In last week’s Macaulay Culkin post, we talked about Culkin’s breakout role as Kevin in Home Alone, but not about his second-biggest role: as bespectacled Tommy in My Girl (1991).
His My Girl co-star, Anna Chlumsky, played main character Vada Sultenfuss.
The movie didn’t do anything for the baby name Tommy, but it did give Vada a boost in the early ’90s:
- 1994: 31 baby girls named Vada
- 1993: 29 baby girls named Vada
- 1992: 14 baby girls named Vada
- 1991: 7 baby girls named Vada
- 1990: unlisted
- 1989: 7 baby girls named Vada
This put Vada (a left-handed name) on an upward trajectory that, over time, has accelerated. In fact, the name reached the top 1,000 a couple of years ago:
- 2017: 265 baby girls named Vada [rank: 978th]
- 2016: 307 baby girls named Vada [rank: 904th]
- 2015: 242 baby girls named Vada
- 2014: 201 baby girls named Vada
The last time it was among the top 1,000 girl names in the U.S. was in the 1940s.
Do you like the name Vada? Would you use it?
Sources: My Girl (1991) – IMDb, SSA