How popular is the baby name Versace 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 Versace.

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Popularity of the baby name Versace


Posts that mention the name Versace

Where did the baby name Versace come from in 1997?

Fashion designer Gianni Versace (1946-1997)
Gianni Versace

Fashion designer Gianni Versace was born in Italy in late 1946. His eponymous fashion house was founded in the late 1970s. But the surname Versace, despite its strong association with haute couture, didn’t appear in the U.S. baby name data until 1997:

  • 1999: unlisted
  • 1998: unlisted
  • 1997: 10 baby boys named Versace [debut]
  • 1996: unlisted
  • 1995: unlisted

Brands often pop up in the data due to events like product launches and/or marketing campaigns. (And sometimes rap songs.) The event that put this brand on the onomastic map, however, was quite different.

On the morning of July 15, 1997, Gianni Versace was shot point-blank outside of his Miami Beach mansion. The murderer, who committed suicide days later, was a spree killer who’d had an obsession with Versace (the man, not the brand).

So that’s the unfortunate explanation behind “Versace” getting extra media attention in 1997, which resulted in the surname seeing higher usage as a baby name — high enough to end up in the SSA data for the first time.

The Italian (Sicilian) surname Versace can be traced back to the Greek personal name Barsakios, which could be of Arabic origin.

Sources:

The top girl-name debuts of 2018

lotus bud

The top girl-name debuts in the U.S. baby name data last year were:

Some of the other debuts include: Annifer, Dava, Enzleigh, Katyayani, Lunamae, Mazuri, Attley, Coralena, Loujain, Townes, Gurmehar, Orabella, Vaia, Aerolyn, Elegance, Nyayla, Tillian, Universe, Yosra, Zhaviah, Zyna, Alouette, Anyfer, Bilge, Cardi, Chicago, Elite, Geles, Gentree, Ikora, Lunagrace, Menorah, Modesire, Pyrrha, Riverrose, Siloam, Versace, Willianny, Zelilah, Annajames, Arrowyn, Bellanova, Chancellor, Cloud, Ellanese, Enzo, Erabelle, Ffion, Fiammetta, Foreign, Ixora, Krew, Lunamaria, Mattel, Miqueen, Noir, Novamae, Peru, Sumnima, Tomiris, Uinise, Videlle, York

Zhavia (and Jhavia, and Zaviah) were influenced by singer Zhavia Ward, who was on the TV show The Four in 2018. Do you have explanations for any of the other debuts?

P.S. Wondering what a “debut” name is? Debut names were too rare to appear in the SSA data in any previous year (1880-2017). In order to debut, they need to be given to at least 5 babies of one gender or the other within a single year.

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri