How popular is the baby name Dee 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 Dee.
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The TV crime drama Kojak was on the air for five seasons (1973 to 1978). It starred actor Aristotelis “Telly” Savalas as lollipop-sucking, tough-talking, big-hearted New York City police detective Theo Kojak.
The series became very popular and, as a result, all of the names in that last sentence — Aristotelis, Telly, Savalas, Theo, and Kojak — either debuted or saw increased usage (as boy names) in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1970s:
The name Savalas is currently tied for 48th-highest boy name debut of all time. The name Telly reached the top 1,000 for the first time in 1974, and variant name Telley debuted the same year. Even Aristotle was affected.
But that’s not all.
A specific Kojak episode called “Elegy in an Asphalt Graveyard,” which aired in February of 1975, focused on the murder of a character named Azure Dee (played by Denyce Liston) — a Manhattan call-girl who Kojak happened to know. Notably, the episode began and ended with a melancholy song called “Azure Dee,” [vid] sung by Telly Savalas himself.
The same year, we see two new girl names in the data:
The name Azure is currently the 22nd-highest girl name debut of all time. The similar name Azuree debuted the same year, but Azuree was probably influenced as much by the the Estée Lauder perfume as by the Kojak character.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a reader looking for lists of old-fashioned double names. She was aiming for names like Thelma Dean, Eula Mae, and Gaynell — names that would have sounded trendy in the early 1900s. She also mentioned that she’d started a list of her own.
So I began scouring the interwebs. I tracked down lists of old-fashioned names, and lists of double names…but I couldn’t find a decent list of double names that were also old-fashioned.
I loved the idea of such a list, though, so I suggested that we work together to create one. She generously sent me the pairings she’d collected so far, and I used several different records databases to find many more.
I restricted my search to names given to girls born in the U.S. from 1890 to 1930. I also stuck to double names that I found written as single names, because it’s very likely that these pairings were used together in real life (i.e., that they were true double names and not merely first-middle pairings).
Pairings that seemed too timeless, like Maria Mae and Julia Rose, were omitted. I also took out many of the pairings that feature now-trendy names — think Ella, Emma, and Lucy — because they just don’t sound old-fashioned anymore (though they would have a few decades ago).
The result isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a decent sampling of real-life, old-fashioned double names. I’ve organized them by second name, and I also added links to popularity graphs for names that were in the SSA data during the correct time period (early 1900s).
I spotted plenty of other combinations that just didn’t happen to be written as single names in the records, so here’s a handy dandy little table to cover some of the other existing combinations…
Izamar debuted with 107 baby girls in 1990. Inspired by Isamar Medina, a character on the telenovela La Revancha.
Kelis, #26
Kelis debuted with 108 baby girls in 2000. Inspired by singer Kelis.
Cotina, #25
Cotina debuted with 109 baby girls in 1972. Inspired by Katina, a character on the soap opera Where the Heart Is.
Jaleesa, #24
Jaleesa debuted with 116 baby girls in 1987. Inspired by Jaleesa Vinson, a character on the TV sitcom A Different World.
Turkessa, #23
Turkessa debuted with 119 baby girls in 1975. Inspired by Turkessa (b. 1975), baby of Supremes singer Mary Wilson.
Azure, #22
Azure debuted with 121 baby girls in 1975. Inspired by Azure Dee, a character on the TV detective series Kojak. (Or by the song “Azure Dee,” inspired by the character and sung by Telly Savalas for that particular episode.)
Sharde, #21
Sharde debuted with 124 baby girls in 1985. Inspired by singer Sade [shah-DAY].
The final two groups of ten are coming up tomorrow and Friday. Stay tuned!
More of the top 50 baby name debuts for girls: 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11, 10-1
Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri
I couple of years ago I posted about a baby who was born on D-Day — the day, during WWII, that Allied forces invaded northern France via the beaches of Normandy. She was named Dee Day.
Today marks the 69th anniversary of D-Day, so let’s check out another D-Day baby: Earl D-Day Samuel Campbell, who was born in Gallatin, Montana, on June 6, 1944.
Not only that, but he got married on the same date exactly 20 years later — June 6, 1964. (His wife’s name was Cheryl.)
Interesting fact: The “D” in D-Day may simply (and redundantly!) stand for “day,” according to PBS:
The Army began using the codes “H-hour” and “D-day” during World War I to indicate the time or date of an operation’s start. Military planners would write of events planned to occur on “H-hour” or “D-day” — long before the actual dates and times of the operations would be known, or in order to keep plans secret. And so the “D” may simply refer to the “day” of invasion.
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