Natalie Wood and her first/third husband, Robert Wagner, welcomed a baby girl in March of 1974.
The couple had starred together in a TV movie called The Affair in 1973, so they named the baby “Courtney” after Wood’s character, Courtney Patterson.
The very next year, we see a distinct spike in the number of baby girls named Courtney:
- 1976: 3,621 baby girls named Courtney [rank: 76th]
- 1975: 2,772 baby girls named Courtney [rank: 102nd]
- 1974: 2,337 baby girls named Courtney [rank: 124th]
- 1973: 813 baby girls named Courtney [rank: 292nd]
- 1972: 671 baby girls named Courtney [rank: 337th]
- 1971: 834 baby girls named Courtney [rank: 319th]
Sources:
- “Child Named After Character.” Spokane Daily Chronicle 11 Mar. 1974: 12.
- SSA