How popular is the baby name Michael in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Michael.

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Popularity of the baby name Michael


Posts that mention the name Michael

Where did the baby name Anansa come from in 1979?

The character Dr. Anansa Linderby (played by Beverly Johnson) from the movie "Ashanti" (1979)
Dr. Anansa Linderby from “Ashanti“

The rare name Anansa first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1979:

  • 1981: unlisted
  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: 5 baby girls named Anansa [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

Why?

Because of a celebrity baby, or a movie character, or both.

Fashion model Beverly Johnson made her acting debut in the late ’70s adventure film Ashanti, in which she and Michael Caine portrayed married medical doctors named Anansa and David Linderby. Ashanti was shot largely in Africa during 1978.

The same year, in late December, Johnson gave birth to a baby girl — her first and only child.

In January of 1979, Jet magazine published a photo of Johnson and her newborn daughter, who’d been named Anansa.

“I loved the name,” she beamed, “and I was pregnant with her during [filming]. I even told the producers that if I had a girl I would name her Anansa.”

Model Beverly Johnson with baby Anansa
Beverly Johnson holding baby Anansa

Several months later, in April, Ashanti finally came out in theaters.

The movie clearly gave the baby name Ashanti a boost in 1979:

  • 1981: 89 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1980: 191 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1979: 175 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1978: 53 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1977: 44 baby girls named Ashanti

But I’m not sure if it was the primary reason for the debut of Anansa, considering that Jet magazine has a long history of influencing U.S. baby names (e.g., Nasiya, Kushana, Nkenge, Charlayne, Tondalaya).

Ashanti was based on the Spanish-language novel Ébano (1974) by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa. In the book, the protagonists were named David and Nadia Alexander (and neither one was a doctor).

I don’t know how the screenwriters came up with the name Anansa, but it does remind me of Anansi — the name of a spider character in the folktales of the Ashanti (and other Akan peoples).

What are your thoughts on the name Anansa?

P.S. Beverly Johnson became the first African-American model featured on the cover of American Vogue in 1974 — eight years after Donyale Luna appeared on the cover of British Vogue, in 1966.

Sources:

Images: Screenshot of Ashanti; clipping from Jet magazine (18 Jan. 1979).

What gave the baby name Renata a boost in 1980?

The character Renata Corelli Sutton from the TV series "Search for Tomorrow" (1951-1986)
Renata from “Search for Tomorrow“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Renata saw an impressive spike in usage in 1980:

  • 1982: 146 baby girls named Renata
  • 1981: 224 baby girls named Renata [rank: 737th]
  • 1980: 720 baby girls named Renata [rank: 336th]
  • 1979: 229 baby girls named Renata [rank: 727th]
  • 1978: 47 baby girls named Renata

Here’s a visual:

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

The same year, the spelling Renatta also reached peak usage, and the spelling Rennata appeared for the first time in the data.

What was influencing these names around that time?

Television character Renata Sutton (played by French actress Sonia Petrovna), who was part of the long-running soap opera Search for Tomorrow — but only for a short time.

The character was introduced to viewers as Renata Corelli in August of 1979. (Despite being from Italy, Renata had a heavy French accent.) She married fellow character David Sutton during the spring of 1980. Just a few month later, though, pregnant Renata went into labor in the middle of a house fire. She didn’t survive.

Nationally syndicated soap opera columnist Jon-Michael Reed believed the show had made a big mistake by killing off Renata, who he described as “one of the most beautiful and unusual soap heroines in recent memory.”

What are your thoughts on the name Renata?

P.S. Renata’s baby girl, Mia, managed to survive the fire — and may have given the baby name Mia a slight boost in 1981, though it’s hard to tell.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Search for Tomorrow

Baby born into Hogg family, named Ima

Texas philanthropist Ima Hogg (1882-1975)
Ima Hogg

Arts patron and philanthropist Ima Hogg was born in Mineola, Texas, in 1882.

Her parents were Sarah Ann Stinson and James Stephen Hogg — who became the attorney general of Texas in the late 1880s, then the first native-born governor of Texas in the early 1890s.

Ima’s birth occurred a couple of years after the death of Jim’s older brother, lawyer and writer Thomas Elisha Hogg. Tom had become Jim’s legal guardian (and father figure) in the mid-1860s.

In honor of his late brother, Jim Hogg decided to call his baby girl Ima, which was a name Tom had used for a female character in his Civil War poem The Fate of Marvin (1873). Here’s an excerpt:

A Southern girl, whose winsome grace
And kindly, gentle mien betrayed
A heart more beauteous than her face.
Ah! she was fair: the Southern skies
were typed in Ima’s heavenly eyes; …

(Notably, the poem featured two female characters. The second was Ima’s sister, Lelia.)

Ima Hogg, who had no middle name, later recalled: “Grandfather Stinson lived fifteen miles from Mineola and news traveled slowly. When he learned of his granddaughter’s name he came trotting to town as fast as he could to protest, but it was too late. The christening had taken place and Ima I was to remain.”

Throughout her life, Ima Hogg put a great deal of effort into downplaying her name. She had a “distinctive signature that rendered the first part [of her name] almost illegible,” for instance, and she used either “Miss Hogg” or “I. Hogg” on her personal stationery. Among acquaintances, she was known simply as “Miss Ima.”

In her early 90s, Miss Ima remarked to a friend, “You know, if I had been born in Scotland, my name would probably have been Imogene.”

Not long afterward, she began to call herself Imogene. The whimsical name change was a well-kept secret. Even some of the people closest to her never knew it, but her last passport was issued to Ima Imogene Hogg.

Ima Hogg passed away in 1975. Contrary to persistent rumors, she never had a sister named “Ura.” In fact, she never had any sisters at all — just three brothers: William Clifford, Michael Stephen, and Thomas Elisha. (William’s middle name honored his mother’s half-sister Clifford, who went by “Cliffie.”)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Ima Hogg

What gave the baby name Caeleb a boost in 2021?

Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel
Caeleb Dressel

The baby name Caleb reached peak usage during the early 2000s.

Years later, in 2021 — amid the decline of Caleb — the usage of the rare spelling variant Caeleb suddenly tripled:

  • 2023: 6 baby boys named Caeleb
  • 2022: 11 baby boys named Caeleb
  • 2021: 15 baby boys named Caeleb
  • 2020: 5 baby boys named Caeleb
  • 2019: 6 baby boys named Caeleb

Why?

I think the uptick corresponds to the success of swimmer Caeleb Dressel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were held in the summer of 2021 (after being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Dressel won a whopping five gold medals in Tokyo. He obtained three of them in individual events (the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter freestyle, and the 100-meter butterfly) and two more in a pair of 100-meter relays.

As one sports reporter put it, “There will never be another Michael Phelps, but if there’s such a thing as the next-best thing, Caeleb Dressel is absolutely it.”

Dressel has already won one gold medal in Paris. If he continues to do well, do you think he’ll influence U.S. baby names again?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Caeleb Dressel is congratulated by Tripp Cooper after winning 100 fly by JD Lasica under CC BY 2.0.