What gave the baby name Troylene a boost in 1963?

Burlesque dancer Candy Barr and her daughter Troylene (1963)
Candy Barr and Troylene

In the mid-20th century, when names like Darlene and Charlene were trendy, the rare name Troylene popped up in the U.S. baby name data a handful of times.

The name saw peak usage in 1963 specifically:

  • 1965: 5 baby girls named Troylene
  • 1964: unlisted
  • 1963: 13 baby girls named Troylene
  • 1962: unlisted
  • 1961: unlisted

Why?

The answer has to do with a Texas burlesque dancer called “Candy Barr.” (Her birth name was Juanita Dale Slusher.)

In the early ’60s, Candy Barr served over three years of a fifteen-year prison sentence for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

Just after she was released in April of 1963, several photographs of Candy and her 7-year-old daughter Troylene ran in the newspapers.

Troylene’s father was Candy’s second husband, Troy Phillips.

It’s interesting to note that most of the 20th-century Troylenes I found in the records were born in Texas, and that a good number of them had fathers named Troy.

What do you think of the baby name Troylene?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Santa Cruz Sentinel (2 Apr. 1963)

[Latest update: Jul. 2024]

Popular baby names in the Faroe Islands, 2020

Flag of the Faroe Islands
Flag of the Faroe Islands

According to Statistics Faroe Islands, the most popular baby names in the Faroe Islands (part of Denmark) were Anna/Olivia and Benjamin/Elias/Lukas last year.

Here are the Faroe Islands’ top 10+ girl names and top 10+ boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Anna, 6 baby girls (two-way tie)
  2. Olivia, 6 (two-way tie)
  3. Emma, 5 (six-way tie)
  4. Hanna, 5 (six-way tie)
  5. Lilja, 5 (six-way tie)
  6. Ronja, 5 (six-way tie)
  7. Tóra, 5 (six-way tie)
  8. Vár, 5 (six-way tie)
  9. Aria, 4 (seven-way tie)
  10. Bára, 4 (seven-way tie)
  11. Eir, 4 (seven-way tie)
  12. Eva, 4 (seven-way tie)
  13. Lív, 4 (seven-way tie)
  14. Lóa, 4 (seven-way tie)
  15. Rebekka, 4 (seven-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. Benjamin, 8 baby boys (three-way tie)
  2. Elias, 8 (three-way tie)
  3. Lukas, 8 (three-way tie)
  4. Jóhan, 7
  5. Levi, 6 (two-way tie)
  6. Øssur, 6 (two-way tie)
  7. Brandur, 5 (five-way tie)
  8. Hákun, 5 (five-way tie)
  9. Mattias, 5 (five-way tie)
  10. Poul, 5 (five-way tie)
  11. Teitur, 5 (five-way tie)
    • Based on an Old Norse word meaning “cheerful, merry.”

Some of the other baby names bestowed in the Faroe Islands in 2020 include…

  • Aðallín (1 girl), made up of two Old Norse elements: adal, “noble,” and lín, “flax, linen.”
  • Børka (1 girl), from the Faroese word børkuvísa, which refers to the tormentil flower.
  • Eik (1 girl), from the Old Norse word eik, meaning “oak.”
  • Eindri (1 boy), made up of two Old Norse elements: einn, meaning “one, alone,” and either ríða, meaning “to ride,” or reiða, meaning “to swing (a sword).”
  • Grímur (1 boy), from an Old Norse word meaning “mask, helmet.”
  • Munin (1 boy), from the Old Norse word munr, meaning “thought, mind, will.” (Also a raven name!)
  • Ørvar (2 boys), from the Old Norse word orvar, meaning “arrow.”
  • Rúnar (3 boys) could be a modern creation based on the Old Norse words rún meaning “secret, secret lore” and herr, meaning “army.”
  • Sigurrós (1 girl), made up of two Old Norse elements: sigr, meaning “victory,” and rós meaning “rose.” (The Icelandic band Sigur Rós was named after the lead singer’s little sister.)
  • Vilja (1 girl) has several potential origins, including the Finnish word vilja, meaning “grain, cereal.”

In 2019, the top two names in the Faroe Islands were Anna and Jónas.

Sources: Statistical Database – Statbank, Nordic Names Wiki

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Faroe Islands (public domain)

Where did the baby name Cauy come from in 1999?

The unusual name Cauy debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1999. (In fact, it was the highest-debuting boy name overall that year.) The very next year, it saw peak usage:

  • 2004: 9 baby boys named Cauy
  • 2003: 18 baby boys named Cauy
  • 2001: 35 baby boys named Cauy
  • 2000: 67 baby boys named Cauy [peak]
    • 8 born in Iowa, 7 in Arizona, 6 in Kansas, and 5 in North Dakota.
  • 1999: 32 baby boys named Cauy [debut]
  • 1998: unlisted
  • 1997: unlisted

Where did this one come from?

It was inspired by professional bull rider Cauy (pronounced koy) Hudson, who was at the height of his career in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

I don’t know where he’s from — some sources say Kansas, others say Nebraska — and I don’t know the story behind his unique name. But I do know that a surprising number of Cauy’s namesakes (e.g., Cauy Pennington, Cauy Preitauer, Cauy Begay, JaCauy Hale, Cauy Pokorny, Cauy Pool, Cauy Kraut, Cauy Schmidt) also ended up participating in rodeo.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Cauy?

Sources: PBR Rider | Cauy Hudson, SSA

[Latest update: Jan. 2025]

Baby name story: Xiaoai

Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China

On May 12, 2008, China’s Sichuan province was struck by a strong earthquake that ultimately killed tens of thousands of people

Zhang Xiaoyan, who was eight months pregnant at the time, wasn’t one of the victims. But she did end up trapped under a pile of rubble for 52 hours. “For two days, rescuers passed food and water to Zhang through a small hole as they struggled to find a way to free her.”

A month later, her baby girl was delivered via Caesarean section.

The girl was originally going to be named “Yingao”, meaning “to welcome the Olympics”, which Beijing hosted in August that year.

But after the quake, the couple decided on “Xiaoai”, or “little love”, to honour those whose care helped see them through the disaster.

In Chinese, xiao means “little” and ai means “love.” (Both words also have other meanings, though, depending upon the characters being used.)

Other Chinese babies that were named with earthquakes in mind include Zhongde, Zhensheng, Lutian, and Yuanyuan. And other Olympics-inspired Chinese baby names include Aoyun, Shen’ao, Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from China by M M under CC BY-SA 2.0.