How popular is the baby name Adidas in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Adidas.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Adidas


Posts that mention the name Adidas

What turned Tequila into a baby name in 1958?

The Champs album "Go, Champs, Go!" (1958)
Champs album

The baby name Tequila is a lot like the baby name Adidas. How? The baby name Tequila wasn’t popularized by the drink, just like the baby name Adidas wasn’t popularized by the shoe. Instead, they were both popularized by a song.

In Tequila’s case, the song was “Tequila” by The Champs.

“Tequila” was recorded rather offhandedly in December of 1957. It’s entirely instrumental except for the word tequila, spoken three times as “a silly attempt to cover up the holes in the song.” The speaker, saxophonist Danny Flores, was also the man who’d composed the song.

It was released as the B-side to “Train to Nowhere” in January of 1958, and it might have gone unnoticed had a Cleveland disk jockey not flipped the record over one day. Listeners loved it — so much so that “Tequila” became the #1 pop song in the nation by March.

The baby name Tequila, which had been very rare in the U.S., was suddenly given to at least 20 baby girls that year:

  • 1960: unlisted
  • 1959: 9 baby girls named Tequila
  • 1958: 20 baby girls named Tequila [debut]
  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: unlisted

Nine more baby girls were named Tequilla, which also debuted on the list in 1958.

The next year, at the first-ever Grammy Awards, “Tequila” took home the trophy for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance.

How do you feel about the baby name Tequila?

Sources: Tequila by The Champs – Songfacts, The Champs’ “Tequila” is the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts – History.com

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]

Where did the baby name Adidas come from in 1987?

Adidas "Run DMC" shoe
Adidas “Run DMC” shoe

In the late 1980s, Adidas appeared on the SSA’s baby name for three consecutive years:

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

Of course, the name ultimately comes from sportswear company Adidas, which was established in 1949 and named after founder Adolf “Adi” Dassler.

But the baby name Adidas was inspired by music, not by sports.

In 1986, Run-DMC released the song “My Adidas” [vid]. The song was written in response to an editorial entitled “Felon Shoes” written by Dr. Deas, who claimed that kids wearing Adidas shoes and nice clothes were drug dealers and “felons.” The Run-DMC song defended the shoes and those who wore them. In an interview, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels explained:

Here’s the perfect chance for us to write about these sneakers, you know, cause it was associated with the hood, and it was associated with so much negativity. We said here’s a way to get back at Dr. Deas, because we looked at ourselves, yeah, we came from the street corner, yeah, you know, we on the corner with the thugs and stuff like that. But you can’t just look at us cause we wear these sneakers and judge us. So, I was like, from my point of view, I wanted to tell Dr. Deas, yeah I wear these sneakers, but my Adidas went around the world. My Adidas changed people’s lives. These Adidas don’t just stand on the corner of Hollis and 2-5th street. I stepped on stage at Live Aid, which was unheard of.

The “corner of Hollis and 2-5th street” (Hollis Avenue and 205th Street) in Hollis, Queens, was renamed Run-DMC JMJ Way in 2009.

Image: Adapted from Adidas Run DMC shoe by eric molina under CC BY 2.0.