How popular is the baby name Billy 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 Billy.
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Tuesday’s post about the Victorian-style Tylney Hall Hotel reminded me of a list of Victorian-era names that I’ve had bookmarked forever.
The list was created by amateur genealogist G. M. Atwater as a resource for writers. It contains names and name combinations that were commonly seen in the U.S. from the 1840s to the 1890s. Below is the full list (with a few minor changes).
| Victorian Era Female Names | Victorian Era Male Names |
|---|---|
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Which female name and male name do you like best?
The name Billyjack — a rather old-fashioned sounding double name — didn’t appear in the U.S. baby name data in the early 1900s, but in the 1970s:
Where did it come from?
The movie character Billy Jack, who had a cult following during the ’70s.
Here’s a fun description:
Billy Jack [is] a half-Cherokee Vietnam vet and former Green Beret who preaches peace, love and pacifism, but is all too ready to pull off his boots and protect progressive values by barefoot-kicking all the right(-wing) asses in American society, from biker gangs to racist Southerners to corrupt cops and politicians.
The character was played by Tom Laughlin in a series of four independent films: The Born Losers (1967), Billy Jack (1971), The Trial of Billy Jack (1974), and Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977). The first three were unexpectedly successful, thanks largely to Tom’s innovative approach to distribution and marketing.
Notice how the name didn’t appear in the data until it was featured in the title of a film, though. In that second movie, Billy Jack helps Native American students on an Arizona reservation fight back against “small-town bigots.” (And, incidentally, the third movie includes Sacheen Littlefeather, who we’ve talked about before.)
What are your thoughts on the baby name Billyjack?
Sources: Tom Laughlin: Five films from the ‘Billy Jack’ star – LA Times, The Strange Saga of Billy Jack – Toronto International Film Festival
My husband and I went on a fun road trip last week (Denver to Mesa Verde, to the Grand Canyon, to Las Vegas, then back to Denver), and we spotted some interesting names while walking the rim of the canyon:
The caption reads: “Tlutha and wife Tsoojva, a Havasupai family photographed in 1899, made their home at Indian Garden until 1928.” That was the year the last of the Havasupai were forced out of the canyon by the National Park Service. (Indian Garden is a riparian area about 5 miles below the rim.)
Tsoojva’s name means “dangling.” I’m not sure what Tlutha’s name means, but he was known to outsiders as Billy Burro.
Here’s more info on Havasupai names:
Havasupai names originally represented whimsical nicknames. Baa Gtgoohva (Bumping Into) received his name when he sneaked into his girlfriend’s bed and then bumped into another man coming to visit as he left. Ii Jgyaava (Axe) got his name when he married Ii (Stick). People called Watahomigie Bqii ‘Bee’ (Totes a Woman) because he physically carried home his wife Suwjaqwa. Today each Havasupai still bears at least one such “Indian name,” sometimes irreverent, that friends and acquaintances use instead of the regular name. Translated, they mean such things as “Mule,” “Backbone,” or “The Swallower.” Many older people do not even recognize their ancestors’ official names because they never knew them by any but their Havasupai names.
Finally, did you know that the name Canyon has been given to well over 2,000 babies at this point? Grand has never been on the list. (Great has, though.)
Sources:
The state of Meghalaya in North-East India has long been known for the colorful names of its residents.
The state typically makes international headlines during election years. Actual candidate names have included…
Here’s what Adolf Lu Hitler Rangsa Marak (who was born in the late 1950s) had to say about his name:
“Maybe my parents liked the name and hence christened me Hitler,” he recently told the Hindustan Times newspaper.
“I am happy with my name, although I don’t have any dictatorial tendencies.”
Reporters have been writing about the names in Meghalaya for at least a decade, but the strange names have been around a lot longer than that. “My erstwhile escort explained that Khasi parents are fond of naming children after great personalities of the West,” said the author of a 1956 article about Meghalaya’s names. (The article also mentioned Khasi sisters named Million, Billion and Trillion.)
So, why are strange names the norm in Meghalaya? I’ve found various explanations.
One travel article suggests the roots are religious. The names are the “legacy of the missionaries’ work,” it says, though “children now are just as likely to be named after the latest gadget as a saint.” (About 70% of the state is Christian, which is notable, as India overall is only about 2% Christian.)
Another source blames Britain:
The region’s unusual names stem from the state’s close historical links with Britain, explains Agence France-Presse: in colonial times, missionaries and soldiers would visit the hilly state’s capital Shillong, known as the “Scotland of the East,” to escape the overbearing heat of much of the country, and its residents began naming their children with random English words as a nod to that influence.
“Often they don’t know the background of the names. They get attracted to these names for their quest of modernity,” Sanjeeb Kakoty, a history professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong, told AFP.
Yet another source adds two more possibilities. First, that people try to “sound knowledgeable by naming their children after great leaders.” Second, that the names are “part of a culture where laughter is considered important.”
Meghalaya’s three major tribes, the Khasis, the Garos and Jaintias all have Laugh Clubs. Giving their children whacky [sic] names is part of the fun.
“We share the most brazen of jokes at these clubs,” says local historian Milton Sangma.
Which might explain why one of the candidates is Tony Curtis, better known as a Hollywood legend.
“We believe if we laugh heartily at least once or twice a day, we will live long.”
(Laughter clubs have only been around since the mid-1990s.)
Which of the names on the list above do you like best?
Sources:
Image: Adapted from Valleys in Sillong by Seema Agarwal under CC BY-SA 3.0.
[Related post: Soviet-inspired baby names in Kerala, India]
