Today’s mystery name? Tyronda, primarily.
From 1977 to 1978, Tyronda was the second-fastest rising girl name in the nation.
(The fastest-rising girl name, incidentally, was Aja.)
But we also have the similar names Tyronza and Tyrhonda, both of which saw marked increases in usage in 1978 as well.
All three names peaked in 1979:
| Girls named Tyronda | Girls named Tyronza | Girls named Tyrhonda | |
| 1980 | 40 | 20 | 13 |
| 1979 | 81† | 27† | 28† |
| 1978 | 73 | 25 | 17* |
| 1977 | 6 | . | . |
| 1976 | 10 | . | . |
I’ve searched high and low, but so far I can’t figure out what was drawing attention to these names in the late ’70s.
The variant spellings suggest the influence was audio as opposed to visual, and the state data reveals that usage was concentrated in the South (e.g., Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina), but those are the only two clues I can offer.
Do you have any thoughts on this one?
Perhaps Tyronda is a mash-up of dad Tyrone or Tyler with mom Rhonda/Ronda? That naming style would be similar to parents Richard and Ellen naming their daughter Richelle. Even so, it doesn’t explain the sudden surge in popularity — it’s a mystery.
There was a recent sold listing for a porcelain doll named “Tyronda Marie” on Ebay. It was from the “Irma Gheduzzi Collection” of dolls. I wasn’t able to find out much about the Irma Gheduzzi dolls, but they seem to have been around in the 70’s so perhaps it is connected to the spike in the usage of Tyronda. There is a picture with the listing but no info on when it was made.
Interesting! I couldn’t find very much about the line of dolls either, but who knows, maybe there’s a link!