How popular is the baby name Finesse 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 Finesse.
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Ad campaigns don’t just popularize products — they also popularize baby names.
And ads for certain types of products (like perfumes) are much more likely to influence baby names than ads for other types of products. But nothing is off limits, really, if the exposure is wide enough and the product name looks/sounds enough like a human name (e.g., Corelle dishes, Finesse shampoo).
One type of product I never expected to find in my ongoing hunt for pop culture baby names, though, was bleaching creams — used to lighten/whiten/even-out skin tone.
These days, ads for bleaching creams ignite controversy. But decades ago, these ads ran regularly in magazines with African-American audiences, and, as a result, at least two bleaching cream brand names ended up on the baby name charts.
Artra
The baby name Artra, inspired by Artra Skin Tone Cream, was a one-hit wonder in the data that appeared in the early 1960s:
1964: unlisted
1963: unlisted
1962: 5 baby girls named Artra [debut]
1961: unlisted
1960: unlisted
Ambi
The baby name Ambi, inspired by Ambi Skin Cream, stuck around a little longer — three years in the late ’70s and early ’80s:
1982: unlisted
1981: 12 baby girls named Ambi
1980: 6 baby girls named Ambi
1979: unlisted
1978: 5 baby girls named Ambi [debut]
1977: unlisted
…Another bleaching cream that was advertised during the ’60s and ’70s (as well as decades earlier) was Nadinola. The name Nadinola never appeared in the U.S. baby name data, but records reveal that it was given to a handful of U.S baby girls during the 20th century.
The curious name Rise debuted in the Social Security Administration data in 1942:
1944: 13 baby girls named Rise
1943: 7 baby girls named Rise
1942: 15 baby girls named Rise [debut]
1941: unlisted
1940: unlisted
“Rise”? Huh.
Rise was the 4th-most-popular debut name that year, and not far behind (in 7th place) was the somewhat similar Risa:
1944: 12 baby girls named Risa
1943: 5 baby girls named Risa
1942: 12 baby girls named Risa [debut]
1941: unlisted
1940: unlisted
Later in the ’40s, names like Reesa and Rissa popped up. And in the ’50s, names like Riesa and Reisa appeared. So there was definitely a minor Ris– trend going on in the mid-20th century, with “Rise” being the unlikely top variant.
But because “Rise” is also a vocabulary word, I had no luck pinning down the source. (It’s ridiculously hard to research word-names on the internet. I’m still stumped on Memory and Treasure.) Eventually I gave up.
Years later, as I was grabbing an image for the Finesse post, the answer landed right in front of me in the form of a cigarette ad:
The full-page advertisement for Camels from a 1953 issue of LIFE magazine featured a “lovely star of the Metropolitan Opera” named Risë Stevens. I knew right away that this glamorous-looking lady — and her diaeresis! — was the solution to the “Rise” puzzle.
Mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens was born Risë Steenberg in New York City in 1913. Her first name is pronounced REE-sah or REE-suh. Here’s how she explained it:
“It’s Norwegian; it was my grandmother’s name and my great-grandmother’s name. In school I was called everything but Rise; I was called Rose; I was called Rise {rhyming with “eyes”}; I was called Risé {rhyming with “play”}; even Teresa. In school, it was terrible; I would have arguments with the teachers. I would say, ‘I should know how to pronounce my own name.'”
(One source suggests that the name Risë is related to the Latin word risus, meaning “laughter.”)
So what was an opera singer doing in a national advertising campaign? Shouldn’t those be reserved for Hollywood stars? Well, turns out she was a Hollywood star — at least for a time. She sang professionally from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, but in the early 1940s she gave acting a shot.
Her first film, released in late 1941, was the musical The Chocolate Soldier. Notice how her dots were left off the movie poster:
This film accounts for the 1942 debut of both “Rise” and the phonetic respelling Risa.
Risë Stevens ultimately left Hollywood and returned to the opera — and she managed to bring at least a portion of her movie audience with her:
“I probably would never have reached that vast public had I not done films,” she said. “At least, I won a lot of people over to opera.”
This explains why Risë Stevens, often called the greatest Carmen of her generation, was being featured in advertisements and on television talk shows more than a decade later. And why her unique name therefore saw peak usage in the 1950s.
If you want to know more about Risë (and hear her sing!) here’s a Risë Stevens Tribute video created by the National Endowment for the Arts.
P.S. Risë Stevens had a granddaughter named Marisa — a combination of the names of her grandmothers, Maria and Risë. Risë Stevens’ son told her that he went with the -a ending instead of the -ë ending because he was “not going to put her through what you’ve been through.”
The baby name Finesse debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1953, then disappeared again (until the 1980s).
1955: unlisted
1954: unlisted
1953: 7 baby girls named Finesse [debut]
1952: unlisted
1951: unlisted
What inspired the debut?
Finesse, the “flowing cream shampoo” that was introduced to American consumers in late 1952.
It was the creation of cosmetic chemist Jules Montenier, whose first product had been the best-selling spray deodorant Stopette, introduced in the late 1940s.
Advertisements for both Stopette and Finesse ran in major magazines and also on television, which was still relatively new in the early ’50s. The print ad below appeared in LIFE magazine in early 1953, and here’s a Finesse commercial from the same year. Here’s another Finesse commercial that aired as part of the game show What’s My Line? in late 1952. (For most of the 1950s, Montenier was the main sponsor of What’s My Line?)
Both products were notable because of their innovative plastic packaging. Stopette’s squeeze-bottle allowed the product to be sprayed upward (as opposed to being dabbed on manually, like most deodorants of the era) and Finesse’s accordion-like squeeze bottle and flip-cap were much safer in the shower than typical glass shampoo bottles.
In 1956, Montenier sold his brands to Helene Curtis. Stopette was eventually taken off the shelves, but Finesse is still available today. (The brand is currently owned by Lornamead.)
Curiously, Finesse wasn’t the first shampoo-inspired name on the baby name charts. The earliest was Drene, which debuted in 1946, and next came Shasta, which was given a boost in 1948.
The word finesse has several definitions, including “refinement or delicacy of workmanship, structure, or texture.” It can be traced back to the Old French word fin, meaning “subtle, delicate.”
Corelle dishware was introduced to consumers in 1970 by Corning Glass Works of New York. The product was aimed at middle-class Americans who wanted “a long-desired middle ground between paper plates and good china.”
The original marketing made sure to emphasize that a Corelle dish was translucent “like fine china” and “even rings like fine china.” But Corelle wasn’t fine china — it made from a lightweight, durable tempered glass product called Vitrelle (which was originally intended for first-generation television screens in the 1940s). This made it easy to handle, hard to break, and very affordable.
Popular Corelle patterns included Butterfly Gold, Old Towne Blue (above), Woodland Brown, and the wonderfully retro Spring Blossom Green. Clever hook-handles on the cups not only allowed for compact stacking, but also kept “your husband’s big fingers away from the bowl, so they can’t get burned.”
But enough with the nostalgia…what does all this have to do with baby names?
Well, the year after Corelle hit the market, the baby name Corelle appeared in the U.S. baby name data for the first and only time:
1973: unlisted
1972: unlisted
1971: 5 baby girls named Corelle [debut]
1970: unlisted
1969: unlisted
This means that the Corelle marketing campaign not only boosted sales, but also boosted the brand name onto the baby name charts.
And this wasn’t an isolated case — there are many other examples of historical marketing campaigns inspiring American parents to name their babies after brands and products (such as Finesse, Jordache, Calizza, Monchel, L’erin, and dozens of perfumes).
What do you think of the baby name Corelle?
For you, is the association with vintage dishware a pro or a con? ;)
Images from a 1974 magazine advertisement for Corelle Livingware by Corning.
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