You’ve probably seen advertisements for the movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which is currently playing in theaters. It’s a sequel to Jumanji (1995).
The second film (starring The Rock) quickly became more successful than the first (which starred Robin Williams). So now the question is this: Should we expect to see Jumanji return to the baby name charts?
Because the initial film managed to boost Jumanji into the U.S. baby name data for the first (and so far only) time in 1996:
- 1998: unlisted
- 1997: unlisted
- 1996: 8 baby boys named Jumanji [debut]
- 1995: unlisted
- 1994: unlisted
Both movies were based on the children’s picture book Jumanji (1981) by author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. In the book, “Jumanji” is the name of a magical board game. (Allsburg also wrote/drew the modern Christmas classic The Polar Express.)