Where did the baby name Bedar come from in 1966?

The unusual name Bedar has appeared just once in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1968: unlisted
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: 5 baby girls named Bedar [debut]
  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A flower girl. Specifically, 4-year-old “Bedar Howar” — the flower girl at the August wedding of 19-year-old Luci Johnson, daughter of U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson.

bedar, bader, baby name, 1966

But here’s the catch: Her name was actually Bader Howar. Every contemporary write-up about the wedding that I saw managed to misspelled her name.

Her father Edmond was a real estate developer of Jordanian descent; her mother Barbara was a Washington D.C. socialite and writer. In the mid-1970s, Barbara mentioned to People magazine that Bader was “named for a paternal grandmother.” (Her name is a form of Badr, which means “full moon” in Arabic.)

Bader now works as a portrait photographer in California, though she did have a brief acting career (including a small part in Pretty in Pink).

Sources:

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