The name Tharon first appeared (as a girl name) in the U.S. baby name data in 1919:
- 1924: 17 baby girls named Tharon
- 1923: 32 baby girls named Tharon [peak]
- 1922: 10 baby girls named Tharon
- 1921: 6 baby girls named Tharon
- 1920: 13 baby girls named Tharon
- 1919: 6 baby girls named Tharon [debut]
- 1918: unlisted
- 1917: unlisted
It went on the reach peak usage in 1923.
What was drawing attention to the name Tharon around that time?
Initially, a story called Tharon of Lost Valley by Vingie E. Roe. It was published as a book during the second half of 1919, then serialized in various newspapers during the first half of 1920.
The main character, Tharon Last, was a rancher’s daughter who’d vowed to avenge the death of her father at the hands of a notorious cattle rustler.
Two hours each day she practised [sic] with the deadly revolvers of her murdered father, Jim Last, waiting the day when she should meet with [Buck] Courtrey, his murderer.
In April of 1922, The Crimson Challenge — a movie adaptation of Tharon of Lost Valley — was released. Described as a “romantic Western melodrama with a hard-riding, two-gunned heroine,” the silent film starred actress Dorothy Dalton as Tharon Last.
What are your thoughts on the name Tharon?
Sources:
- “Tharon of Lost Valley.” Evening World [New York, New York] 24 Jan. 1920: 6.
- The Crimson Challenge – Wikipedia
- Larkin, Charles. “The Crimson Challenge” [Review]. Motion Picture News 22 Apr. 1922.
- SSA
Image: Clipping from the Alaska Daily Empire (24 May 1923)