Today’s mystery name? Tyronda, primarily.
From 1977 to 1978, Tyronda was the second-fastest rising girl name in the nation.
(The fastest-rising girl name, incidentally, was Aja.)
But we also have the similar names Tyronza and Tyrhonda, both of which saw marked increases in usage in 1978 as well.
All three names peaked in 1979:
Girls named Tyronda | Girls named Tyronza | Girls named Tyrhonda | |
1980 | 40 | 20 | 13 |
1979 | 81† | 27† | 28† |
1978 | 73 | 25 | 17* |
1977 | 6 | . | . |
1976 | 10 | . | . |
I’ve searched high and low, but so far I can’t figure out what was drawing attention to these names in the late ’70s.
The variant spellings suggest the influence was audio as opposed to visual, and the state data reveals that usage was concentrated in the South (e.g., Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina), but those are the only two clues I can offer.
Do you have any thoughts on this one?