How popular is the baby name Ardeth 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 Ardeth.

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 Ardeth


Posts that mention the name Ardeth

What gave the baby name Ardeth a boost in 1930?

The story "Girl Unafraid" by Gladys Johnson
“Girl Unafraid”

From 1929 to 1930, the baby name Ardeth saw a dramatic rise in usage — dramatic enough to boost the name into the U.S. top 1,000 for the first time.

  • 1932: 55 baby girls named Ardeth [rank: 954th]
  • 1931: 58 baby girls named Ardeth [rank: 912th]
  • 1930: 121 baby girls named Ardeth [rank: 629th]
  • 1929: 38 baby girls named Ardeth
  • 1928: 27 baby girls named Ardeth

Why the spike?

Because Americans were seeing the name over and over again in the newspapers — specifically, in the story Girl Unafraid by Gladys Johnson (sometimes spelled “Johnston”). The story was being published chapter by chapter in newspapers across the country during 1930 (sometimes into early 1931, depending on the paper).

I haven’t read the full story, but the plot was centered on Ardeth Carroll, “a Titian-haired, amber-eyed Irish girl, [who] dramatically solves her great love problem.”

Another character in the story was named Jeanette, and the name Jeanette also increased in usage in 1930.

Source: “Girl Unafraid.” Journal and Courier [Lafayette, Indiana] 14 Aug. 1930: 3.

P.S. The similar name Ardoth popped up several years later for an entirely different reason…

Where did the baby name Verilea come from in 1936?

The uncommon name Verilea was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data way back in the 1930s:

  • 1938: unlisted
  • 1937: unlisted
  • 1936: 7 baby girls named Verilea [debut]
  • 1935: unlisted
  • 1934: unlisted

In fact, Verilea is tied with Arolyn as the top one-hit wonder girl name of 1936.

I have yet to figure out the source of Arolyn (which looks to me like a cut-off Carolyn), but I do know the source of Verilea.

As with several other rare names from the first half of the 1900s (like Thurley, Thayle, Ortrude, Ardeth, Aletta, Joretta, Elanda, Perilla, and Lorry) the influence was a fictional story printed in the newspapers.

The tale that featured “Verilea” was Unknown Sweetheart by Anne Gardner. It was serialized during the spring of 1936 and the main character was a young woman named Verilea Davis, who began on “a dirty, grinding old bus on the hill-roads of Kentucky” and ended up in “a modernistic New York penthouse high above smart Manhattan.”

Her name may have been inspired by the vocabulary word verily, which means “truly, certainly.”

Do you like the baby name Verilea? Would you use it?

Source: “I Don’t Even Know His Name, But…I Love Him!” Des Moines Tribune 22 Oct. 1935: 9.