The name Staria debuted rather impressively in 1955 with 20 baby girls:
- 1957: 9 baby girls named Staria
- 1956: 15 baby girls named Staria
- 1955: 20 baby girls named Staria [debut]
- 1954: unlisted
- 1954: unlisted
So far, I haven’t been able to figure out why. None of the other Star- names (like Starla or Starlet) shot up in usage from 1954 to 1955, and the only pop culture “Staria” I can find was an Australian comic strip character introduced in 1980 — wrong place, wrong time.
The one clue I can offer is this: I found birth records for about half of the 1955 Starias, and all of those births happened during the second half of the year (July to December). So we could be looking for some mid-year event.
Any ideas on this one?
Given the date, I suspect some cross-influence from the word “stereo” (as in stereophonic recording). Mixing up with the than popular star-names (also Sterling for boys was quite fashionable), the coinage Staria is not far-off.
Could be another name influenced by the name/nickname of someone appearing on TV or radio as a non-celebrity guest or contestant. The $64,000 Question debuted in the summer of 1955, but there were a lot of other game shows on in prime time like “What’s My Line” that had a huge audience.
It’s rather pretty, so I’m surprised it didn’t have much staying power.
@elbowin – “Stereo” is a fascinating suggestion, given the time period. But I don’t think stereo records became commercially available until slightly later in the ’50s (1958-ish?).
@Ellyn – It definitely could be a contestant name. The frustrating thing about that, though, is that contestant names are notoriously tricky to track down.
I do have a post on What’s My Line? names coming up, ironically, so I know for sure Staria didn’t come from that one. But I have yet to find even partial lists of contestant names from $64,000 Question or from the other game/panel shows of the era.
Update, 9/27/2017: Here’s the What’s My Line? post.