What gave the baby name Deirdre a boost in the 1940s?

The character Deirdre Drake (played by Dolores Moran) from the movie "Old Acquaintance" (1943).
Deirdre Drake from “Old Acquaintance

The name Deatra appeared on the Social Security Administration’s baby name list for the first time in 1944:

  • 1946: 12 baby girls named Deatra
  • 1945: 19 baby girls named Deatra
  • 1944: 29 baby girls named Deatra [debut]
  • 1943: unlisted
  • 1942: unlisted

It was a top debut name that year, in fact.

“Deatra” confused me at first. I couldn’t figure out where it came from. Then I discovered a whole bunch of similar names that also debuted in 1944…

1943194419451946
Deatra.29*1912
Dietra.25*1617
Deitra.23*1616
Detra.20*611
Diedra.19*2716
Dedra.18*1619
Deadra.15*1212
Deedra.11*149
Deirdra.11*78
Diedre.11*1422
Deardra.10*66
Dierdra.5*55
Dieatra.5*..
Deetra.5*..
*Debut

(Dieatra was a one-hit wonder.)

All these names together these pointed me to Deirdre as the likely source.

So what happened to the Irish name Deirdre that year?

  • 1946: 121 baby girls named Deirdre (rank: 742nd)
  • 1945: 78 baby girls named Deirdre (rank: 852nd)
  • 1944: 67 baby girls named Deirdre (rank: 948th)
  • 1943: 29 baby girls named Deirdre
  • 1942: 37 baby girls named Deirdre

From 1943 to 1944, usage more than doubled, pushing Deirdre into the top 1,000 for the very first time.

Other variants (e.g. Dierdre, Deidra) also saw increased usage in 1944. One of them, Deidre, even achieved top-1,000 status in 1945.

So what caused the great Deirdre-spike of 1944?

I think it was the Bette Davis film Old Acquaintance, which was released in November of 1943. It featured a character named Deirdre Drake (played by actress Dolores Moran).

I’m not 100% sure the movie was the cause, but the name of Bette Davis’s character, Kit — short for Katherine — also saw an increase in usage in 1944:

  • 1946: 24 baby girls named Kit
  • 1945: 27 baby girls named Kit
  • 1944: 25 baby girls named Kit
  • 1943: 14 baby girls named Kit
  • 1942: 12 baby girls named Kit

So I think Old Acquaintance is a decent guess.

Do you have any other ideas?

4 thoughts on “What gave the baby name Deirdre a boost in the 1940s?

  1. I have a friend named Deitra and I was always at a loss of where it came from. Deirdre makes sense as a root, but it doesn’t really explain where her parents got it, as she was born in the 1980s. I may have to ask her sometime…

  2. Deirdre peaked in the 1940s in Australia too – although it only rose 3 places higher than its ranking in the 1930s, which is when it debuted. Actor Erroll Flynn had a daughter named Deirdre born in 1945, so perhaps he was influenced by the same film as everyone else!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.