Baby born in the Farallon Islands, named Farallon

Houses on Southeast Farallon Island
Houses on Southeast Farallon Island

Located 28 miles off the coast of California, the Farallon Islands (or “Farallones”) are “211 acres of rocky islets that are home to 28% of California’s sea birds.” Their name — assigned by Spanish explorers during the early 1600s — comes from the Spanish word farallón, meaning “sea cliff” or “sea stack.”

They islands have always been sparsely populated, but a lighthouse was built on Southeast Farallon in 1855 and a series of lighthouse keepers (four at a time) lived on that particular island — often with their families — from the 1850s until the 1940s.

The first of several babies born on the island during that time period was the daughter of keeper Cyrus J. Cain and his wife Mary Ellen. The baby girl arrived in April 8, 1898, and was named Farallon Wilhelmina Cain, after her birthplace.

(She was the seventh of nine children. The sibling names I know of are Catherine, George, Cecil, Harold, Charley, and Loretta.)

Sources:

Image: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

[Related posts: Ida Lewis, Avalon]

Where did the baby name Trenny come from in 1968?

Trenny Robb in Lynda Bird Johnson's wedding (late 1967)
Trenny Robb

From 1968 to 1970, the baby name Trenny was popular enough to appear in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1970: 6 baby girls named Trenny
  • 1969: 7 baby girls named Trenny
  • 1968: 20 baby girls named Trenny [debut]
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted

Where did “Trenny” come from?

A bridesmaid, believe it or not.

On December 9, 1967, Lynda Bird Johnson — the elder daughter* of President Lyndon B. Johnson and Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson — married U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Robb in a private ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

One of the bridesmaids was the groom’s sister, a photogenic 20-year-old named Marguerite Trenholm “Trenny” Robb.

Trenny became somewhat of a media darling after the wedding photos came out. In 1968 alone, she modeled in magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal and Mademoiselle, appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and even flew to Rome to screen test for an Omar Sharif film.

The media followed her modeling career for several years — even after President Johnson was replaced by President Nixon in early 1969.

But then Trenny decided to leave it all behind and pursue other interests. In 1970 she married, moved to a farm in Vermont, and started a business making pot pipes and related paraphernalia (love beads, peace posters).

These days, Trenny is still in Vermont, but she’s moved on from making pipes to making lamps.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Trenny?

P.S. The English surname Trenholm comes from the name of a village in Yorkshire. The place name can be traced back to a pair of Old Norse words meaning “crane” (as in the bird) and “islet.”

*Weirdly enough, the wedding of Johnson’s younger daughter, Luci, also had an influence on the baby names…

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Once in a Lifetime (1280×720) MP1041 (via TheLBJLibrary)

Popular baby names in Saskatchewan (Canada), 2020

Flag of Saskatchewan
Flag of Saskatchewan

Last year, Saskatchewan welcomed a total of 14,170 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Liam.

Here are Saskatchewan’s top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 79 baby girls
  2. Amelia, 55
  3. Emma, 50
  4. Emily, 43
  5. Sophia, 41
  6. Ava, 37 (tie)
  7. Harper, 37 (tie)
  8. Addison, 35 (3-way tie)
  9. Ellie, 35 (3-way tie)
  10. Scarlett, 35 (3-way tie)
  11. Charlotte, 32 (tie)
  12. Isla, 32 (tie)
  13. Hazel, 30
  14. Abigail, 29 (tie)
  15. Aurora, 29 (tie)
  16. Ivy, 28
  17. Evelyn, 27
  18. Elizabeth, 26
  19. Nora, 25
  20. Madison, 24

Boy Names

  1. Liam, 74 baby boys
  2. Jack, 53
  3. Oliver, 49
  4. Hudson, 48
  5. Noah, 47 (tie)
  6. William, 47 (tie)
  7. Lucas, 44
  8. Benjamin, 43 (tie)
  9. Theodore, 43 (tie)
  10. Bennett, 41 (4-way tie)
  11. Henry, 41 (4-way tie)
  12. Lincoln, 41 (4-way tie)
  13. Luke, 41 (4-way tie)
  14. Maverick, 39 (tie)
  15. Owen, 39 (tie)
  16. James, 38 (tie)
  17. Levi, 38 (tie)
  18. Asher, 37
  19. Wyatt, 36
  20. Brooks, 35

In the preliminary rankings (which covered the year up to December 9th), the top ten boy names included the name Maverick. In these finalized rankings, however, Maverick came in 14th — right below Luke.

In 2019, the top two names were the same.

Sources: Open Data and Public Reporting – eHealth Saskatchewan, Liam And Olivia Still Saskatchewan’s Most Popular Baby Names In 2020

Image: Adapted from Flag of Saskatchewan (public domain)

Where did the baby name Bedar come from in 1966?

Flower girl Bader Howar
Bader Howar (flower girl)

The unusual name Bedar has appeared just once in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1968: unlisted
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: 5 baby girls named Bedar [debut]
  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A flower girl. Specifically, six-year-old “Bedar Howar” — the flower girl at the August wedding of 19-year-old Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of U.S. president Lyndon Baines Johnson.

bedar, bader, baby name, 1966

But here’s the catch: Her name was actually Bader Howar. White House press releases had transposed the vowels in her name, resulting in Bader’s name being misspelled in every contemporary write-up about the wedding.

Her father Edmond was a real estate developer of Jordanian descent; her mother Barbara was a Washington, D.C., socialite and writer. In the mid-1970s, Barbara mentioned to People magazine that Bader was “named for a paternal grandmother.” (The name is derived from the Arabic word badr, meaning “full moon.”)

Bader now works as a portrait photographer in California, though she did have a brief acting career (including a small part in Pretty in Pink).

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Life magazine (19 Aug. 1966)