How popular is the baby name Al 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 Al.

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Popularity of the baby name Al


Posts that mention the name Al

What gave the baby name Davey a boost in 1929?

The character Sonny (played by Davey Lee) from the movie "The Singing Fool" (1928)
Davey Lee in “The Singing Fool“

According to the U.S. baby name data, both Davey and David saw sizeable increases in usage in 1929:

Boys named DaveyBoys named David
193145 [rank: 985th]11,783 [rank: 13th]
193054 [rank: 911th]12,275 [rank: 15th]
192989 [rank: 655th]11,301 [rank: 17th]
192899,992 [rank: 19th]
1927.9,426 [rank: 21st]

Davey was the fastest-rising boy name of the year in terms of relative increase, and David was the second-fastest-rising boy name of the year (after Donald) in terms of absolute increase.

The names Davy and Davie also saw upticks in usage in 1929.

What was influencing these names?

Child actor Davey Lee (born David Lea in Hollywood, California, in late 1924).

Davey Lee appeared in six feature films between 1928 and 1930. (He was credited as “David Lee” in two of the films.)

His first movie, The Singing Fool, was a partial-talkie released in September of 1928. He played the part of Sonny, the son of main character Al Stone (played by Al Jolson), an entertainer who’d been deserted by his wife. Here’s how one film critic summarized the young actor:

This little David Lee playing the Jolsons’ kid is a perfect wonder. He plays sick, dead, happy, asleep, affectionate and sad, and talks, in his wee voice that gets over without a blemish.

The Singing Fool was the highest-grossing film of 1928, and one of the film’s songs, “Sonny Boy,” was also a best seller.

The song’s title was used for one of Davey Lee’s subsequent movies, Sonny Boy, which was another partial-talkie released in April of the following year. Here’s how the film critic for the New York Times described the experience of seeing Lee on the big screen:

There was many a rousing outburst [of] laughter [from the audience] at a word or two from the diminutive Davey. His childish speech was not always distinct, but (…) whether or not one understood his lines, they nevertheless carried a strong appeal to one’s heart.

What are your thoughts on the name Davey? (Do like this spelling?)

P.S. The baby name Davey went on to reach peak usage in the mid-1950s, thanks to the Davy Crockett craze…

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Singing Fool

Where did the baby name Rosalita come from in 1943?

The Al Dexter song "Rosalita" (1942).
“Rosalita” sheet music

The baby name Rosalita first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1943:

  • 1945: 21 baby girls named Rosalita
  • 1944: 36 baby girls named Rosalita [peak]
  • 1943: 19 baby girls named Rosalita [debut]
  • 1942: unlisted
  • 1941: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A country song called “Rosalita” by Al Dexter and His Troopers. Dexter wrote the song in 1942, but the release was delayed until 1943 due to the wartime musicians’ strike.

Here’s the song:

The lyrics (Rosalita, my little rose of the rancho) suggest that the name means “little rose” in Spanish, and this is somewhat true. Rosalita is a diminutive of the name Rosalía, which is based on the Latin word for “rose,” rosa. The actual word for “little rose” in Spanish, though, is rosita (the diminutive of rosa).

Thinking “Rosalita” would be a big hit, Dexter offhandedly wrote and recorded a song called “Pistol Packin’ Mama” for the reverse side of the record. “Rosalita” did well, but not nearly as well as “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” which ended up becoming Dexter’s best-known song. That said, “Rosalita” did reach #1 on Billboard’s country music chart — at that time called the “Most Played Juke Box Folk Records” chart — in March of 1944.

What do you think of the name Rosalita?

P.S. Al Dexter’s birth name was Clarence Albert Poindexter.

Source: Meet the Artist: Biographical Sketches of Leading Performing Artists with Listings of Their Recordings of BMI-licensed Songs. New York: Broadcast Music, Inc., 1952.

Where did the baby name Narada come from?

Narada Michael Walden's album "Awakening" (1979)
Narada Michael Walden album

The Hindu name Narada first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in the late ’70s:

  • 1983: 19 baby boys named Narada
  • 1982: 18 baby boys named Narada
  • 1981: 29 baby boys named Narada
  • 1980: 48 baby boys and 7 baby girls named Narada
  • 1979: 19 baby boys named Narada [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Musician and producer Narada (pronounced NAH-ruh-duh) Michael Walden.

His most successful songs, “I Don’t Want Nobody Else (To Dance with You)” and “I Shoulda Loved Ya,” were both released in 1979. Both reached the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 47th and 66th respectively. Both also reached the top 10 on Billboard‘s Hot Soul Singles chart, peaking at 9th and 4th.

He went on to have a successful career, being nominated for a total of eight Grammys and winning three (two in the ’80s, one in the ’90s). He produced music for people like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Gladys Knight, Shanice Wilson, Tevin Campbell, etc.

He was born Michael Walden in Michigan in 1952. In the early ’70s, he became a devotee of Indian guru Sri Chinmoy. Chinmoy gave him the spiritual name Narada, and Walden chose to use Narada as part of his stage name. (Carlos Santana, another follower, went by “Devadip Carlos Santana” for a time.)

In Hindu tradition, the character Narada is a sage and musician. He is portrayed “as both wise and mischievous, creating some of Vedic literature’s more humorous tales.”

Do you like Narada as a baby name? Would you use it?

Sources: Narada Michael Walden – Wikipedia, Narada Michael Walden – Billboard, Arunachal butterfly named after Narada, SSA

Name quotes #84: Alfred, Quentin, Sonatine

double quotation mark

Welcome to the monthly quote post!

Composer Bear McCreary’s baby name announcement from mid-2014:

Raya and I are proud to announce our greatest collaboration is finally here. 

Sonatine Yarbrough McCreary was born 6/2/14 and is filling our lives with joy, music… and poop.

(The musical term sonatina means “small sonata” in Italian. A sonata refers to a piece that is played — as opposed to a cantata, a piece that is sung.)

Three quotes from a fantastic article in the NYT about Weird Al Yankovic (discovered via Nancy Friedman).

…On his Alfred-ness:

Although Alfred’s grades were perfect, and he could solve any math problem you threw at him, his social life was agonizing. Imagine every nerd cliche: He was scrawny, pale, unathletic, nearsighted, awkward with girls — and his name was Alfred. And that’s all before you even factor in the accordion.

…On how his surname turned him into an accordion player:

[The accordion] came from a door-to-door salesman. The man was offering the gift of music, and he gave the Yankovics a simple choice: accordion or guitar. This was 1966, the golden age of rock, the year of the Beatles’ “Revolver” and the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.” A guitar was like a magic amulet spraying sexual psychedelic magic all over the world. So Yankovic’s mother chose the accordion. This was at least partly because of coincidence: Frankie Yankovic, a world-famous polka player, happened to share the family’s last name. No relation. Just a wonderful coincidence that would help to define Alfred’s entire life.

…On his Alfred-ness again:

The nickname “Weird Al” started as an insult. It happened during his first year of college. This was a fresh start for Alfred — a chance to reinvent himself for a whole new set of people. He had no reputation to live down, no epic humiliations. And so he decided to implement a rebrand: He introduced himself to everyone not as Alfred but as “Al.” Alfred sounded like the kind of kid who might invent his own math problems for fun. Al sounded like the opposite of that: a guy who would hang out with the dudes, eating pizza, casually noodling on an electric guitar, tossing off jokes so unexpectedly hilarious they would send streams of light beer rocketing out of everyone’s noses.

The problem was that, even at college, even under the alias of Al, Yankovic was still himself. He was still, fundamentally, an Alfred.

From “I Love the Q,” a Harvard Medical School interview with stem-cell scientist George Q. Daley:

HMS: So you have five brothers and sisters?

DALEY: Yes. I was born fifth, and my middle name, Quentin, means “fifth-born.”

HMS: I was going to ask why you use the Q.

DALEY: I love the Q. It’s the most distinctive thing about me. Everybody asks, “What’s the Q stand for?”

From “Politics, Religion and…Baby Names” by Tim Bradley:

Our oldest son Jay (who was almost two at the time) insisted on calling our baby-to-be “Baby Fire” while my wife was pregnant. It caught on and throughout my wife’s pregnancy, our families would ask, “How’s Baby Fire doing?” Although it seemed like a fitting name, we just dismissed it thinking “Fire” was too “out there” for anyone to be on board. But on the way to the hospital during the wee hours of the morning on July 4th, my wife and I decided that “Fire” as a middle name seemed appropriate. It will forever link our sons since it was Jay’s idea, and it captures the memories and emotions we felt throughout the pregnancy. There’s the July 4th fireworks tie-in as well. And let’s face it “Fire” as a middle name is only one step away from “Danger” as the coolest name ever.

From H. L. Mencken’s 1919 book The American Language:

The religious obsession of the New England colonists is also kept in mind by the persistence of Biblical names: Ezra, Hiram, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Elijah, Elihu, and so on. These names excite the derision of the English; an American comic character, in an English play or novel, always bears one of them.

From “JFK’s legacy in Bogotá lives on 55-years later” (in The City Paper) by Andy East:

It was Dec. 17, 1961, and nearly one-third of Bogotá’s 1.5 million inhabitants had turned out on a sunny Sunday afternoon for one reason: to catch a glimpse of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The massive outpouring was the largest reception the U.S. leader ever had.

[…]

The historic visit, which lasted only 14 hours, would change the lives of thousands of families and have a profound impact on the city that is still visible 55 years later.

[…]

In the immediate years after Kennedy’s visit, the most popular baby names registered at baptisms in Ciudad Kennedy were John, Fitzgerald (Kennedy’s middle name), Jacqueline and Kennedy.

(Here’s a post about U.S. babies named for JFK.)

From a 2012 essay by Craig Salters in the Hanover Mariner:

I myself was named after Craig Breedlove, a daredevil who broke all sorts of land speed records in what was pretty much a rocket on wheels. I absolutely love my name and am proud of my namesake, but I always feel I’m letting Mr. Breedlove down when I putter along Route 3 at 55 miles per hour, content to listen to sports radio and let the world pass me by.