Mystery baby name: Lindola

Graph of the usage of the baby name Lindola in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Lindola

Another Monday, another mystery name!

Today we’ve got Lindola, an impressive one-hit wonder from 1940 that popped up with 13 baby girls…then disappeared just as suddenly.

  • 1942: unlisted
  • 1941: unlisted
  • 1940: 13 baby girls named Lindola [debut]
  • 1939: unlisted
  • 1938: unlisted

I tried all the usual sources for the era (radio shows, music, comics, news stories, etc.) but came up with nothing.

One weird coincidence is that the name Lindola was in newspapers in mid-1937. It was given to a baby girl born in the Philippines during an earthquake (lindól means “earthquake” in Tagalog). But a 1937 news story wouldn’t have caused a 1940 name debut, at least not directly.

There does seem to be something regional about this one. Records suggest that a lot of the 1940 Lindolas were born in the Midwest and the (northern) South. For instance, here are the graves of Lindola Fulmer, born in Ohio, and Lindola Smith, born in Kansas.

Any ideas about what influenced Lindola?

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