In 1981, the unisex name Ariel was given to roughly the same number of girls and boys.
Just one year later, it was given to almost twice as many girls as boys:
| Girls named Ariel | Boys named Ariel | |
| 1984 | 636 [rank: 362nd] | 281 [rank: 504th] |
| 1983 | 650 [rank: 348th] | 315 [rank: 471st] |
| 1982 | 584 [rank: 394th] | 294 [rank: 497th] |
| 1981 | 228 [rank: 721st] | 236 [rank: 553rd] |
| 1980 | 181 [rank: 853rd] | 239 [rank: 554th] |
What caused this sudden interest in Ariel as a girl name?
My guess is a television character.
In February of 1982, Swedish-born Ariel Aldrin (played by actress Judith Blazer) was introduced on the long-running CBS soap opera As The World Turns.
During her time on the show, Ariel worked as a model at the local fashion emporium (“Fashions, Ltd.”) and married two different men: Dr. John Dixon (who she’d mistakenly believed was wealthy) and Burke Donovan (who’s son, she’d discovered, was the heir to a fortune). Neither relationship lasted very long. She “left town to pursue a European count” in 1984.
P.S. Earlier in the ’80s, the name may have been influenced (slightly) by Princess Ariel, one of the main characters of the Saturday morning cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian (1980-1981).
Sources:
- Reichardt, Nancy. “Morgan debuts in serial.” Tuscaloosa News 19 Feb. 1982.
- Poll, Julie. As The World Turns: The Complete Family Scrapbook. Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1996.
- Ariel Aldrin – As The World Turns Wiki – Fandom
- Thundarr the Barbarian – Wikipedia
- SSA
Image: Screenshot of As The World Turns