The baby name Vint debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1958:
- 1960: 15 baby boys named Vint
- 1959: 35 baby boys named Vint
- 1958: 21 baby boys named Vint [debut]
- 1957: unlisted
- 1956: unlisted
The influence?
Vint Bonner, the main character of the TV Western The Restless Gun (1957-1959).
Vint was a “freelance cowpoke” who traveled alone through the post-Civil War West. The character was played by John Payne, who had starred in Miracle on 34th Street a decade earlier. Payne say of the character: “If there’s such a thing as a next-door neighbor in a Western that’s Vint Bonner.”
The series was based on a radio show (The Six Shooter, 1953-1954) in which the main character was named Britt Ponset. For TV, the character’s personality was altered slightly and his name was changed from “Britt” to “Vint” (…perhaps to make it sound more like Clint?).
Do you like the name Vint?
Sources:
- Marill, Alvin H. Television Westerns: Six Decades of Sagebrush Sheriffs, Scalawags, and Sidewinders.. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011.
- “TV Goes Wild Over Westerns.” LIFE 28 Oct. 1957: 99-106.
It makes me think of Vint Hill in Virginia. So I suppose it would make a good choice for parents who were either Civil War history buffs or into military history in general (Vint Hill Farms Station was where the Army trained cryptographers for several decades starting during WWII) .
Perhaps the folks behind the TV series were thinking of Vint Hill when they switched from Britt to Vint since the time period was supposed to be during the years following the end of the Civil War?
That’s an interesting bit of history! I don’t think I’d ever heard of Vint Hill.