Where did the baby name Andamo come from in 1960?

The character Andamo from the TV series "Mr. Lucky" (1959-1960).
Andamo from “Mr. Lucky

The one-hit wonder baby name Andamo popped up for the first and only time in the data in 1960:

  • 1962: unlisted
  • 1961: unlisted
  • 1960: 15 baby boys named Andamo [debut]
  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted

It wasn’t just a mere one-hit wonder, though — it was the top one-hit wonder of the year. In fact, it was one of the top one-hit wonder boy names of all time — tied for 3rd with Alfy and Eriksson, if we ignore the 1989 glitch names.

So, getting back to Andamo…where did it come from?

The single-season TV show Mr. Lucky (1959-1960), which was very loosely based on the 1943 film of the same name starring Cary Grant.

In the show, main character Lucky was the owner/operator of a gambling ship, and Andamo (pronounced ahn-DAH-moh), played by actor Ross Martin, was Lucky’s Latin-American right-hand-man. If the two main characters had proper first names, those names were never revealed over the course of the 34-episode series.

The show was cancelled, despite decent ratings, when a sponsor couldn’t be secured for the second season.

P.S. Lucky’s primary girlfriend, Maggie, was played by Pippa Scott.

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