Ready for a pair of truly outrageous baby names?
The animated TV series Jem, which began airing in late 1985, focused on an all-girl rock band called Jem and the Holograms.
Jem was the lead singer, and she had a big secret: she didn’t really exist! “Jem” was just the alter-ego of a woman named Jerrica Benton, who used a powerful holographic computer (called Synergy) and a pair of hi-tech earrings to have the “Jem” hologram projected over her.
The Name Jem
Before Jem, there had been girls named Gem and boys named Jem (short for Jeremy/Jeremiah/James). But only in 1986 do baby girls named Jem start popping up in the U.S. baby name data:
- 1989: 6 baby girls named Jem
- 1988: 9 baby girls named Jem
- 1987: 11 baby girls named Jem
- 1986: 5 baby girls named Jem [debut]
- 1985: unlisted
- 1984: unlisted
The Name Jerrica
The Jessica-like name Jerrica was in use well before the cartoon started airing, but without Jem it might never have cracked the top 1,000:
- 1989: 402 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 558th]
- 1988: 437 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 506th]
- 1987: 318 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 607th]
- 1986: 199 baby girls named Jerrica [ranked 836th]
- 1985: 64 baby girls named Jerrica
- 1984: 45 baby girls named Jerrica
Jerrica managed to stay in the top 1,000 all the way through 1995. It’s still in the SSA data today, though the numbers aren’t too impressive anymore (i.e., only 27 baby girls were named Jerrica in 2009).
The names Jerica and Jerika also saw increased usage during this time, and variants of Jerrica that debuted in the data in the mid-to-late ’80s include Jarica, Gerica, Jherica, Gerrica, Jareka, Jericca, Jarika, Gerika, Jherrica, Jerryca and Jarrica.
Source: Jem (TV series) – Wikipedia
[Other cartoon-inspired baby names: Aeon, Cheetara, Pebbles, Caillou]