How popular is the baby name Dizzy 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 Dizzy.

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Popularity of the baby name Dizzy


Posts that mention the name Dizzy

What turned Dizzy into a baby name in 1935?

Baseball player Dizzy Dean (1910-1974)
Dizzy Dean

The unlikely name Dizzy was being used often enough in the 1930s to appear in the U.S. baby name data for three years straight:

  • 1937: 5 baby boys named Dizzy
  • 1936: 6 baby boys named Dizzy
  • 1935: 8 baby boys named Dizzy [debut]
  • 1934: unlisted
  • 1933: unlisted

So what’s the deal with Dizzy?

It came from professional baseball pitcher Dizzy Dean.

He’s best remembered for his very successful 1934 season with the St. Louis Cardinals. It was “one of the memorable performances by any pitcher in history,” capped off by a World Series win over the Detroit Tigers.

Along with the aging Babe Ruth, “Dizzy” Dean was considered baseball’s major drawing card during the Depression years of the 1930s.

His birth name wasn’t Dizzy, though. “Dizzy” was a nickname he’d acquired in the Army.

He was born in Arkansas with the name Jay Hanna Dean. His given names came from railroad magnate Jason “Jay” Gould (1836-1892) and Ohio politician Mark Hanna (1837-1904).

But Dean gave reporters a different birth name: Jerome Herman (which was the name of a childhood friend who had died young). He also gave reporters various incorrect birthplaces and birth dates, claiming later: “I was helpin’ the writers out. Them ain’t lies; them’s scoops.”

Sources: “Dizzy” Dean (1910–1974) – Encyclopedia of Arkansas, SSA

Where did the baby name Tunisia come from in 1943?

Tank in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, in May 1943
Tanks in the capital of Tunisia, 1943

The place-name Tunisia has been used as a baby name for decades now. Long before it started appearing in the U.S. baby name data regularly in the mid-1960s, though, it popped up for the first time in 1943:

  • 1945: unlisted
  • 1944: unlisted
  • 1943: 8 baby girls named Tunisia [debut]
  • 1942: unlisted
  • 1941: unlisted

Why?

Because Tunisia was in the news quite a bit that year, thanks to the Tunisia Campaign of World War II.

The Axis had seized control of capital city Tunis in November of 1942. After a series of battles, the Allies freed the city in May of 1943 and drove the Axis out of Africa.

No one knows exactly how Tunis was named, but theories abound. One theory connects it to the Phoenician goddess Tanith. Another suggests it comes from a Berber verb meaning “to camp” or “to lie down.”

(John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie also penned the jazz standard “A Night in Tunisia” in the early ’40s.)

Sources: Tunisia – Wikipedia, SSA
Image: The British Army in Tunisia 1943 – Imperial War Museums