How popular is the baby name Bob 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 Bob.

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Popularity of the baby name Bob


Posts that mention the name Bob

What gave the baby name Lauryn a boost in the late 1990s?

Lauryn Hill (Time magazine, Feb. 1999)
Lauryn Hill

According to the U.S. baby name data, the usage of Lauryn began rising during the second half of the 1990s, then saw a pronounced spike in 1999:

  • 2001: 1,083 baby girls named Lauryn [rank: 289th]
  • 2000: 1,408 baby girls named Lauryn [rank: 224th]
  • 1999: 1,883 baby girls named Lauryn [rank: 167th] (peak usage)
  • 1998: 628 baby girls named Lauryn [rank: 421st]
  • 1997: 498 baby girls named Lauryn [rank: 498th]
  • 1996: 338 baby girls named Lauryn [rank: 659th]
  • 1995: 241 baby girls named Lauryn [rank: 818th]

What was influencing the name during those years?

New Jersey-born rapper and singer Lauryn Hill.

During the 1990s, Lauryn was a member of the hip-hop group the Fugees along with Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel. The trio’s second (and final) album, The Score, was released in early 1996 and soon became one of the best-selling hip-hop albums of all time.

The Fugees' album "The Score" (1996)
Fugees album

Of the album’s four singles, only “Fu-Gee-La” was released commercially in the U.S., and therefore eligible to appear on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. It peaked at #29 in March of 1996.

But the other three singles — “Killing Me Softly” (a cover of the 1973 Roberta Flack hit), “Ready or Not” (which featured an Enya sample), and “No Woman, No Cry” (a cover of the Bob Marley classic) — were no less popular, judging by how frequently they were played on the radio.

In early 1997, the Fugees won a pair of Grammy Awards — one for The Score, the other for “Killing Me Softly.”

Later the same year, however, the group broke up.

Lauryn Hill's album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" (1998)
Lauryn Hill album

Lauryn went on to release her first solo album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, in August of 1998. It eventually surpassed The Score in terms of sales, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.

The album’s most successful single, “Doo Wop (That Thing),” ranked #1 on the Hot 100 for two weeks in November.

Here’s the music video:

The other two singles, “Ex-Factor” and “Everything Is Everything,” entered the Hot 100 in 1999. The first peaked at #21 in April, and the second at #35 in July.

And two more tracks — “To Zion” (featuring guitarist Carlos Santana) and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” (a cover of the 1967 Frankie Valli hit) — also saw significant radio play.

In early 1999, Lauryn Hill won five Grammy Awards: two for The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, two for “Doo Wop (That Thing),” and one for herself (as Best New Artist). She became the first female artist to win five or more Grammy Awards in a single night, and Miseducation became the first hip-hop album to win Album Of The Year.

Around the same time, she became the first hip-hop artist to be featured on the cover of Time magazine.

What are your thoughts on the name Lauryn? How about Lauren? (What’s your preferred spelling of the name?)

Sources:

Top image: Clipping from the cover of Time magazine (8 Feb. 1999)

What gave the baby name Sherry a boost in 1962?

The Four Seasons album "Sherry & 11 Others" (1962)
Four Seasons album

The baby name Sherry, already popular in the early 1960s, reached peak usage in 1962 specifically:

  • 1964: 8,495 baby girls named Sherry [rank: 50th]
  • 1963: 9,065 baby girls named Sherry [rank: 49th]
  • 1962: 9,226 baby girls named Sherry [rank: 48th]
  • 1961: 8,358 baby girls named Sherry [rank: 53rd]
  • 1960: 8,314 baby girls named Sherry [rank: 54th]

What accounts for that sudden jump into the girls’ top 50?

The song “Sherry” by The Four Seasons, a vocal quartet led by Frankie Valli (and his distinctive falsetto).

“Sherry,” the group’s second single, was released in July of 1962. In mid-September it reached #1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart (dethroning “Sheila” by Tommy Roe). It remained in the top spot for five weeks straight.

Here’s what “Sherry” sounds like:

Originally entitled “Terry,” the song was written (in about fifteen minutes) by Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio. When Bob shared it with the rest of the group, the reaction was mixed: “[S]ome of the guys liked it and some didn’t.”

Unable to come to a consensus, they played it for their producer, Bob Crewe, over the phone. Crewe loved the song, but not the name. He considered replacing it with Jackie (after First Lady Jackie Kennedy) and Peri (the name of one of his record labels) before settling upon Sherry — a respelling of Cheri, the name of the daughter of one of his good friends, New York disc jockey Jack Spector.

What are your thoughts on the name Sherry? (Do you like it more or less than Sheila?)

P.S. The name’s steep rise in 1946 may be largely attributable to the baby boom, but I think a second influence was the 1946 western Abilene Town, which featured a character named Sherry (played by actress Rhonda Fleming).

Sources:

Where did the baby name Abilene come from in 1964?

The George Hamilton IV album "Abilene" (1963)
George Hamilton IV album

The place-name Abilene appeared for the first time in the U.S. baby name data in 1964:

  • 1966: unlisted
  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: 5 baby girls named Abilene
  • 1963: unlisted
  • 1962: unlisted

What put it there?

A country song.

“Abilene” by George Hamilton IV was released in May of 1963. In August, the song reached #15 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. Soon after that, it began a four-week run atop the Hot Country Singles chart.

Here’s Hamilton’s recording of the song (which starts, Abilene, Abilene/Prettiest town I’ve ever seen):

Primary songwriter Bob Gibson was inspired to compose “Abilene” in the late 1950s after watching the 1946 western Abilene Town. The movie is set in Abilene, Kansas, but here’s what Gibson had to say about the location being referred to in the song:

People had always asked me, “Bob, did you write that song about Abilene, Kansas or Abilene, Texas?” I’d always have to say, “I don’t know.” I didn’t know! Like all good Americans, I learned all of my history from the movies, and I knew that Abilene was this great railhead. I started going down to Kerrville for the folk festival there in 1978, and the first time I got on that stage at Kerrville and sang Abilene, and 5,000 Texans stood up and put their hands of their hearts, I knew right away I’d written it about Abilene, Texas!

The city in Texas was named (in 1881) after the town in Kansas. The town in Kansas, in turn, was named (in the early 1860s) by Eliza Hersey, wife of the town’s first settler, Timothy Hersey. Eliza chose the biblical place-name Abilene (found in Luke 3:1).

What are your thoughts on Abilene as a first name?

Sources:

  • George Hamilton IV – Billboard
  • Gibson, Bob and Carole Bender. Bob Gibson: I Come For To Sing. Naperville, IL: Kingston Korner, 1999.
  • Bearce, Stephanie and the Dickinson County Historical Society. Abilene. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012.
  • SSA

Where did the baby name Caesare come from in 1981?

The character Caesare from the movie "The Idolmaker" (1980)
Caesare from “The Idolmaker”

The rare name Caesare first appeared in the U.S. baby name data — for both genders, notably — in 1981:

  • 1983: unlisted
  • 1982: 27 baby boys and 5 baby girls named Caesare
  • 1981: 6 baby boys and 5 baby girls named Caesare [dual-gender debut]
  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: unlisted

The following year, Caesare reached its highest-ever usage. Also in 1982, we see an increase in the number of baby boys with similar names:

1980198119821983
Cesare76128
Chezarae9*
Chezare9*
Ceasare8*
Chazaray6*
Chez55157
*Debut

(Chezarae and Chazaray were both one-hit wonders.)

What was influencing all of these names?

A movie called The Idolmaker, which was released in November of 1980.

The main character, Vincent Vacarri (played by Ray Sharkey), worked as a talent manager in New York City in the late 1950s. (The character was based on real-life Philadelphia talent manager Bob Marcucci, who discovered and developed both Frankie Avalon and Fabian.)

One of Vinnie’s protégés was teenage busboy Guido (played by Peter Gallagher), who had no discernible talent. Vinnie renamed Guido “Caesare” (pronounced CHEZ-uh-ray, similar to the English pronunciation of Désirée) and got to work transforming him into a star.

Caesare became “an unwilling Trilby to Vinnie’s Svengali,” according to one reviewer.

The name Caesare in lights, from the movie "The Idolmaker" (1980)
“Caesare” in lights

The name Caesare — which was occasionally shortened to “Chez” in the movie — is a spelling variant of the name Cesare, the Italian form of Caesar.

What are your thoughts on the name Caesare? (How would you spell it?)

P.S. Other dual-gender debuts include Chaffee, Dasani, Dondi, Illya, Khaalis, Rikishi, Shilo, Sundown, and Tavares.

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of The Idolmaker