Where did the baby name Tekulve come from in 1979?

tekulve, baby name, baseball, 1970s

The unusual name Tekulve was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in the late 1970s:

  • 1981: unlisted
  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: 5 baby boys named Tekulve [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Kent Tekulve (pronounced tuh-KULL-vee), noted for his submarine-style pitches.

He played in 1,050 professional baseball games from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, and most of them were with the Pirates. In October of 1979, he helped the Pirates fight back from a 3-game deficit to win the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.

The origin of the surname Tekulve isn’t known for sure, but it’s likely to be a variant of the North German topographic name Tehülwe, meaning “at the swamp hole” (denoting a person who lived near such terrain).

What are your thoughts on Tekulve as a baby name?

Sources:

One thought on “Where did the baby name Tekulve come from in 1979?

  1. Tekulve is actually a habitational name for someone from a farm called Kulve or Kulverhuisje in Woold Gelderland.

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