Where did the baby name Tatia come from in 1965?

The character Tatia from the TV series "I Spy" (1965-1968).
Tatia from “I Spy

The baby name Tatia debuted impressively in the U.S. baby name data in 1965. It was second only to Latrenda that year.

  • 1967: 58 baby girls named Tatia
  • 1966: 211 baby girls named Tatia [peak usage]
  • 1965: 43 baby girls named Tatia [debut]
  • 1964: unlisted
  • 1963: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A single episode of the TV show I Spy (1965-1968), which starred Robert Culp and Bill Cosby as characters Kelly and Scotty, a pair of undercover agents.

The episode aired on November 17, 1965, and was called “Tatia,” after the character Tatia Loring (played by Laura Devon). Tatia, whose name was pronounced ta-sha, was a freelance photographer in Tokyo who Kelly was attracted to, but Scotty was suspicious of.

The year after the episode aired, the baby name Tatia was boosted into the top 1,000 for the first (and so far only) time. The phonetic spelling Tasha fared even better: It hit the top 1,000 and stuck around until the 1990s.

Several other baby names also got a boost from single-episode I Spy characters. Examples include Tonia (from the January 1967 episode “Tonia”) and Shana (from the March 1968 episode “Shana”).

P.S. Robert Culp also played Hoby, and Laura Devon also played Toika.

Sources: “Tatia” – I Spy – IMDb, SSA

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