Where did the baby name Nicklaus come from in 1964?

Professional golfer Jack Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus

The Nicholas-like name Nicklaus first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1964:

  • 1969: unlisted
  • 1968: 7 baby boys named Nicklaus
  • 1967: 6 baby boys named Nicklaus
  • 1966: unlisted
  • 1965: 6 baby boys named Nicklaus
  • 1964: 5 baby boys named Nicklaus [debut]
  • 1963: unlisted
  • 1962: unlisted

This was around the time now-legendary pro golfer Jack Nicklaus (b. 1940) was gaining fame.

By 1964, he’d already won the U.S. Open, the Masters Tournament, and the PGA Championship once each. He went on to win each of these, plus the Open Championship, multiple times.

The German surname Nicklaus is in the Nicholas family, so it has the same origin: the ancient Greek words nike, meaning “victory,” and laos, meaning “people.”

(BTW, the name Nicholas saw a big jump in popularity from 1977 to 1978, possibly thanks to the TV show Eight Is Enough, in which the eighth child of the family was named Nicholas.)

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine (6 Apr. 1964)

Popular baby names in South Australia, 2019

According to the Government of South Australia, the most popular baby names in the state in 2019 were (again) Charlotte and Oliver.

Here are South Australia’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:

Girl names

  1. Charlotte, 119 baby girls
  2. Ava, 112
  3. Olivia, 103
  4. Grace, 93
  5. Amelia, 86 (tie)
  6. Willow, 86 (tie)
  7. Isla, 83
  8. Ivy, 79 (tie)
  9. Sophie, 79 (tie)
  10. Mia, 69

Boy names

  1. Oliver, 152 baby boys
  2. Leo, 106
  3. William, 102
  4. Jack, 101 (tie)
  5. Noah, 101 (tie)
  6. Henry, 99
  7. Charlie, 94
  8. Oscar, 90
  9. Harvey, 81 (tie)
  10. Mason, 81 (tie)

In the girls’ top 10, Ivy replaced Harper.

In the boys’ top 10, Oscar, Harvey and Mason replaced Harrison, Lucas and Harry. Notably, Oscar’s usage increased by three dozen baby boys, and Harvey’s usage increased by 20.

Source: Popular Baby Names – Data.SA

Where did the baby name Cepeda come from in 1963?

Baseball player Orlando Cepeda (b. 1937)
Orlando Cepeda

The baby name Cepeda surfaced in the U.S. baby name data three times, all during the 1960s:

  • 1970: unlisted
  • 1969: 9 baby boys named Cepeda
  • 1968: 8 baby boys named Cepeda
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted
  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: unlisted
  • 1963: 7 baby boys named Cepeda [debut]
  • 1962: unlisted
  • 1961: unlisted

Where did it come from?

First baseman Orlando Cepeda, who played baseball professionally on six different teams from 1958 to 1974. He’s now part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

His surname first appeared in the data the year after he played in his first World Series. (His team, the Giants, lost to Yogi Berra‘s team, the Yankees.)

It returned to the data the year after his team (now the Cardinals) won the World Series (against the Red Sox) and he was voted National League MVP.

Orlando Cepeda was born and raised in Puerto Rico. His surname can be traced back to either of two locations in Spain that took their names from the Spanish word cepeda, which is based on cepa, meaning “tree stump.”

Sources:

Image via Wikimedia

The three Olavis

olavi, running, finland, name
The three record-breaking Olavis (July 11, 1957)

While reading about the 1,500-metre run for yesterday’s post on Kipchoge Keino, I discovered an interesting name-related fact: In the summer of 1957, three Finnish runners named Olavi (pronounced OH-lah-vee) — all running the same 1,500m race in Turku — all broke the 1,500m world record.

The record had been 3 minutes and 40.6 seconds, set by a Hungarian runner (named István) in 1956.

The photo-finish winner of the Finnish race was Olavi Salsola, with a time of 3:40.2. In second was Olavi Salonen, who technically finished with the same time. In third was Olavi Vuorisalo, who (at 3:40.3) was just a tenth of a second behind the first two Olavis.

The new record didn’t last long, though, because the very next day a Czechoslovakian runner (named Stanislav) clocked in at 3:38.1.

The Finnish name Olavi, which popped up in the U.S. data a handful of times in the 1910s and 1920s, is a form of Olaf, which evolved from an Old Norse name made up of the elements anu, meaning “ancestor,” and leifr, meaning “descendant.”

Do you like the name Olavi? (Do you think it might be a good substitute for the trendy name Oliver?)

Sources: Three Finnish Runners All Break World Record for 1,500 Meters at Turku, 1500 metres world record progression – Wikipedia, Olaf – Behind the Name