According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Sharona saw its highest usage in the early 1980s:
- 1981: 60 baby girls named Sharona
- 1980: 68 baby girls named Sharona
- 1979: 40 baby girls named Sharona
- 1978: 12 baby girls named Sharona
- 1977: 16 baby girls named Sharona
Why?
Because of the song “My Sharona” by Los Angeles-based power pop band The Knack.
“My Sharona,” the band’s debut single, climbed to the #1 spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in August of 1979 and stayed there for six weeks straight.
Here’s what it sounds like:
The song was co-written by The Knack’s lead guitarist, Berton Averre, and vocalist, Doug Fieger.
Fieger’s lyrics were inspired by Sharona Alperin — a teenage girl with whom he’d become infatuated.
Fieder and Alperin eventually began a relationship that lasted nearly four years. In fact, a photo of Alperin (“posing in a revealing tank top and tight jeans”) graces the cover of the single that popularized her name.
Decades later, Alperin was asked if she’d ever disliked her name. She replied,
When I was younger, I remember hating it because no one could pronounce it. Once the song came out, I remember feeling so excited.
What are your thoughts on the name Sharona?
Sources:
- My Sharona – Wikipedia
- “The Woman Behind ‘My Sharona’.” NPR 6 Mar. 2010.
- “Who was My Sharona?” BBC News 17 Feb. 2010.
- Burkow, Eden. “M-M-My Mom Sharona: A daughter reflects on the Knack hit as it turns 40.” Variety 29 Apr. 2019.
- SSA
Sharona is the quintessential “redneck/tacky” (ordinair, in Dutch) girl’s name in the Netherlands, and after a brief moment of popularity around 1990 (together with Melissa, Jessica, Samantha, Tamara) it faded into oblivion.
To me, the song will always be a reminder of my early twenties, when my boyfriends looked like Ethan Hawke, and my friends and I all got “the Winona.” In fact, I’m back to that haircut now :)
How curious! I didn’t know Sharona had an association like that in the Netherlands. I wonder if people elsewhere in Europe have that same association. (Is Sharona as bad as Kevin?)
Also…if your boyfriends looked even remotely like Ethan Hawke, I am so jealous. :)