How popular is the baby name Jodeci 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 Jodeci.

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Popularity of the baby name Jodeci


Posts that mention the name Jodeci

What popularized the baby name Arsenio in the late 1980s?

Arsenio Hall hosting "The Arsenio Hall Show" (1989-1994)
Arsenio Hall

The name Arsenio, which has been appearing in the U.S. baby name data since the 1910s, shot into the top 1,000 in 1989 and and stayed there for three years in a row:

  • 1992: 47 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1991: 45 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1990: 188 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 743rd]
  • 1989: 397 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 479th]
  • 1988: 124 baby boys named Arsenio [rank: 854th]
  • 1987: 83 baby boys named Arsenio
  • 1986: 21 baby boys named Arsenio

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Arsenio in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Arsenio

The variant forms Aresenio, Arsenial, Arseno, and Marsenio also popped up for the first and only time in 1989.

What caused this sudden interest in the name Arsenio?

Comedian and actor Arsenio Hall.

In 1987, he became the first African-American to host a late-night talk show with his 13-week stint on The Late Show. (It was originally called The Late Show with Joan Rivers, but, after Rivers was fired, the show was re-titled and featured a series of guest hosts.)

Audiences would have noticed him next in the hit movie Coming to America (1988), which starred Hall’s longtime friend Eddie Murphy.

Several months later, in January of 1989, he kicked off The Arsenio Hall Show — a hip, energetic alternative (“woof, woof, woof!”) to the other late-night talk shows of the era.

Notably, Hall’s show was one of the few on mainstream television to showcase hip-hop culture. Musical guests included N.W.A, Ice-T, Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, Bell Biv DeVoe, Heavy D, Black Sheep, Kwamé, Tone Loc, A Tribe Called Quest, and Leaders of the New School. He also spotlighted R&B acts like Bobby Brown, En Vogue, New Edition, Troop, Jodeci, and Mariah Carey.

The Arsenio Hall Show was a breakout success. It was particularly popular with young urban audiences. Despite this, ratings began to slip in late 1993 (largely due to scheduling issues) and the show was cancelled in May of 1994.

So where does the name Arsenio come from? It’s a form of the ancient Greek name Arsenios, which is based on the ancient Greek word arsen, meaning “masculine, virile.”

What are your thoughts on the name Arsenio?

P.S. The name’s slight rise in 1983 and 1984 was likely due to Arsenio Hall’s time as a sidekick on an earlier late-night show, Thicke of the Night (1983-1984), which was hosted by Alan Thicke.

Sources:

Where did the baby name Tsianina come from in 1998?

Native American singer Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone (1882-1985)
Tsianina

One day, while wasting time on Pinterest, I discovered a name I’d never seen before: Tsianina (pronounced cha-nee-nah).

The pin was a photo of a Creek/Cherokee woman named Tsianina Redfeather, a performer (mainly singer) who was famous during the 1910s and 1920s. She was born Florence Evans on an Oklahoma Indian reservation in 1882, but “she was known to family and friends by her Creek name, Tsianina.”

Of course I had to check if her name had ever appeared in the U.S. baby name data. Turns out it has. Tsianina appeared only once, in the late 1990s:

  • 2000: unlisted
  • 1999: unlisted
  • 1998: 5 baby girls named Tsianina [debut]
  • 1997: unlisted
  • 1996: unlisted

The inspiration here is an entirely different Tsianina: actress and fitness model Tsianina Joelson.

In 1998, Joelson was one of the co-hosts of MTV’s The Daily Burn — a re-brand of The Grind (1992-1997) that lasted only about a year.

These days, Joelson is best known for portraying Queen Varia during season six of Xena: Warrior Princess. In an interview with a Xena fansite, here’s what Tsianina had to say about her name:

Q: I did have a question about your name. I’ve tried to look up exactly how to say it….

A: (laughs) It’s pronounced Cha-neena like c-h-a Cha-neena.

Q: That’s what I thought. Was it hard on you growing up with people spelling it and saying it wrong all the time?

A: From the time I was a little girl I was always very proud of my name, I don’t know why. I liked that it was different. Every day I get asked so I’m very used to it and it doesn’t bother me at all and it never has. When I was little I was more apt to correct you on saying my name properly and now people mess it up all the time and – whatever. I answer to pretty much anything. I’ve always liked having a different name. I love my name. When I first moved out here, my manager said you need to change your name. Like, no. She wanted me to change the spelling so it sounded phonetically, you know, the way it’s spelled. It’s actually Cree [sic] Indian, and it means wildflower. I like it. It’s different.

Q: I think it’s a very pretty name. Yeah, once you figure out how to say it.

A: Thank you. Yeah, exactly, I know. On my resume, I have it phonetically and even then people don’t get it.

I’ve seen the “wildflower” definition elsewhere as well, but haven’t been able to verify it.

Even though only 5 Tsianinas are accounted for on the SSA’s list, dozens of other women have gotten the name. Most of these Tsianinas, like Tsianina Redfeather, were born in Oklahoma. Here are a couple of examples I particularly liked:

  • Tsianina Tobacco (b. 1952 in Montana)
  • Tsianina Jodeci Harris (b. 1994 in Texas)

What are your thoughts on the name Tsianina?

Update, 4/2016: Just noticed that the baby names Tsianna and Tatsiana were also one-hit wonders in 1998.

Sources:

  • Bataille, Gretchen M. and Laurie Lisa, eds. Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Routledge, 2001.
  • Pauelle, Florence Jessica and Brianna Leigh. “Interview with Tsianina Joelson.” Whoosh! Sept. 2004.

Image: Adapted from Cadman & Tsianina (Library of Congress)

Where did the baby name Jodeci come from in 1991?

The album "Diary of a Mad Band" (1993) by Jodeci
Jodeci album

We’ve talked about babies named after Bon Jovi, Danity Kane, Roxette, and even Starship. So today let’s look at Jodeci.

In 1990, the four-man R&B group Jodeci was formed by Joel “JoJo” Hailey, Donald “DeVante Swing” DeGrate, Dalvin “Mr. Dalvin” DeGrate, and Cedric “K-Ci” Hailey. The name of the band was pieced together from the jo of JoJo, the de of DeGrate, and the ci of K-Ci.

Jodeci’s first album, the successful Forever My Lady, was released in 1991. Sure enough, that’s the year we start seeing babies named Jodeci:

  • 1996: 29 girls, 13 boys named Jodeci
  • 1995: 32 girls, 15 boys named Jodeci
  • 1994: 19 girls, 23 boys named Jodeci
  • 1993: 33 girls, 29 boys named Jodeci
  • 1992: 77 girls, 94 boys named Jodeci
  • 1991: 13 girls, 12 boys named Jodeci [debut]
  • 1990: unlisted
  • 1989: unlisted

We also see a steep rise in the usage of DeVante, which was the fastest-rising boy name of 1991:

  • 1994: 852 baby boys named Devante [rank: 309th]
  • 1993: 961 baby boys named Devante [rank: 289th]
  • 1992: 1565 baby boys named Devante [rank: 199th] (peak)
  • 1991: 131 baby boys named Devante [rank: 923rd]
  • 1990: 9 baby boys named Devante

(And the sudden trendiness of DeVante gave big boosts to variant forms like Davante, Dvonte, Devonta, Devonte, Davonte, Davonta, Devontae, Davontae, Devontay, Dvontae, Devaunte, etc.

And in 1992, Dalvin became the second-fastest-rising boy name:

  • 1994: 143 baby boys named Dalvin [rank: 912th]
  • 1993: 179 baby boys named Dalvin [rank: 789th] (peak)
  • 1992: 132 baby boys named Dalvin [rank: 923rd]
  • 1991: 6 baby boys named Dalvin
  • 1990: 13 baby boys named Dalvin

Jodeci put out a second album in 1993, a third in 1995, then went on hiatus in 1996. After they stopped releasing new material, usage of the name declined.

A related name that was used around this time was K-Ci:

  • 2001: unlisted
  • 2000: 6 boys named K-Ci
  • 1999: 6 boys named K-Ci
  • 1998: 5 boys named K-Ci
  • 1997: unlisted
  • 1996: unlisted
  • 1995: 7 boys named K-Ci [debut]
  • 1994: unlisted

This one was helped along by the band K-Ci & JoJo, formed by two Jodeci members around 1996.

The names Jodeci and K-Ci may be down, but don’t count them out. In about a month, a reality TV show starring K-Ci and JoJo will premiere on TVOne. Also, there’s a talented high school football player out there named Jodeci Mays. (He scored seven touchdowns a couple of weeks ago.) Visibility often leads to usage, so the TV show and/or the athlete could help revive the names, you never know…