According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Jacque (pronounced like Jackie) saw its highest-ever usage in 1950:
- 1952: 135 baby girls named Jacque [rank: 766th]
- 1951: 172 baby girls named Jacque [rank: 668th]
- 1950: 236 baby girls named Jacque [rank: 539th]
- 1949: 139 baby girls named Jacque [rank: 719th]
- 1948: 94 baby girls named Jacque [rank: 897th]
Why?
Because of beauty queen Jacque Mercer, who was crowned Miss America 1949 in Atlantic City that September.
She’d also won the talent portion of the competition with “a dramatic reading from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.”
She told reporters that her future plans were “marriage first, career second,” and she meant it — she was back in the headlines a few months later, after impulsively marrying her boyfriend Douglas in late December. (They divorced in 1952.)
Jacque, born Jacquelyn Joy Mercer, grew up on a ranch in Arizona. “Her mother had married at fifteen and had named her daughter Jacque after a doll she had had.”
What are your thoughts on the name Jacque?
Sources:
- Jacque Mercer – Wikipedia
- “Jacque Mercer, Arizona Beauty, Wins ‘Miss America’ Crown.” Oakland Tribune 11 Sept. 1949: A-7.
- “Jacque may lose her title for marrying.” Madera Tribune 28 Dec. 1949: 7.
- Ross, Lillian. “Symbol of All We Possess.” New Yorker 22 Oct. 1949.
- SSA
Images:
- Clipping from the Press Democrat (11 Sept. 1949)
- Adapted from Jacque Mercer waving front (public domain)
