The curious names Cresta and Kresta both debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1970:
- 1974: 17 baby girls named Cresta + 15 named Kresta
- 1973: 14 baby girls named Cresta + 10 named Kresta
- 1972: 26 baby girls named Cresta + 14 named Kresta
- 1971: 29 baby girls named Cresta + 17 named Kresta
- 1970: 10 baby girls named Cresta [debut] + 5 named Kresta [debut]
- 1969: unlisted
- 1968: unlisted
Where did they come from?
The 1970 movie Soldier Blue, which was set in the Old West and featured a character named Kathy Maribel “Cresta” Lee (played by Candice Bergen).
Cresta was an Easterner who had gone west “to be an Army wife.” While traveling with a military detail en route to meet her army lieutenant fiancé, however, the group was massacred by the Cheyenne. Cresta and the other survivor (a man named Honus, interestingly) now had try to make it to the army camp by themselves.
The movie was based on the book Arrow in the Sun (1969) by Theodore V. Olsen.
Do you like the name Cresta/Kresta?
Sources:
- Roberts, James P. Famous Wisconsin Authors. Oregon, WI: Badger Books Inc., 2002.
- Soldier Blue – Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)
I loved the character of Cresta Lee so much. She was strong and brave. I named my daughter Cresta Lee for that reason.