Where did the baby name Stassa come from in 1968?

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The unusual name Stassa was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1968:

  • 1970: unlisted
  • 1969: unlisted
  • 1968: 6 baby girls named Stassa [debut]
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A character in the sci-fi/thriller movie The Destructors, which was released in January of 1968.

Here’s how TV Guide described the film (when it started airing on TV in the 1970s): “Low-budget spy melodrama, pivoting on the theft of laser rubies.”

The character Stassa (played by actress Joan Blackman) worked as a go-go dancer. According to one modern-day reviewer, Stassa was “[t]he only character who had any depth”:

She came from a rough and abusive childhood. She survived on her own by working her way up the sugar-daddy ladder until she got to Count Romano. Yet, she wasn’t so jaded as to not still desire a real relationship based on love, not money.

(Count Mario Romano was played by Michael Ansara, incidentally.)

What are your thoughts on the name Stassa?

Sources: The Destructors – Classic Sci-Fi Movies, The Destructors – AFI, The Destructors (1968) – IMDb

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