Most of us think of “Carson” as either a surname or a male name, but it popped up as a girl name suddenly in the 1940s (after decades of being a male name exclusively).
| Year | Girls named Carson | Boys named Carson |
| 1949 | 5 | 133 |
| 1948 | 6 | 117 |
| 1947 | 11* | 135 |
| 1946 | . | 131 |
| 1945 | . | 97 |
The influence was probably the radio soap opera The Road of Life — the very first soap opera with a medical theme. Broadcast schedules indicate that it aired from about 1937 to about 1959. (It was also on TV in the mid-1950s, but only for a matter of months.)
The main character was Dr. Jim Brent, who started out as a surgeon in Chicago, but during 1945 moved to New York City and became a psychiatrist. There, he worked for Dr. Carson McVicker (played by radio actress Charlotte Manson), who was not just the chief-of-staff at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, but also a beautiful heiress. One source dubbed her a “socialite doctor.”
Both Jim and Carson were married, but that didn’t stop them from having an affair. She eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and resigned.
What are your thoughts on the name Carson? Do you like it better as a boy name, or as a girl name?
P.S. Another traditionally male name that started being given to baby girls in the ’40s is Rory.
Sources:
- Cox, Jim. The Great Radio Soap Operas. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999.
- Russell, Maureen. Days of Our Lives: A Complete History of the Long-Running Soap Opera. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1995.
- Soap Operas In The Postwar World – DTTD!
Image: from Manitoba Calling (PDF), Apr. 1946, p. 15 (archived by American Radio History)