I recently realized that many of the bands I listen to were named in honor of various 80s movies.
Ludo, Atreyu, and McFly were named for characters in The Labyrinth (1986), The Neverending Story (1984), and Back to the Future (1985). Save Ferris and Rooney both refer to Ferris Beuller’s Day Off (1986). And, logically, Say Anything comes from Say Anything… (1989).
This made me wonder how many other bands were named for 80s flicks. Turns out, quite a few:
| Artax As You Wish Auryn Bavmorda Biff Tannen Bog of Eternal Stench Childlike Empress Cobra Kai Daniel LaRusso Dread Pirate Roberts | The Dykeenies Emmett Brown Falkor Fezzik Flux Capacitor George McFly Inigo Montoya Jareth Joe Lies Lloyd Dobler | Madmartigan Miracle Max Morla Mr. Miyagi Rockbiter Rodents of Unusual Size The Fratellis The Nothing Truffle Shuffle Wax On Wax Off |
(The above names came from the movies I already mentioned, plus The Goonies (1985), The Karate Kid (1984), The Princess Bride (1987), and Willow (1988).)
If these decades-old films are now inspiring dozens of band names, do you think they could be (belatedly) inspiring baby names as well?
For example, a childhood friend of mine had a life-sized poster of Ralph Macchio hanging above her bed for years. If she had a son, would she name him Daniel?
Will any of the lads who once had a crush on brainy Diane Court decide to name their daughters Diane?
Did bookish Bastian help catapult the name Sebastian (now ranked 72nd in the U.S.) into the spotlight, one generation later?
And don’t forget Cameron, Ferris, Inigo, Lloyd, Marty, Sloane, Sorsha, Westley…and hundreds more from other movies, like Andie from Pretty in Pink (1986), Elliott from E.T. (1982), Josh from Big (1988), Lisa from Weird Science (1985), Maverick from Top Gun (1986)…
For those of you who grew up during the 1980s: Can you trace any of your favorite baby names back to a specific 80s movie?
hmmm …. I don’t know that I’ve seen this, but you have given me inspiration for a friend’s dilemma: name for a son who (by family tradition) must have initials CF.
Cameron Ferris would be a nice choice.
Several friends have recently named their sons Jackson (Steel Magnolias). Shelby doesn’t seem to have become as popular.
Artax isn’t a band name, Atreyu is.
Gwen – Both Artax and Atreyu are band names. (Different bands, obviously. But both got their names from The Neverending Story.)
It’s funny because I always liked the names Corwin and R.E. from Mr. Boogedy. Even funnier… no one remembers that movie or what I’m talking about! :P
A very interesting blog post: http://www.hankstuever.com/jryan.html
“I cannot over-explain or over-emphasize the importance of Jake Ryan and that movie,” says Amy Kramer. “You go look in the Social Security database. Look at how many baby boys were named Jake by women who saw ‘Sixteen Candles’ in the 1980s. Or even Ryan. Go to a toddler park and count all the Jakes. If your kid’s not named Max, he’s named Jake.”
Cool link! Thanks.
I just stumbled upon a Dutch child named Daniëlsan in 1986. Karate Kid 2 was in Dutch cinemas the month he was born.
As you might remember the protagonist of the Karate Kid movies, Daniel, is called Daniel-san by Mr Miyagi.
Maarten, great find! I love it. Thanks for letting me know — that just made my day. :)