Where did the baby name Ozlo come from in 2016?

Ozlo

The curious name Ozlo debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 2016, stuck around for one more year, then disappeared again:

  • 2019: unlisted
  • 2018: unlisted
  • 2017: 6 baby boys named Ozlo
  • 2016: 5 baby boys named Ozlo [debut]
  • 2015: unlisted
  • 2014: unlisted

What was the influence?

A short-lived artificial intelligence startup called Ozlo.

The company was founded in late 2013, but it didn’t start making headlines until October of 2016, when the Ozlo personal assistant app was launched.

Ozlo logo

The face of the app was a wide-eyed, light blue creature named Ozlo. Initially he helped users find restaurants and recipes, but, as time went on, he moved beyond food and learned to talk about other topics (like movies and weather).

One reporter, recounting a discussion with Ozlo’s CEO, said: “[T]he two of us immediately had a nice laugh about the repetitive female names for assistants in the marketplace right now — Ozlo, by name alone, is already something different.”

Ozlo was also different from the “female” personal assistants (Alexa, Cortana, Siri, and Viv) in that it performed searches “from a position of information neutrality” — that is, it extracted information from many competing sources, as opposed to a handful of preferred sources.

But the startup was acquired by Facebook in July of 2017, and the Ozlo app — less than a year after being introduced — was shuttered as part of the deal.

If the company had remained independent, do you think the baby name Ozlo would have continued popping up in the data?

Sources: Introducing Ozlo by Charles Jolley, Ozlo Week 1 by Charles Jolley, Ozlo, the Assistant That Works for You, Launches on iOS and Web, Ozlo AI assistant is the new underdog filling the void left by Viv, Facebook buys Ozlo to boost its conversational AI efforts, Ozlo – Cruchbase Profile

(h/t Becca)

Baby name story: James Nicholas Gregory

On November 16, 1959, the home of Vincent and Josephine Jennings of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was consumed by fire.

Vincent, Josephine and their five daughters escaped without injury, but the family’s three sons — James (age 8), Nicholas (7), and Gregory (5) — did not survive.

On March 28, 1960, Mrs. Jennings gave birth to her ninth and last baby — a boy.

He was named James Nicholas Gregory Jennings.

(The Jennings’ daughters were named Mary, Connie, Dorothy, Patty, and Rosie.)

Sources:

  • “New Baby Named for Three Lost in Fire.” Warren Times-Mirror 29 Mar. 1960: 8.
  • Josephine Jennings Obituary (orig. pub. in the East Valley Tribune)
  • “Police Remove Their Hats.” East Liverpool Review 16 Nov. 1959: 1.

Where did the baby name Kanavis come from in 1989?

Football player Kanavis McGhee
Kanavis McGhee

The unique name Kanavis has popped up in the U.S. baby name data a total of twice:

  • 1992: unlisted
  • 1991: 9 baby boys named Kanavis [peak]
  • 1990: unlisted
  • 1989: 5 baby boys named Kanavis [debut]
  • 1988: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Linebacker Kanavis McGhee — both times.

Kanavis (pronounced ka-NAY-vis) played college football for the University of Colorado from 1987 to 1990. His senior year, “he helped lead Colorado to the consensus national championship,” and was also “a candidate for the Butkus and Lombardi awards.”

In the 1991 NFL draft, he was picked in the second round (55th overall) by the New York Giants. He played in New York for three seasons, in Cincinnati for a fourth season, and in Houston (his hometown) for a fifth and final season.

What are your thoughts on the name Kanavis?

Sources: Kanavis McGhee – Wikipedia, Kanavis McGhee – Football – University of Colorado Athletics

Where did the baby name Tighe come from in 1949?

Government official Tighe E. Woods (in 1952)
Tighe E. Woods (in 1952)

The name Tighe (pronounced tie, like the second syllable of necktie) has been in the U.S. baby name data most years since 1970, but it first appeared in 1949 specifically:

  • 1951: unlisted
  • 1950: unlisted
  • 1949: 9 baby boys named Tighe [debut]
  • 1948: unlisted
  • 1947: unlisted

Why that year?

Likely because of Tighe E. Woods, who served as Housing Expediter under President Truman from late 1947 to 1952.

During the summer of 1949, his name was mentioned in the news more frequently than usual in association with the Senate subcommittee investigation into the so-called “five-percenters”: Washington lobbyists, “usually former Government officials or ex-Congressmen,” who helped businessmen obtain Federal contracts and then took five percent of the profits. Woods testified before the subcommittee in August.

His first name was his mother’s maiden name. It’s an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Taidhg, meaning “descendant of Tadhg.” The Irish name Tadhg (pronounced tieg, like the first part of tiger) means “poet” or “philosopher.”

What are your thoughts on the name Tighe? Do you like it more or less than Tadhg?

Sources:

  • Hanks, Patrick, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
  • Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • “Government: The Five-Percenters.” Time 4 Jul. 1949.
  • The Notre Dame Alumnus, vol. 26, no. 1, Feb. 1948, p. 33.
  • Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations – Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs
  • SSA

Image: Screenshot of a 1952 episode of Longines Chronoscope