How popular is the baby name Macarther in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Macarther.
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If we ignore the glitchy 1989 names, the real #1 one-hit wonder becomes Jometh.
Here’s what I can tell you about some of the above: Jometh and Elionaid were inspired by the TV show Objectivo Fama; Andamo was inspired by the TV show Mr. Lucky; Maurkice was inspired by football player Maurkice Pouncey; Kimario was inspired by a mention in Ebony magazine; Willkie was inspired by politician Wendell Willkie; Amareion was inspired by singer Omarion; Ebay was inspired by the TV show Good Times; Brettly was inspired by the TV show American Restoration; Vadir was inspired by actor Vadhir Derbez; Travolta was inspired by actor John Travolta; Macarther was inspired by Douglas MacArthur; Schley was inspired by Winfield Scott Schley.
Can you come up with explanations for any of the others?
The Social Security Administration’s annual baby name list only includes names given to 5 or more U.S. baby girls (or baby boys) per year.
Most rare names never make the list, but a select group have appeared a single time. I like to call these the one-hit wonder baby names.
One-hit wonders tend to pop up with a relatively low number of babies — 5 or 6 — but a handful are given to dozens of babies…only to disappear again the next year! Intriguing, no?
Below are the highest-charting one-hit wonder names for every year on record before 2013. (We won’t know which 2013 names are one-hit wonders until later lists come out.) The format is: “Girl name(s), number of baby girls; Boy name(s), number of baby boys.”
And isn’t it strange how “McArthur” became more popular than “MacArthur”? Perhaps newspapers of the day had trouble spelling the surname correctly.
Speaking of newspapers, several of them made note of the sudden trendiness of “Douglas MacArthur” as a baby name. A Boston Globe headline from March 25, 1942, said: “Douglas MacArthur Wong Among 15 Babies Named for Hero Here.” A similar New York Times headline from April 9 stated: “MacArthur Wins Another Reward of Fame: 7, Maybe 13, Babies Here Are Named for Him.”
Finally, a few MacArthur-related asides:
Did you know that a string of men in Douglas MacArthur’s family had the double name Arthur MacArthur?
MacArthur was the one in charge of clearing the Bonus Expeditionary Force out of Washington, DC, back in 1932.
Another U.S. military man whose name became a trendy after a battle in the Philippines was George Dewey.
