How popular is the baby name Jordache 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 Jordache.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Jordache


Posts that mention the name Jordache

What gave the baby name Brittania a boost in 1980?

Brittania advertisement

In 1979 and 1980, four very similar girl names — Brittania, Brittanya, Britania and Britanya — all popped up in the U.S. baby name data:

BrittaniaBrittanyaBritaniaBritanya
198313...
1982136..
1981357910
198060†19*13*16*
19795*...
1978....
1977....
*Debut, †Peak usage

What put them there?

A marketing campaign for Brittania blue jeans.

Sportswear brand Brittania (pronounced brih-TAN-yah) was launched in Seattle in 1973 by businessman Walter Schoenfeld.

He was inspired to start selling “washed” blue jeans to Americans after spotting “a pair of faded blue denim slacks in the window of a London shop.” (Brittania jeans were “fashionable alternatives to the dark denim Levi’s that were so prevalent at that time.”)

Sales of Britannia jeans increased throughout the 1970s:

In [fewer] than 10 years, Brittania Sportswear was selling 30 million pairs a year and Brittania — Schoenfeld spelled it that way to distinguish his brand from the Royal Yacht Britannia — had a team of 40 to 50 designers and about 400 employees in Seattle.

Then, in 1980, Schoenfeld made a “decision which ran against his better judgment: Brittania embarked on the first full-scale advertising campaign in its history.”

Brittania advertisement, 1981
“My home is Texas but I live in Brittania!”

That year, the company spent about $9 million on advertising. The result was the “My home is __ but I live in Brittania” marketing campaign.

The campaign was very successful; brand recognition increased from 48% in 1978 to 96% in 1980.

But it also created a new problem: too much demand for the product. By the spring of 1980, the company “had a 50 percent increase in orders over the previous year, but lacked production capacity to fill them.”

This situation, along with several other issues, led the company to file for bankruptcy protection in 1983. Several years after that, it was purchased by Levi Strauss.

Brittania advertisement

Brittania may not be around anymore, but, as the very first designer jeans company in the U.S., it paved the way for brands like Jordache, Chardon, and Zena.

It also helped kick the baby name Brittany into high gear circa 1980:

  • 1983: 4,377 baby girls named Brittany [64th]
  • 1982: 3,102 baby girls named Brittany [94th]
  • 1981: 1,714 baby girls named Brittany [165th]
  • 1980: 1,406 baby girls named Brittany [190th]
  • 1979: 792 baby girls named Brittany [300th]
  • 1978: 630 baby girls named Brittany [345th]
  • 1977: 488 baby girls named Brittany [419th]

Here’s a visual:

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

What are your thoughts on the baby name Brittania? (Do you like it more or less than Brittany?)

P.S. Did you know that Seattle’s apparel industry was born in the wake of the Klondike gold rush? Many prospectors bought provisions in Seattle before heading north to Alaska. Apparel companies founded in Seattle include Filson (1897), Nordstrom (1901), and Eddie Bauer (1920).

Sources:

Where did the baby name Chardon come from in 1981?

Chardón jeans (and an arcade game)
Chardón jeans

The baby name Chardon first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1981:

  • 1983: 5 baby girls named Chardon
  • 1982: unlisted
  • 1981: 15 baby girls named Chardon [debut]
  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Just like Jordache and Murjani, Chardon was inspired by jeans!

I’m not sure when designer jeans brand Chardón (pronounced shar-DON) was introduced, but I’ve tracked down print advertisements for Chardón going back to 1980.

“I beg your Chardón!” was the catchphrase used in the suggestive commercials that must have started airing in (or just before) 1981:

Another Chardón commercial from the same time period featured basketball player Larry Bird:

Larry Bird in Chardón shirt
Larry Bird in Chardón shirt

The brand didn’t last long, however. The designer jeans trend soon fizzled out, and, by mid-1982, Chardón (and many similar brands) were hard to find at department stores.

Likewise, the baby name Chardon only appeared in the SSA data one more time (in 1983) before dropping out for good.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Chardon?

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of Chardón commercials

Wrangler, the ’80s baby name enigma!

The baby name Wrangler debuted on the U.S. baby name charts in 1987.

So here’s the mystery: What caused the debut? Was the name inspired by Wrangler Jeans, or by the Jeep Wrangler? Or both?

The '80s Baby Name Wrangler - Was it inspired by the jeans or the jeep?

Wrangler Jeans, which have been around since the 1940s, were available in trendy, tight-fitting “designer” styles during the ’80s (just like Jordache, and Gloria Vanderbilt by Murjani). Wrangler commercials from that time period (e.g., 1, 2, 3) all featured the same catchy “live it to the limit in Wrangler” theme song.

The Jeep Wrangler was introduced in 1986. The Jeep Wrangler ads weren’t as eye-catching as the Wrangler Jeans ads, but it’s hard to overlook the correlation between the year the car came out and the year the name debuted, and the fact that new cars with decent names often do inspire baby name debuts (e.g., Chevelle, Allante, Miata).

My opinion? I think both products had some influence here.

A small number babies born prior to 1987 were named Wrangler, and I’m sure a few of them were named with the Jeans in mind. (Favorite example: James Levi Wrangler Dunlap, born in 1984.)

But I think the Jeep Wrangler is what gave the name enough of a boost in 1987 for us to see it on the baby charts.

What do you think?

(Interestingly, the baby name Wrangler was only on the SSA’s list once in the ’80s and a few more times during the ’90s, but it has appeared consistently on the charts since the turn of the century. Its best showing so far was in 2011, with 16 baby boys named Wrangler that year.)

Sources:

Where did the baby name Murjani come from in 1980?

"Gloria Vanderbilt by Murjani" commercial (featuring Debbie Harry of Blondie)
“Gloria Vanderbilt by Murjani” commercial

In 1930, a man named Bhagwandas Kewalram “B. K.” Murjani left India to start a clothing manufacturing company in China.

In the late 1960s, his U.S.-educated son Mohan Murjani joined the business. Mohan Murjani eventually transformed the “small American marketing arm of his family’s company into a Seventh Avenue corporation with $300 million in annual sales.”

One of the keys to this growth was teaming up with American heiress/fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt and launching one of the very first designer jean brands, Gloria Vanderbilt, in 1977.

According to the Murjani Group website, Gloria Vanderbilt “was perhaps the first apparel brand to be advertised in marketing channels such as buses, phone booths and TV.” Gloria herself was featured in many of the television commercials.

By 1979, sales of GV jeans — which cost $32 at a time when “Levi jeans were selling for about $15” — were booming.

In 1980, the company started using younger celebrities to endorse the brand. They put out print ads featuring baseball player Reggie Jackson and TV commercials featuring Blondie singer Debbie Harry.

We’ve already seen that advertisements (and especially TV commercials) have the power to influence baby name trends, so it’s not surprising that 1980 is also the year the name Murjani (pronounced mur-ZHAH-nee) first appears in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1983: unlisted
  • 1982: 6 baby girls named Murjani
  • 1981: 10 baby girls named Murjani
  • 1980: 8 baby girls named Murjani [debut]
  • 1979: unlisted
  • 1978: unlisted

Like Jordache, though, Murjani dropped out of the data after only a few years.

I don’t know what the etymology of the surname Murjani is, but Mohan Murjani has been quoted as saying that he is “sometimes mistaken as an Italian because of [his] family name.”

What are your thoughts on the baby name Murjani?

Sources:

  • Duttagupta, Ishani. “Indian style guru: Building global lifestyle brands.” Economic Times 15 May 2008.
  • Hellman, Peter. “Sic Transit Gloria.” New York Magazine 15 Feb. 1993: 34-41.
  • Hollie, Pamela G. “Murjani Seeking a Stable of Designers.” New York Times 21 Jun. 1983: D4.
  • Murjani Group
  • SSA

Image: Screenshot of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans commercial