The branch of Hasidic Judaism called Chabad Lubavitch was founded in the Russian Empire (in the town of Lyubavichi) in the 1770s. After World War II broke out, the center of the movement was moved to the United States — to New York City specifically.
The last official leader of the movement was popular rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, whose wife was the equally beloved Chaya Moussia “Mushka” Schneerson.
When Chaya Mushka passed away in 1988, hundreds of Hasidic parents — most located in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn — named their daughters “Chaya Mushka” (or some variation thereof).
According to he U.S. baby name data, the baby name Chaya, which means “life” in Hebrew, saw a jump in usage in 1988:
| Girls named Chaya (U.S.) | Girls named Chaya (NY) | |
| 1990 | 214 [rank: 896th] | 163 |
| 1989 | 232 [rank: 817th] | 169 |
| 1988 | 213 [rank: 845th] | 146 |
| 1987 | 144 | 120 |
| 1986 | 142 | 106 |
The same year, the rare name Mushka made its very first appearance in the U.S. data:
| Girls named Mushka (U.S.) | Girls named Mushka (NY) | |
| 1990 | 17 | 13 |
| 1989 | 20 | 10 |
| 1988 | 18* | 14* |
| 1987 | . | . |
| 1986 | . | . |
Here are some extra details about the usage of Chaya and Mushka from a 2011 article in the Jewish publication Forward:
- In New York City, “the popularity of the name “Chaya” surged shortly after the rebbetzin died, from about 100 girls annually during the mid-1980s to 150 girls annually during the early 1990s. It peaked in 2005 and 2006, with almost 200 girls named “Chaya” in each year.”
- One Chaya Mushka (b. 1988) mentioned that, at her Beth Rivkah school in Brooklyn, about 75 of the 120 girls in her grade were called Chaya Mushka.
- A Crown Heights matchmaker said that, currently, “almost one-third of the 200 women on her list of eligible brides are Chaya Mushkas.”
The Crown Heights matchmaker also mentioned that the name Menachem Mendel became extremely popular for boys after Chaya Mushka’s husband Menachem Mendel Schneerson passed away a few years later, in 1994. “In my son’s class, I would say about 90% [of the boys] are called Mendy.”
Indeed, the U.S. data reveals that Menachem both entered the top 1,000 for the first time and saw peak (relative) usage in 1994:
| Boys named Menachem (U.S.) | Boys named Menachem (NY) | |
| 1996 | 138 [rank: 944th] | 82 |
| 1995 | 142 [rank: 933rd] | 97 |
| 1994 | 164 [rank: 834th] | 113 |
| 1993 | 83 | 53 |
| 1992 | 105 | 66 |
Interestingly, two decades after this peak, in 2014, the name Menachemmendel popped up in the data for the first and (so far) only time.
Finally, here’s a cool video about the many girls named Chaya Mushka:
Sources:
- Berger, Paul. “Meet Chaya Mushka, Again and Again.” Forward 18 Dec. 2011.
- A Brief Biography of the Rebbetzin: Her Name – Chabad.org
- Chabad – Wikipedia
- Chaya Mushka Schneerson – Wikipedia
- SSA
Image: Adapted from The Lubavitcher Rebbe holds issue 2 of the Geula newspaper by Long live the Messiah the King 770 under CC BY-SA 4.0.
[Latest update: Feb. 2025]
This reminds me of the preponderance of Spencers in the Mormon community.
Spencer pops into the top 100 in 1973, the same year Spencer Kimball becomes President of the LDS Church. He died in late 1985, and in 1986, we see an explosion throughout the Mormon corridor: Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. By 1989, it’s popular across the Northern U.S., and in 1998, popping up everywhere but the Texas and New York areas. By ’04, it’s shrunk back to 1986 territory, and 2009, only Utah (and Maine, barely). It’s never been out of the top 100 in Utah since 1973, and I can personally attest to its local popularity, though not quite at Chaya levels.
Thanks Charly! Very interesting.
(We can see that explosion of Spencers on the popularity graph…)