Did you know that Playboy has influenced U.S. baby names?
Ever since the mid-1950s, each issue of Playboy magazine has featured a “Playmate of the Month” in the centerfold. None of the Playmates below ended up earning the coveted title of “Playmate of the Year,” but all seven left their mark on U.S. birth certificates.
Sheralee
Sheralee Conners was Playmate of the Month in July of 1961.
The name Sheralee re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data the same year:
- 1963: 9 baby girls named Sheralee
- 1962: 13 baby girls named Sheralee [peak]
- 1961: 9 baby girls named Sheralee
- 1960: unlisted
- 1959: unlisted
It saw peak usage the following year.
Azizi
Azizi Johari was Playmate of the Month in June of 1975. (A photo of her had also been prominently featured in Jet magazine a few months earlier.)
The same year, the name Azizi appeared for the first time — both as a girl name and as a boy name — in the data:
- 1977: 12 baby girls named Azizi
- 1976: 6 baby girls named Azizi
- 1975: 13 baby girls and 5 baby boys named Azizi [dual-gender debut]
- 1974: unlisted
- 1973: unlisted
Mesina
Mesina Miller was Playmate of the Month in September of 1975.
The next year, the name Mesina appeared for the first time in the data:
- 1978: unlisted
- 1977: unlisted
- 1976: 5 baby girls named Mesina [debut]
- 1975: unlisted
- 1974: unlisted
Tawnni
Tawnni Cable was Playmate of the Month in June of 1989.
The name Tawnni appeared for the first time in the data the same year:
- 1991: 5 baby girls named Tawnni
- 1990: 5 baby girls named Tawnni
- 1989: 6 baby girls named Tawnni [debut]
- 1988: unlisted
- 1987: unlisted
Tylyn
Tylyn John was Playmate of the Month in March of 1992.
The baby name Tylyn more than tripled in usage the same year:
- 1994: 27 baby girls named Tylyn
- 1993: 46 baby girls named Tylyn [peak]
- 1992: 30 baby girls named Tylyn
- 1991: 8 baby girls named Tylyn
- 1990: unlisted
It saw peak usage the following year.
Neriah
Neriah Davis was Playmate of the Month in March of 1994.
The same year, the name Neriah appeared for the first time in the data:
- 1996: 15 baby girls named Neriah
- 1995: 9 baby girls named Neriah
- 1994: 9 baby girls named Neriah [debut]
- 1993: unlisted
- 1992: unlisted
Neriah Davis was also friends with TV personality Brooke Burke, who welcomed her first child — a baby girl named Neriah — in March of 2000.
Shallan
Shallan Meiers was Playmate of the Month in September of 2002.
The same year, the name Shallan re-emerged (briefly) in the data:
- 2004: unlisted
- 2003: unlisted
- 2002: 12 baby girls named Shallan
- 2001: unlisted
- 2000: unlisted
Which of the names above do you like best?
Sources:
- List of Playboy Playmates of the Month – Wikipedia
- Brooke Burke & David Charvet: Our Blended Traditions – People
- SSA
Image: © 1961 Playboy
