Teenage thief Harry Longabaugh served an 18-month jail sentence in Sundance, Wyoming, in the late 1880s. During his imprisonment, he was nicknamed “the Sundance Kid.”
In the 1890s, Harry became associated with Butch Cassidy’s infamous “Wild Bunch” train-robbing gang.
Many years later, the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) came out. Not only did it win four Academy Awards, but it called attention to the names Cassidy and Sundance. Cassidy started appearing in the U.S. baby name data in the late ’60s, Sundance in the early ’70s.
Cassidy has been in the data ever since. It became especially popular as a girl name, peaking at 99th on the girls’ list in 1999.
Sundance, on the other hand, never really picked up steam. It was last in the data in the mid-1990s…though the most recent winner of The Voice is nicknamed Sundance, so the name might be back soon.
Which of these two names do you prefer, Sundance or Cassidy?
Loading ...