According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Joni saw a massive jump in usage in 1953. It reached peak popularity several years later.
- 1957: 1535 baby girls named Joni (rank: 214th)
- 1956: 1576 baby girls named Joni (rank: 204th) [peak]
- 1955: 1449 baby girls named Joni (rank: 212th)
- 1954: 917 baby girls named Joni (rank: 281st)
- 1953: 757 baby girls named Joni (rank: 297th)
- 1952: 81 baby girls named Joni
- 1951: 74 baby girls named Joni
What prompted this sudden interest in the name?
Pop singer Joni James, who had “an intimate vocal style tinged with longing and melancholy.”
Her first and biggest hit, “Why Don’t You Believe Me,” came out in 1952 and climbed to the #1 spot on all three Billboard charts: sales, radio play, and jukebox play. (The magazine’s “Hot 100” chart wasn’t introduced until mid-1958.)
Here’s what the song sounds like:
Her other successful singles included “Have You Heard?” (1953), “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (1953) — a cover of the Hank Williams country classic — and “How Important Can It Be?” (1955).
A first generation Italian-American, Joni James was born Giovanna Carmella Babbo in Chicago in 1930. After her high school newspaper repeatedly misspelled her first name, she started going by “Joni.” Later, while working as a model, she was told to choose a new surname; she picked “James” at random out of the phone book.
What are your thoughts on the name Joni?
Sources:
- Joni James – Wikipedia
- Seelye, Katharine Q. “Joni James, Heartfelt Chanteuse of the 1950s, Dies at 91.” New York Times 4 Mar. 2022.
- SSA