The baby name Cotina was a top debut name in 1972, coming out of nowhere to be given to an impressive 109 baby girls that year:
- 1978: unlisted
- 1977: 6 baby girls named Cotina
- 1976: 5 baby girls named Cotina
- 1975: 13 baby girls named Cotina
- 1974: 33 baby girls named Cotina
- 1973: 65 baby girls named Cotina
- 1972: 109 baby girls named Cotina [debut]
- 1971: unlisted
But that’s not all. The popularity of similar names — most notably Katina — spiked in ’72 as well:
| Name | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katina | 96 | 2,747 | 2,469 | 766 | 506 |
| Catina | 15 | 1,370 | 1,236 | 329 | 174 |
| Contina | – | 209 | 124 | 36 | 27 |
| Cotina | – | 109 | 65 | 33 | 13 |
| Katena | – | 27 | 28 | – | – |
| Kateena | – | 22 | 13 | 5 | – |
| Cantina | – | 17 | 15 | 7 | – |
| Catena | – | 15 | 8 | 5 | – |
| Kattina | – | 15 | – | – | – |
| Kotina | – | 12 | 8 | – | – |
| Katyna | – | 11 | – | – | – |
| Cateena | – | 10 | 9 | – | – |
| Kontina | – | 10 | – | – | – |
| Kantina | – | 9 | 6 | 5 | – |
| Katinna | – | 7 | 6 | – | – |
| Cattina | – | 6 | 9 | – | – |
| Catinna | – | – | 11 | – | – |
Why?
It took me a while to come up with a decent theory for this one, as the only person the search engines kept directing me to was Greek actress Katina Paxinou (1900-1973).
Where The Heart Is
Expectant parents tend to pay particular attention to TV babies, and soap operas have historically influenced baby name rankings quite a bit, so the double-whammy of a baby born on a soap opera must have had some sort of impact.
Then again, I can’t explain why the variant “Contina” jumped so much higher than, say, “Katena” or “Kateena,” which are much more Katina-like. So perhaps I’m missing something.
Does anyone out there remember Where the Heart Is? Do you think the soap was popular enough to have started a short-lived Katina craze in the early ’70s?