How popular is the baby name Baines 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 Baines.

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Popularity of the baby name Baines


Posts that mention the name Baines

What gave the baby name Luci a boost in the mid-1960s?

Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of Lyndon Baines Johnson
Luci Baines Johnson

The name Lucy had been on the decline for about a decade when, in 1964, the uncommon spelling Luci nearly quadrupled in usage:

  • 1966: 78 baby girls named Luci
  • 1965: 81 baby girls named Luci
  • 1964: 42 baby girls named Luci
  • 1963: 11 baby girls named Luci
  • 1962: 8 baby girls named Luci

(Lucy itself also saw an uptick in usage that year.)

What was influencing the name Luci in the mid-1960s?

Luci Baines Johnson, the younger daughter of president Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson.

Luci was regularly in the headlines while she was campaigning for her father in 1964. She was, for instance, the queen of an Apple Blossom Festival in Virginia in April, the narrator of a Peter and the Wolf concert in Michigan in July, and the guest of honor at a barbecue in Beverly Hills (attended by the likes of Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen) in August.

She was featured on the cover of Life in mid-May. In the accompanying article, the magazine noted that Luci was “the first teen-aged daughter in the White House since William Howard Taft’s 17-year-old, Helen, lived there a half-century ago.”

Lucy Baines Johnson, who was born in July of 1947, began going by “Luci” soon after moving into the White House (in late 1963). Decades later, she explained:

It was a small way to establish my independence. I didn’t have a name like Elizabeth that I could shorten, so I just changed the spelling.

What are your thoughts on the name Luci? (Which spelling do you prefer?)

P.S. Bader Howar, the flower girl at Luci’s 1966 wedding, also ended up influencing U.S. baby names…

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the cover of Life magazine (15 May 1964)

How did Lyndon B. Johnson influence baby names?

American politician Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973)
Lyndon B. Johnson

Texas-born politician Lyndon B. Johnson, who served as president of the United States from late 1963 to early 1969, influenced the popularity of the baby name Lyndon several times over the course of his life.

In 1941, the year he narrowly lost a U.S. Senate special election in Texas, the name Lyndon nearly doubled in usage:

Boys named Lyndon (U.S.)Boys named Lyndon (TX)
1943102 (rank: 632nd)21
194278 (rank: 729th)22
194190 (rank: 645th)43
194046 (rank: 947th)8
193941 (rank: 1,000th)6

As you’d expect, most of that extra usage happened in the state of Texas.

In 1948, on his second try, Johnson narrowly won a seat in the U.S. Senate. (The unique first name of his opponent, Coke R. Stevenson, made its last appearance in the U.S. baby name data the same year.)

More than a decade later, when Senator Johnson was elected vice president as John F. Kennedy‘s running mate, the name saw another uptick:

  • 1962: 148 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 635th)
  • 1961: 207 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 548th)
  • 1960: 246 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 506th)
  • 1959: 193 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 559th)
  • 1958: 161 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 606th)

Finally, in 1964, the name shot to peak popularity:

  • 1966: 161 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 592nd)
  • 1965: 306 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 444th)
  • 1964: 514 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 347th)
  • 1963: 176 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 594th)
  • 1962: 148 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 635th)

Here’s a visual:

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

This considerable increase in usage can be attributed to a pair of related events: Johnson assuming the presidency upon the assassination of Kennedy in November of 1963, and Johnson’s landslide victory in the presidential election of 1964.

Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office following the assassination of President Kennedy (Nov. 1963)
Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born to Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Johnson (née Baines) in 1908. Where did his first name come from? Here’s how he told the story:

I was three months old when I was named. My mother and father couldn’t agree on a name. The people my father liked were heavy drinkers — pretty rough for a city girl. She didn’t want me named after any of them.

Finally, there was a criminal lawyer — a county lawyer — named W. C. Linden. He would go on a drunk for a week after every case. My father liked him, and he wanted to name me after him. My mother didn’t care for the idea, but she said finally that it was all right; she would go along with it if she could spell the name the way she wanted to. So that was what happened.

Johnson’s two daughters, Lynda and Luci, were both married during their father’s presidency. The younger one, Luci, married in August of 1966 and the older one, Lynda, married in December of 1967. (Luci had a flower girl named Bader; Lynda had a bridesmaid called Trenny.)

What are your thoughts on the name Lyndon? (What spelling do you prefer?)

Sources:

Images: Adapted from Lyndon B. Johnson, photo portrait, leaning on chair, color and Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office (both public domain)

Baby born during Cyclone Rene, named Rene

hurricane

In February of 2010, Tropical Cyclone Rene brushed past American Samoa in the South Pacific. The storm came closest to the U.S. territory on February 13.

The night before, a baby girl was born at American Samoa’s LBJ Tropical Medical Center.

The hospital’s emergency team had been camping at the hospital in preparation for the cyclone that night.

The head of the delivery department, Dr. John Ah Ching, says the mother came in with complications and having all the necessary staff present may have saved the baby’s life.

I don’t know the baby’s full name, but she was “named after Cyclone Rene,” according to my source.

P.S. The Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Tropical Medical Center, which was named after the first and only U.S. president to visit American Samoa, opened in June of 1968. “The first admitted patient was a baby about to be delivered. He received the name Lyndon.”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)

Where did the baby name Bedar come from in 1966?

Flower girl Bader Howar
Bader Howar (flower girl)

The unusual name Bedar has appeared just once in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1968: unlisted
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: 5 baby girls named Bedar [debut]
  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A flower girl. Specifically, six-year-old “Bedar Howar” — the flower girl at the August wedding of 19-year-old Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of U.S. president Lyndon Baines Johnson.

bedar, bader, baby name, 1966

But here’s the catch: Her name was actually Bader Howar. White House press releases had transposed the vowels in her name, resulting in Bader’s name being misspelled in every contemporary write-up about the wedding.

Her father Edmond was a real estate developer of Jordanian descent; her mother Barbara was a Washington, D.C., socialite and writer. In the mid-1970s, Barbara mentioned to People magazine that Bader was “named for a paternal grandmother.” (The name is derived from the Arabic word badr, meaning “full moon.”)

Bader now works as a portrait photographer in California, though she did have a brief acting career (including a small part in Pretty in Pink).

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Life magazine (19 Aug. 1966)