Name quotes #99: Emmeline, Willie, Ulrich

Singer Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac) in the music video for the song "Seven Wonders" (1987)
Stevie Nicks

About the inclusion of the name Emmeline in the Fleetwood Mac song “Seven Wonders” [vid], from the book Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams and Rumours (2014) by Zoë Howe:

After hearing [songwriter Sandy] Stewart sing the song first, Stevie misunderstood some of the words, hence the line ‘All the way down to Emmeline’, which has mystified fans for years. The original line was ‘All the way down you held the line’, but the use of a name like ‘Emmeline’ is typical for Stevie, so accustomed are we to hearing her throw in women’s names — ‘Sara’, ‘Lily’ — and thus we look for the clues she scatters in her songs.

[The line sounds more like “on the way down to Emmeline” to me, but it’s hard to tell. It’s also hard to tell if the song, which saw peak popularity in mid-1987, gave a boost to the baby name Emmeline that year — what do you think?]

From Through It All, the 2009 autobiography of Christine King Farris (older sister of Martin Luther King, Jr.):

My full name is Willie Christine King. Hardly anyone knows my first name. I am rarely called by it. “Willie” was chosen as a way to pay homage to the Williams side of my family; it was given in tribute to my maternal grandfather, Reverend A. D. Williams.

How spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle (born Ulrich Tölle) came up with his new name:

Some time after this “inner transformation”, Tolle changed his first name from Ulrich to Eckhart following a dream in which he saw books lying around. On the cover of one was the name Eckhart and he knew he had written it. By coincidence, he bumped into an acquaintance, a psychic, a few days later who, for no apparent reason, called him Eckhart! Having become a completely different person he was ready to relinquish the name Ulrich and the unhappy energy the name held for him.

(Other sources say Tolle chose “Eckhart” in deference to 13th-century German theologian/mystic Meister Eckhart.)

Where did the baby name Rizzo come from in 2016?

Baseball player Anthony Rizzo (upon catching the final out of the 2016 World Series)
Anthony Rizzo (2016 World Series)

The curious name Rizzo first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2016:

  • 2018: 7 baby boys named Rizzo
  • 2017: 10 baby boys named Rizzo
  • 2016: 7 baby boys named Rizzo [debut]
  • 2015: unlisted
  • 2014: unlisted

Why?

Because of baseball player Anthony Rizzo. He was a key part of the Chicago Cubs’ successful 2016 season, which was capped with a World Series win over the Cleveland Indians. This famously ended the Cubs’ 108-year drought.

Notably, Rizzo caught the “final out” balls in the final games of both the National League Championship Series (against the Dodgers) and the World Series.

The Italian surname Rizzo is a variant of Riccio, which comes from the Italian word riccio, meaning “curly.” Originally, Riccio was a nickname for someone with curly hair.

What are your thoughts on Rizzo as a first name?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Rizzo celebrates the final out of the 2016 World Series by Arturo Pardavila III under CC BY 2.0.

P.S. “Rizzo” of the Pink Ladies (from Grease) was actually named Betty Rizzo.

Baby name story: Anne

Anne, Queen of Great Britain (reigned 1702-1714)
Queen Anne

British nobleman John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett, and his wife Bridget had eight children in the early 1700s:

  1. Bridget (born in 1702)
  2. Catherine (b. 1706)
  3. John (b. 1708)
  4. Peregrine (b. 1708)
  5. Vere (b. 1710)
  6. Anne (b. 1711)
  7. Susannah (b. 1714)
  8. Rebecca (b. 1716)

Looks like five girls and three boys, right?

Except…Anne was a boy. (In fact, he was a member of the all-male House of Commons during the last sixteen years of his life.)

So, why did Anne have a feminine first name?

Because Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 to 1714, just happened to be his baptismal sponsor.

(In contrast, American author Anne Rice was born with the name Howard…)

Sources: Anne Poulett – Wikipedia, John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett – Wikipedia, John Poulett – Find A Grave

Image: Adapted from Queen Anne (1705) by Michael Dahl

Where did the baby name Rommel come from in 1943?

Movie poster for "The Desert Fox" (1951)

We’ve talked about the baby name Hitler before, but that particular Nazi-inspired name was never common enough to be included in the U.S. baby name data.

Rommel, on the other hand — a reference to German field marshal Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) — debuted in 1943, right in the middle of WWII:

  • 1945: unlisted
  • 1944: unlisted
  • 1943: 5 baby boys named Rommel [debut]
  • 1942: unlisted
  • 1941: unlisted

Erwin Rommel was put in charge of the German Africa Corps in February of 1941, during the North African Campaign (which included the Tunisian Campaign). Rommel achieved “stunning early victories there,” and the British press dubbed him the Desert Fox. But the Allies were eventually victorious in North Africa, and the Germans surrendered in May of 1943.

The baby name Rommel might have been a one-hit wonder in the data had the movie The Desert Fox (1951), a biographical film about Rommel that portrayed the German officer very sympathetically, not come out nearly a decade later.

  • 1953: 7 baby boys named Rommel
  • 1952: 8 baby boys named Rommel
  • 1951: 6 baby boys named Rommel
  • 1950: unlisted
  • 1949: unlisted

The movie was based on the Desmond Young book Rommel: The Desert Fox (1950), the first Rommel biography. It was particularly popular in Britain.

What does the German surname Rommel mean? It may have originally been a nickname for a noisy person, as it derives from the German verb rummeln, meaning “to make noise” or “to create a create a disturbance.”

What are your thoughts on the baby name Rommel?

Sources: