According to the U.S. baby name data, the uncommon name Nile saw an uptick in usage in 1940:
- 1942: 25 baby boys named Nile (6 born in Iowa)
- 1941: 25 baby boys named Nile
- 1940: 39 baby boys named Nile (12 born in Iowa)
- 1939: 28 baby boys named Nile (7 born in Iowa)
- 1938: 21 baby boys named Nile
Why?
Because of Nile Clarke Kinnick, Jr., who played football at the University of Iowa.
The Iowa Hawkeyes — after winning a single game in 1937, and another single game in 1938 — had an unexpectedly successful 1939 season. Under new coach Eddie Anderson, the team compiled a 6-1-1 record overall and finished second in the Big Ten Conference.
Leading the charge was senior Nile Kinnick, a halfback who — by “passing, running or kicking” — “was directly involved in 107 of Iowa’s 130 points that season.”
Thanks to his stellar performance on the field, Nile Kinnick won almost every major national award, including the Heisman Trophy, the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy, and the Maxwell Award.
Kinnick’s celebrity became so strong, he was named 1939’s top male athlete in the country by the Associated Press. The honor was particularly noteworthy considering his competition included Joe DiMaggio, Joe Louis and Byron Nelson.
Among his namesakes were Nile Clarke Andersen, born in Iowa in late 1939, and Nile Kinnick Clarke, born in Washington state in 1946 (to Nile Kinnick’s first cousin, Fred).
After college, Nile Kinnick turned down an offer to join the NFL. Instead, he went to law school.
But a year later, when it seemed likely that the U.S. would enter World War II, he left law school and enlisted in the Naval Air Corps Reserve. He died during a training flight off the coast of Venezuela in 1943.
In 1972, Iowa’s football stadium, simply called Iowa Stadium, was renamed Kinnick Stadium in honor of Nile Kinnick. And by the early 2000s, enough babies were being named after the stadium every year that the name Kinnick began popping up in the U.S. baby name data.
What are your thoughts on the name Nile? (Do you like it more or less than the similar name Niles?)
Sources:
- Nile Kinnick – Wikipedia
- Flatter, Ron. “Everybody’s All-America.” ESPN.com 6 Aug. 2000.
- 1939 Iowa Hawkeyes football team – Wikipedia
- Nystrom, Andy. “The guy was just a saint, truthfully.” Mercer Island Reporter 10 Nov. 2021.
- SSA
Image: Clipping from the Imperial Valley Press (11 Dec. 1939)