What popularized the baby name Alize in the 1990s?

Bottles of Alizé
Alizé

Passion fruit-flavored liqueur Alizé Gold Passion was introduced to the U.S. market in 1986.

The next year, the name Alize debuted in the U.S. baby name data, though it remained rare.

  • 1990: unlisted
  • 1989: 6 baby girls named Alize
  • 1988: unlisted
  • 1987: 5 baby girls named Alize [debut]
  • 1986: unlisted
  • 1985: unlisted

Usage of the name Alize picked up steam during the early 1990s, but it wasn’t until 1995 that the numbers really started climbing — increasing nearly sixfold for girls, and debuting impressively for boys:

Girls named AlizeBoys named Alize
1997274 [rank: 767th]53
1996282 [rank: 749th]44
199514330*
199424.
199312.
*Debut

Why?

A huge pop-culture push in the mid-1990s that popularized both the liqueur and the baby name.

Back when I first published this post in 2012, the Alizé website included the following explanation:

Alizé reached great heights with substantial features in music lyrics and videos. Alizé was mentioned in 30 top 10 singles from artists such as 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z & Queen Latifah.

Specifically, Alizé was mentioned by Tupac Shakur in “Thug Passion” (1996), by Notorious B.I.G. in “Juicy” (1994), by Jay-Z in “Can I Get A…” (1998), and by Queen Latifah in a popular remix of Brandy’s “I Wanna Be Down” (1994-ish).

The brand name Alizé comes from the French word alizé, the name of a local trade wind.

What are your thoughts on Alize as a personal name??

P.S. The baby name Adidas has a similar explanation: urban music popularizing a brand name as a baby name.

[Latest update: July 2022]

2 thoughts on “What popularized the baby name Alize in the 1990s?

  1. I’m from Texas and I worked at a daycare during college and there was a little girl named Alize…

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