Where did the baby name Sooner come from in 1975?

The character Sooner from the TV movie "A Girl Named Sooner" (1975).
Sooner (l) from “A Girl Named Sooner

Here’s an odd name: Sooner. It debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1975, and it was only on the list for two years before disappearing again:

  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: 5 baby girls named Sooner
  • 1975: 5 baby girls named Sooner [debut]
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: unlisted

What inspired a handful of parents to name their baby girls named Sooner in the mid-1970s?

A TV movie called A Girl Named Sooner (1975), which was set in 1930s Indiana.

Title of the TV movie "A Girl Named Sooner" (1975)
A Girl Named Sooner” (1975)

The main character, Sooner (played by actress Susan Deer), was an 8-year-old orphan who had been “born too soon” and hence named Sooner.

(This reminds me of Speedy Long, the U.S. Representative who was also born early and named accordingly.)

The telefilm was based on a Suzanne Clauser novel of the same name. If you’d like to watch it, a copy of A Girl Named Sooner has been uploaded to the Internet Archive.

Source: A Girl Named Sooner – Wikipedia

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