The name Tiemeyer has popped up in the U.S. baby name data twice, the first time in 1981:
- 1983: unlisted
- 1982: unlisted
- 1981: 10 baby boys named Tiemeyer [debut/peak]
- 1980: unlisted
- 1979: unlisted
Where did it come from?
My guess is singer Tiemeyer (pronounced TEE-mier) McCain, who was one of the nine members of the funk band Lakeside.
Lakeside had one of R&B’s most exciting live shows of the late ’70s and early- to mid-’80s, but in the studio, the Dayton, OH, band generally didn’t go that extra mile.
Today they are best remembered for their single “Fantastic Voyage” (1980), which peaked at #55 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in February of 1981.
(If that song title sounds familiar to you, it may be due to Coolio. His version of “Fantastic Voyage” — which heavily sampled the original — peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 in mid-1994.)
I have to imagine that Tiemeyer McCain’s first name was based on the North German surname Tiemeyer, which originally referred to “a tenant farmer…whose land was near a meeting place.”
What are your thoughts on Tiemeyer as a given name?
Sources:
- All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2003.
- Billboard Hot 100 – Week of February 21, 1981
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Lakeside (band) – Wikipedia