baby girls named Sivi [debut]
- 1966: unlisted
The inspiration? Actress Sivi Aberg.
Siv Märta “Sivi” Åberg placed 4th — er, “3rd runner up” — in the 1964 Miss Universe Beauty Pageant. After that, she moved to America to give acting a try.
In 1967, Sivi won the title of “The Hollywood Star of Tomorrow” on a pageant-like American TV show. (Previous winners included Raquel Welch, Sally Field, Carol Lynley and Kim Novak.)
She also appeared on several American television shows (e.g. Hogan’s Heroes, Batman, M*A*S*H, The Gong Show) and in a handful of forgettable films during the 1960s and 1970s.
Sivi’s birth name, Siv, can be traced back to Norse mythology. It’s a form of Sif, the name of Thor’s wife. Sif was the singular form of the Old Norse word sifjar, which meant “relatives” — relatives either by blood or by marriage.
P.S. Jinx, Gwili and Donivee are three more forgotten Hollywood actresses who left their mark on the U.S. baby name charts.
Sources:
- Engels, Friedrich. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1909.
- Sivi Aberg @ Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
- “Television: Jan. 26, 1968.” TIME Magazine 26 Jan. 1978.