According to the U.S. baby name data, usage of the name Deion started to rise in the late 1980s:
- 1991: 61 baby boys named Deion
- 1990: 60 baby boys named Deion
- 1989: 70 baby boys named Deion
- 1988: 16 baby boys named Deion
- 1987: 8 baby boys named Deion
The name entered the top 1,000 in 1992 and reached peak usage in 1995/1996:
- 1998: 186 baby boys named Deion [rank: 811th]
- 1997: 303 baby boys named Deion [rank: 590th]
- 1996: 566 baby boys named Deion [rank: 411th]
- 1995: 558 baby boys named Deion [rank: 411th]
- 1994: 318 baby boys named Deion [rank: 580th]
- 1993: 241 baby boys named Deion [rank: 663rd]
What accounts for this increase?
The influence of Deion Sanders, who is best known as a professional football player, though he was also a professional baseball player. He was in the NFL for 14 seasons and the MLB for 9 seasons. (Notably, “Sanders is the only man to have played in a Super Bowl and a World Series.”)
He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons fifth overall in the 1989 NFL Draft. That year, and throughout the time he played for Atlanta (1989-1993), usage of the baby name Deion was relatively high in the state Georgia:
- 1993: 25 of 241 babies named Deion born in Georgia (10%)
- 1992: 39 of 190 babies named Deion born in Georgia (21%)
- 1991: 10 of 61 babies named Deion born in Georgia (16%)
- 1990: 7 of 60 babies named Deion born in Georgia (12%)
- 1989: 13 of 70 babies named Deion born in Georgia (19%)
The name’s peak usage in the mid-1990s corresponds to the two consecutive years that Deion Sanders was a Super Bowl champion — first with the San Francisco 49ers, second with the Dallas Cowboys.
Over the course of his football career, Sanders was also selected for the Pro Bowl eight times — all during the 1990s — and voted Defensive Player of the Year in 1994.
What are your thoughts on the baby name Deion?
Sources: Deion Sanders – Wikipedia, Where Sanders goes, teams win – ESPN Classic