What gave the baby name Rulon a boost in 1941?

Mormon Church leader Rulon S. Wells (1954-1941)
Rulon Wells

The rare name Rulon saw a dip in usage in 1940, followed by a spike in usage in 1941. These two conditions combined made Rulon the fastest-rising male name of 1941:

  • 1943: 11 baby boys named Rulon (5 in Idaho)
  • 1942: 12 baby boys named Rulon (9 in Utah)
  • 1941: 21 baby boys named Rulon (15 in Utah)
  • 1940: 6 baby boys named Rulon (5 in Utah)
  • 1939: 18 baby boys named Rulon (7 in Idaho, 6 in Utah)
  • 1938: 14 baby boys named Rulon (11 in Utah)

I can’t account for the dip, but the spike corresponds to the death of Rulon S. Wells, who was a prominent leader in the Mormon Church. (This explains the particularly high usage in Utah and Idaho.)

Rulon Wells was born in the 1850s in Salt Lake City. He was one of about three dozen siblings and half-siblings (via his father’s seven wives). I don’t how the name “Rulon” was chosen, but the names of some of Rulon’s siblings aren’t hard to figure out:

Rulon himself had just one wife and seven children: Josephine, Rulon Jr., Sidney, Elizabeth, Lillian, Helen, and Dorothy.

Do you like the name Rulon? Would you use it?

P.S. Mary Juneve Jones of Utah, mentioned in the post about baby names inspired by Rexall scents, had a father named Isaac Rulon Jones (b. 1902).

Source: Rulon S. Wells – Wikipedia

Airplane baby born in 1931 named after Lindbergh

airplane

Airlene of Miami may have been the first baby born in an airplane, but Lindbergh of Manitoba was probably the first baby to be born unexpectedly in a airplane. He was also likely the first baby to be born while flying over Canada.

A pregnant Mrs. Alex Miller had been riding the Hudson Bay Railway in Canada on March 29, 1931, when it was decided that she should be rushed to The Pas, Manitoba, for the delivery of her child. So she was loaded into a Fairchild monoplane owned by the Royal Canadian Air Force and piloted by Flight Lieutenant A. L. McPhee.

But the baby did not want to wait. He was born 15 minutes into the flight at an elevation of 4,000 feet.

He was named Lindbergh Wright Cook Miller. The first name honors aviator Charles Lindbergh, who in 1927 became the first person to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic. No explanation was offered for Wright, but I think it’s plausible that it was inspired by the Wright brothers.

Sources:

  • “Boy Born in Plane.” Palm Beach Post 31 Mar. 1931: 1.
  • “Baby Born in Plane Named for Lindbergh.” Berkeley Daily Gazette 31 Mar. 1931: 16.

Image: Adapted from Air Canada Boeing 777-333ER by MarcusObal under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Baby name mash-ups: Abdrew, Jeffifer, Ryatt, Tiffanique

Here are some oddball baby names I found while scanning the SSA’s baby name lists. They look like creative combinations of other names. (My guesses as to what those “other names” might be are in parentheses.)

Boy names:

Girl names:

Which is your favorite? (Mine is Franchester!)

Have you come across any other baby name mash-ups recently?

P.S. Don’t forget Craphonso. :)

[Last update: 5/2019]

Tajikistani babies named after Rogun Dam

Tajikistan’s government believes that the hydroelectric Rogun Dam will solve the country’s economic woes. But it doesn’t have the billions of dollars needed to finish building the dam, so it’s been convincing (sometimes forcing) its citizens to invest in the project.

Some Tajiks are unhappy about this situation. But many have proudly bought “shares” in the dam (even though the government has yet to explain how shareholders can recoup their investments).

One of these optimistic investors is Abdullo Bobokhonov, a 59-year-old lawyer whose grandson was born in January of 2010, right around the time the Tajik government started selling shares. The baby was named Rogunshoh at Bobokhonov’s suggestion. Rogunshoh means “king Rogun” or “lord Rogun” in Tajik.

Another January baby — a baby girl born in Tajikistan’s Yavan region — was reportedly named Sahmiya, which means “share” in Tajik.

Sources: Baby boy in Tajikistan named in honor of hydroelectric dam, Tajiks invest in mega-dam project, Tajiks sink money into Soviet-style dam project