The rare name Jymme has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just twice: first in 1955, last in 1963.
- 1964: unlisted
- 1963: 10 baby girls named Jymme
- 1962: unlisted
- […]
- 1956: unlisted
- 1955: 5 baby girls named Jymme [debut]
- 1954: unlisted
Where did it come from? A singer/actress who started her career with one name, then switched to another.
She was born Roberta Jymme Schourup in 1943, but kicked off her career as Jymme Shore. (Jymme is pronounced “Jimmy.”)
As a youngster in the mid-1950s she appeared on 2 televised programs, The Tex Williams Show and The Pinky Lee Show, and also became associated with the Mouseketeers (she was too tall to become an official member of the group). It was around this time that the name Jymme debuted in the data.
While she worked for Disney, though, she changed her professional name:
“When the studio would send out information without a picture, ‘Jymme Shore’ ended up referred to as a he,” she explained. “Walt Disney actually was the one who suggested I use the name Roberta.”
(She continued to go by Jymme in her personal life.)
She worked for Disney a little longer — appearing on The Mickey Mouse Club, voicing animated characters, even yodeling the Switzerland part of the song It’s a Small World. Then she became an independent actor, appearing in TV shows and movies such as Maverick, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and even the infamous Lolita (1962).
Also in 1962, Roberta landed the role of Betsy Garth on the series The Virginian, which would go on to become one of TV’s most successful Westerns. Media coverage of the new show must have mentioned her former stage name, as this is the year “Jymme” returns for an encore in the data.
Roberta Shore played Betsy for three seasons. Then she got married and retired from show business altogether.
What are your thoughts on the name Jymme?
Sources:
- Hollis, Tim and Greg Ehrbar. Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2006.
- Original Mickey Mouse Club Serials: Roberta Shore
- Roberta Shore, a k a Jymme Fredrickson
- Say goodbye to Hollywood: Roberta Shore gave up fame for family