The name Amerie first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2002:
- 2006: 110 baby girls named Amerie
- 2005: 162 baby girls named Amerie
- 2004: 67 baby girls named Amerie
- 2003: 111 baby girls named Amerie
- 2002: 51 baby girls named Amerie [debut]
- 2001: unlisted
- 2000: unlisted
It was one of the highest-debuting names of the year, in fact.
Where did it come from?
Mononymous R&B singer Amerie (pronounced AY-mer-ee), born Amerie Rogers in 1980 to a Korean mother and an African-American father.
Her first solo single, “Why Don’t We Fall in Love” (2002), peaked at #23 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart that August.
Here’s the music video for “Why Don’t We Fall in Love”:
Three years later, her memorable single “1 Thing” [vid] became a top-ten hit. The song was also featured on the soundtrack of the Will Smith movie Hitch, nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and “paved the way for the decade of pop that followed,” according to Rolling Stone.
The success of “1 Thing” accounts for the rise in usage of the name Amerie from 2004 to 2005.
In 2010, Amerie changed the spelling of her name to “Ameriie.” Why? Here’s how she explained it (in early 2015):
It was just something that I did for me, personally. People thought it was just my new stage name, but I legally added the extra “i.” Just cause I wanted to.
Since then, she seems to have reverted to the original spelling — at least publicly. (I’m not sure about legally.)
What are your thoughts on the name Amerie?
Sources:
- Amerie – Wikipedia
- Amerie’s website
- Hiatt, Brian. “Best Songs of the 21st Century: Amerie on Making ‘1 Thing’.” Rolling Stone 23 Aug. 2018.
- Thompson, Eliza. “There Were a Lot of Doritos: Ameriie on the 10th Anniversary of “1 Thing”.” Cosmopolitan.com 20 Jan. 2015.
- SSA