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.
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:
- “Wedding Members Revealed.” Indiana Gazette 5 Aug. 1966: 3.
- “Barbara Howar Unleashes a New Book and Snappish Opinions, Mostly About Herself.” People 3 May 1976.
- Badr – BehindtheName.com