The baby name Toccara, very trendy during the early 1980s, can be traced back to an Avon perfume called Toccara.
The fragrance went into production in 1981, and that’s the year we first see the name Toccara on the SSA’s baby name list:
- 1984: 66 girls named Toccara
- 1983: 158 girls named Toccara
- 1982: 358 girls named Toccara
- 1981: 182 girls named Toccara
- 1980: unlisted
(A handful of baby boys got the name as well.)
The name became so trendy, in fact, that it managed to rank among the 1,000 most popular U.S. baby girl names for three consecutive years:
- 1983: Toccara ranked 941st
- 1982: Toccara ranked 541st
- 1981: Toccara ranked 857th
It also inspired a whole bunch of spelling variants, including Takara, Taccara, Tocarra, Toccaro, Tacarra, Tacora, Toccarra, Toccora, Tocara, Tocarro, Taccarra, Takarra, Tikara and Tykara.
After a few years, the fragrance was discontinued and usage of the name Toccara dropped off.
But, if you look at the popularity graph for Toccara, you’ll see a minor resurgence in usage a few decades later. What caused the 2005 mini-spike? A television show. Plus-size model Toccara Jones, born in 1981, was a contestant on America’s Next Top Model during the second half of 2004.
UPDATE: What does Toccara mean? Here’s the official definition, straight from Avon!