How popular is the baby name Bix 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 Bix.
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The name Bix first bounced into the U.S. baby name data in 1957:
1959: unlisted
1958: unlisted
1957: 6 baby boys named Bix [debut]
1956: unlisted
1955: unlisted
What gave it a boost that year?
A minor character from the comic strip Little Annie Rooney (1927-1966), which was itself a knock-off of the strip Little Orphan Annie.
The storyline was called “Bix and Maizie,” and it ran from Dec. 1956 to Feb. 1957 in most U.S. newspapers. Bixby, or “Bix,” and his wife Maizie were criminals who tried (unsuccessfully) to pass themselves off as Annie Rooney’s parents in order to steal money from the businessman who was acting as Annie’s caretaker.
What do you think of the name Bix? Do you think it works by itself, or is it better as a nickname?
No doubt you’ve heard of composer Hoagy Carmichael, who wrote the music for “Georgia on My Mind,” “Stardust,” “New Orleans,” “Lazy River,” and other classic pop/jazz songs.
But do you know where his distinctive name came from?
Hoagland Howard “Hoagy” Carmichael was born in Indiana in late 1899 to parents Howard Clyde and Lida Mary Carmichael. He had three sisters named Geogiana (nicknamed Georgia), Martha, and Joanne.
Wikipedia claims Hoagy was named for a circus troupe called “The Hoaglands,” but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
According to an autobiography, right around the time Hoagland was born “[t]here was a new railroad spur being built on the Monon line near Harrodsburg, and some of the surveyors were living in our neighborhood.” One of the railroad men, Harry Hoagland, was boarding with a relative.
Mother liked the unusual and had the imagination and the temperament of a poet, or a piano player. “Well, Hoagland sounds grand!” she said.
My father didn’t mind. “Sure, we can always use my name in the middle.”
Grandma Carmichael raised her hands in horror. “Lida, dear, please don’t name him Hoagland. They’ll nickname him Hoagy for sure. And besides, I like Taylor better.” [Taylor was Grandpa Carmichael’s name.]
Lida’s choice won, and the baby’s name became Hoagland Howard Carmichael.
His grandmother’s nickname prediction did come true, but not for a couple of decades: Hoagland didn’t start going by “Hoagy” until college.
Hoagy went on to marry a woman named Ruth. They had two sons, Hoagy Bix (born in 1938) and Randy Bob (born in 1940). Hoagy Bix’s middle name honors jazz cornetist Leon Bismark “Bix” Beiderbecke, who was a big influence on Hoagy, Sr.:
Hoagy heard a young white cornetist named Bix Beiderbecke and, “it threw my judgment out of kilter.” This was a sound like nothing he’d heard before and when Hoagy played an improvised tune for Bix, the strange young man with a magical horn said, “Whyn’t you write music, Hoagy?” The rest of his life was the answer to Bix’s question.
Randy Bob’s first name was inspired by movie actor Randolph Scott, but I’m not sure where his middle name came from.
What do you think of the name Hoagland? How about Hoagy?
Sources:
Carmichael, Hoagy and Stephen Longstreet. The Stardust Road & Sometimes I Wonder: The Autobiographies of Hoagy Carmichael. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 1999.
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