Baby born aboard steamship Northland, named Northland

In October of 1912, as the steamship Northland was traveling northward along the west coast of the U.S. from California to Oregon, an 8-pound baby was born to passenger Mrs. Daniel Boone Conover.

The baby boy was named Orford Northland Conover.

The second cognomen given him indicates that he was born on the Northland while the first means that his birth took place off Orford reef.

Orford Reef is located off Cape Blanco, which is on the southern coast of Oregon.

Sources:

What popularized the baby name Samara in the early 2000s?

The character Samara Morgan (played by Daveigh Chase) in the horror movie "The Ring" (2002).
Samara Morgan from “The Ring“

Halloween is a few days away, so here’s a pair of horror-imbued baby names, each of which got a boost from the same scary film.

That film was The Ring, released in October of 2002. The film’s main character was a journalist dealing with a cursed videotape (that killed anyone who watched it). But the film’s memorable character — as in all good horror films — was the villain: the vengeful spirit of a little girl named Samara (pronounced sah-MAHR-ah) Morgan. Samara was played by young actress Daveigh (pronounced dah-VAY) Chase.

The year after The Ring came out, the name Samara saw a steep rise in usage, and the name Daveigh debuted in the U.S. data:

Girls named SamaraGirls named Daveigh
2005825 (rank: 380th)12
2004857 (rank: 365th)21
2003656 (rank: 456th)22*
2002242 (rank: 929th).
2001261 (rank: 883rd).
*Debut & peak usage

The Ring did well at the box office, and it was followed by two successful sequels: The Ring Two (released in March of 2005) and Rings (February of 2017).

Daveigh Chase was not actively involved in either sequel, so her name didn’t see any subsequent boosts in the data. But Samara Morgan was central to both films (of course) and we can see the corresponding peaks in the usage of “Samara” in 2006 and 2018:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Samara in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Samara

(The rise that began in 2016 may have been kicked off by Australian actress Samara Weaving, who was being called a “newcomer” in Hollywood around that time.)

The Ring was a remake of the 1998 Japanese film Ringu, which was based on the 1991 Japanese novel Ringu by Koji Suzuki. In the novel and the original film, the little girl was named Sadako Yamamura. I couldn’t find any information on why the American version of the character was renamed “Samara” specifically, but my guess is that “Samara” was chosen simply because it was a 3-syllable S-name like Sadako.

What are your thoughts on the name Samara? Would you use it (despite the horrific association)?

P.S. Other horror-filled names we’ve discussed before include Rhoda, Thedy, Tippi, Pleshette, Marnie, Annabelle, Aristede, Jamison, Josette, and Angelique.

Sources: The Ring (2002 film) – Wikipedia, SSA

Image: Screenshot of The Ring

Where did the baby name Colt come from in 1957?

The character Christopher Colt (played by Wayde Preston) from the TV series "Colt .45" (1957-1960)
Christopher Colt from “Colt .45“

The baby name Colt has a distinctive popularity graph: usage begins in the 1950s, shoots up in the early 1980s, shoots up again in the early 2000s, and shoots up again in the late 2010s.

The initial usage was triggered by the TV Western Colt .45 (1957-1960), which was loosely based upon a 1950 film of the same name. The main character, Christopher Colt, was an undercover government agent posing as a pistol salesman. (The Colt .45 was a type of pistol that was particularly popular in the Old West.)

The name Colt debuted in the SSA’s data the year the show premiered:

  • 1959: 8 baby boys named Colt
  • 1958: 10 baby boys named Colt
  • 1957: 7 baby boys named Colt [debut]
  • 1956: unlisted
  • 1955: unlisted

The show may have given the name Christopher a boost as well, though it’s hard to tell, as the name was already on the rise in the late ’50s.

But the name that got the biggest boost from the show wasn’t Colt or Christopher — it was Wayde, from actor Wayde Preston, who played Christopher Colt. The name saw peak usage in 1959:

  • 1960: 135 baby boys named Wayde [rank: 674th]
  • 1959: 252 baby boys named Wayde [rank: 493rd]
  • 1958: 153 baby boys named Wayde [rank: 622nd]
  • 1957: 33 baby boys named Wayde
  • 1956: 15 baby boys named Wayde

But getting back to Colt…the name remained relatively rare until another show, The Fall Guy (1981-1986), introduced TV audiences to the character Colt Seavers, played by Lee Majors. This character wasn’t a gunslinger but a stuntman (who moonlighted as a bounty hunter).

The name jumped straight into the top 500 in 1982:

  • 1983: 351 baby boys named Colt [rank: 444th]
  • 1982: 344 baby boys named Colt [rank: 459th]
  • 1981: 20 baby boys named Colt
  • 1980: 9 baby boys named Colt

The next rise in usage was kicked off by football quarterback Daniel “Colt” McCoy, who had a successful college career at the University of Texas (2005-2009) before going pro in 2010.

  • 2009: 820 baby boys named Colt [rank: 369th]
    • 162 (19.8%) born in Texas
  • 2008: 500 baby boys named Colt [rank: 532nd]
    • 85 (17.0%) born in Texas
  • 2007: 428 baby boys named Colt [rank: 593rd]
    • 67 (15.7%) born in Texas
  • 2006: 212 baby boys named Colt [rank: 910th]
    • 38 (17.9%) born in Texas
  • 2005: 186 baby boys named Colt [rank: 943rd]
    • 21 (11.3%) born in Texas
  • 2004: 143 baby boys named Colt [outside top 1,000]
    • 13 (9.1%) born in Texas

And the most recent rise in usage seems to be attributable to the Netflix series The Ranch, which premiered in mid-2016 and stars Ashton Kutcher as a character named Colt Reagan Bennett.

So, going back to the beginning now….where did the name of the Colt .45 pistol come from?

The pistol was made by Colt’s Manufacturing Company of Connecticut. The company was named for founder Samuel Colt (1814-1862), whose English surname originated as “a metonymic occupational name for someone who looked after asses and horses, or a nickname for an obstinate or frisky person.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Colt in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Colt

What do you think of the baby name Colt? Do you like it as a standalone name, or do you prefer it as a nickname for Colton?

Sources:

Top image: Screenshot of Colt .45

Popular baby names in Belgium, 2019

Flag of Belgium
Flag of Belgium

According to data from Statistics Belgium, the country’s most popular baby names in 2019 were Olivia and Arthur.

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

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 651 baby girls
  2. Emma, 563
  3. Mila, 518
  4. Louise, 515
  5. Alice, 407
  6. Lina, 388
  7. Juliette, 378
  8. Anna, 349
  9. Elena, 347
  10. Lucie, 343

Boy Names

  1. Arthur, 610 baby boys
  2. Liam, 575
  3. Louis, 549
  4. Noah, 545
  5. Adam, 504
  6. Jules, 470
  7. Lucas, 451
  8. Victor, 449
  9. Gabriel, 391
  10. Mohamed, 357

In the girls’ top 10, Anna and Lucie replaced Marie and Sofia.

The boys’ top 10 includes the same names, but in a different order.

The #1 names within each of Belgium’s three regions were:

  • Brussels: Nour and Adam
  • Flanders: Olivia and Liam
  • Wallonia: Olivia and Louis

Finally, here are some of the baby names that were given to 5 babies each in Belgium last year.

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Ayliz, Bintou, Cerise, Doja, Elmedina, Fem, Gina, Honorine, Iluna, Jitske, Karlijn, Lilo, Miruna, Nellia, Olga, Puck, Rinad, Sondos, Wissal, ZayaAlperen, Bulut, Chahine, Dastan, Eiden, Furkan, Ghali, Haytham, Ivar, Jarno, Kassim, Lokman, Muaz, Nunzio, Odilon, Pelle, Remco, Sigge, Tidiane, Zias

In 2018, the top names were Emma and Arthur.

Source: First names for boys and girls | Statbel

Image: Adapted from Flag of Belgium (public domain)