Adilene isn’t the only ’80s baby name I can’t figure out. I’m stumped on Marquita as well.
In 1983, thousands of baby girls were suddenly given the name Marquita:
- 1985: 535 baby girls named Marquita [rank: 417th]
- 1984: 1,374 baby girls named Marquita [rank: 195th]
- 1983: 2,543 baby girls named Marquita [rank: 112th]
- 1982: 128 baby girls named Marquita
- 1981: 135 baby girls named Marquita
Hundreds more were given a variant spelling of the name:
1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | |
Marquita (f) | 128 | 2,543 | 1,374 | 535 |
Marquita (m) | . | 20** | . | . |
Marquitta | 27 | 138 | 128 | 75 |
Marquetta | 62 | 80 | 91 | 72 |
Marqueta | 7 | 28 | 26 | 12 |
Markeeta | 11 | 28 | 29 | 18 |
Markeita | . | 20 | 18 | 10 |
Marqutia | . | 12* | . | . |
Markeda | 10 | 10 | 16 | 14 |
Marquieta | . | 9* | 7 | . |
Markitta | . | 8 | 11 | 6 |
Marquida | – | 8* | 8 | 6 |
Markida | – | 6* | . | 6 |
Markeyta | – | 5 | 9 | 7 |
Marquita was out of the top 1,000 again by the mid-1990s.
The spike seems to have been centered in the South. The states with the most babies named Marquita in 1983 were…
- Georgia – 218 babies named Marquita
- Texas – 195 babies named Marquita
- North Carolina – 176 babies named Marquita
- Mississippi – 170 babies named Marquita
- Louisiana – 168 babies named Marquita
- Florida – 162 babies named Marquita
- Illinois – 161 babies named Marquita
- Alabama – 145 babies named Marquita
- California – 123 babies named Marquita
- Virginia – 112 babies named Marquita
The spike wasn’t caused by Marquita Rivera. And I don’t think either Marquita Pool-Eckert (at that time Marquita Pool) or Marquita Lister were popular enough to have caused it.
Any ideas?
Update, 7/25/2021: Commenter Marquitta I. has solved the mystery! (Thank you so much!)
The sudden interest in the baby name Marquita was sparked by a TV commercial for Close-Up toothpaste. The commercial features (actors playing) a young African-American couple named Marquita (pronounced mahr-KEE-tah) and Chris.
They spend the 30 seconds talking about one another (and the toothpaste, of course) so viewers hear Chris say Marquita’s name several times: “When I hold Marquita, it really warms me up.” “Marquita’s teeth are white, straight, and make her smile beautiful.” “When I kiss Marquita, it tastes fresh.”
Here’s the commercial:
P.S. I’ve since found similar Close-Up commercials featuring couples with the names Gail & Grant, Cliff & Tina, and Desiree & Rob.