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