How popular is the baby name Merv 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 Merv.

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 Merv


Posts that mention the name Merv

Where did the baby name Trenny come from in 1968?

Trenny Robb, 1967
Trenny Robb, 1967

From 1968 to 1970, the baby name Trenny was popular enough to appear in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1970: 6 baby girls named Trenny
  • 1969: 7 baby girls named Trenny
  • 1968: 20 baby girls named Trenny [debut]
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted

Where did “Trenny” come from?

A bridesmaid, believe it or not.

On December 9, 1967, Lynda Bird Johnson — the elder daughter* of President Lyndon B. Johnson and Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson — married U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Robb in a private ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

One of the bridesmaids was the groom’s sister, a photogenic 20-year-old named Marguerite Trenholm “Trenny” Robb.

Interest in her spiked after the wedding photos came out, and she became somewhat of a media darling for the next few years. In 1968, for instance, Trenny appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, she modeled in magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal and Mademoiselle, and she even flew to Rome to screen test for an Omar Sharif film.

The media followed her modeling career over the next couple of years — even after President Johnson was replaced by President Nixon in early 1969.

But then Trenny decided to leave it all behind and pursue other interests. In 1970 she married, moved to a farm in Vermont, and started a business making pot pipes and related paraphernalia (love beads, peace posters).

These days, Trenny is still in Vermont, but she’s moved on from making pipes to making lamps.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Trenny?

P.S. The English surname Trenholm comes from the name of a village in Yorkshire. The place name can be traced back to a pair of Old Norse words meaning “crane” (as in the bird) and “islet.”

Sources:

*Weirdly enough, the wedding of the younger Johnson daughter, Luci, also had an influence on the baby names…

Where did the baby name Lainie come from in 1966?

Lainie Kazan's self-titled debut album (1966)
Lainie Kazan album

The baby name name Lainie first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1960s:

  • 1971: 48 baby girls named Lainie
  • 1970: 91 baby girls named Lainie [peak]
  • 1969: 73 baby girls named Lainie
  • 1968: 68 baby girls named Lainie
  • 1967: 39 baby girls named Lainie
  • 1966: 21 baby girls named Lainie [debut]
  • 1965: unlisted

Where did this one come from?

Brooklyn-born singer Lainie Kazan (birth name Lanie Levine).

She’d had a career on Broadway since 1961 — she was Barbra Streisand’s Funny Girl understudy, notably — but things changed around 1966, the year she put out her first two albums and started making regular TV appearances on Dean Martin’s variety show (plus occasional appearances on similar shows, like The Merv Griffin Show and The Ed Sullivan Show).

One of her singles, “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,” peaked at #29 on Billboard‘s Adult Contemporary chart in February of 1967.

She continued putting out albums and appearing in movies and on television, but modern audiences would probably know Lainie from either Beaches or My Big Fat Greek Wedding — in both films she played a mother. In fact, mother characters became her specialty:

The way Johnny Depp plays off-kilter fantasy-world anti-heroes, the way Gilbert Gottfried plays parrots and ducks, Lainie Kazan has almost cornered the market on Jewish mother roles.

What are your thoughts on the name Lainie?

Sources: Lainie Kazan – Wikipedia, Happy Jewish Mother’s Day – Oy!Chicago