The name Lanny had popped up several times in the U.S. baby name data before re-emerging in 1933 with two dozen baby boys:
- 1937: 174 baby boys named Lanny [rank: 429th]
- 1936: 133 baby boys named Lanny [rank: 493rd]
- 1935: 123 baby boys named Lanny [rank: 520th]
- 1934: 93 baby boys named Lanny [rank: 620th]
- 1933: 24 baby boys named Lanny
- 1932: unlisted
- 1931: 8 baby boys named Lanny
- 1930: unlisted
- 1929: unlisted
Usage of the name continued to climb over the rest of the decade and into the next; Lanny reached its highest-ever ranking (299th) in 1942.
So, what spurred the rise of Lanny during the 1930s?
Radio singer Lanny Ross (born Lancelot Patrick Ross in Seattle in 1906).
Lanny Ross first sang over the airwaves as a member of the Yale Glee Club in 1928. Over the next few years, while attending law school at Columbia University, he gave solo performances on radio shows like Troubadour of the Moon.
When he completed his law degree in 1931, NBC offered him a radio show of his own, at a salary five times greater than that offered by a law firm that was also courting him.
He could be heard on several shows, in fact.
One of them, Maxwell House Show Boat, was a weekly, hour-long program notable for “combining a dramatic plot with music and comedy” and having a cast of more than fifty performers. Show Boat, which premiered in October of 1932, quickly became one of the top radio shows in the country — and Lanny Ross was its breakout star.
By the end of the first year, Ross was the sensation of Radio Row, propelled into front ranks by his boyish good looks (as radio fans could see on every heartthrob magazine) and his clear tenor voice.
In the summer of 1934, the readers of Radio Stars magazine voted for their favorite artists, and Lanny Ross placed second in the “male popular singer” category (after Bing Crosby).
During and after his time on Show Boat, Lanny Ross was featured on various other programs, including The Packard Hour, Your Hit Parade, and Camel Caravan. He could be heard regularly on the radio until the mid-1950s.
He also released dozens of recordings over the course of his career. For instance, here’s his rendition of the 1934 song “Stay As Sweet As You Are”:
Remarkably, several hundred of the boys named “Lanny” during the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s were given the middle name “Ross.” Some examples:
- Lanny Ross Duckett (b. 1933)
- Lanny Ross Cooke (b. 1935)
- Lanny Ross Hansen (b. 1937)
- Lanny Ross White (b. 1939)
- Lanny Ross Duncan (b. 1941)
- He co-wrote the influential cheerleading song “Let’s Go (Pony)” in the early 1960s.
- Lanny Ross Heidler (b. 1943)
- Lanny Ross Slagle (b. 1945)
- Lanny Ross Burgard (b. 1947)
- Lanny Ross Abney (b. 1949)
- Lanny Ross Bowers (b. 1951)
What are your thoughts on the name Lanny? Do you like it as a standalone name, or do you prefer it as a nickname (for names like Landon, Lance, Orlando, and Leonard)?
P.S. In the late 1940s, Lanny Ross hosted a television program called The Swift Show. It aired weekly on NBC — just like Girl About Town, hosted by Kyle MacDonnell.
Sources:
- Lanny Ross – Wikipedia
- Kozinn, Allan. “Lanny Ross, Star of Radio Series In 1930’s and 1940’s, Dies at 82.” New York Times 26 Apr. 1988: D-30.
- “New ‘Show Boat’ Series on WRC.” Evening Star [Washington, D.C.] 6 Oct. 1932: C-2.
- Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- “They win!” Radio Stars Jun. 1934: 48-49.
- 1948–49 United States network television schedule – Wikipedia
- FamilySearch.org
- SSA
Image: Clipping from Radio Stars magazine (Aug. 1934)