How popular is the baby name Carrie 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 Carrie.
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Speaking of Temperance…I’ve discovered three U.S.-born people named Prohibition.
None of them were actually born during the U.S. Prohibition (1920-1933), though. They were all born in the 1880s, while the temperance movement was still on the rise.
Prohibition Campbell (female) born on June 27, 1882, in Iowa.
Ernest Prohibition Manhart (male) born on November 22, 1886, in North Dakota.
Albert Prohibition Sparkman (male) born on April 28, 1887, in Tennessee.
I’ve also found nearly two dozen baby girls named Carrie Nation, presumably after radical temperance advocate Carrie A. Nation (1846-1911). They were born around the turn of the century or a little later, and most came from Texas. Three examples:
Carrie Nation Palmer, born on August 8, 1906, in Texas.
Carrie Nation Hartzell, born on July 7, 1909, in Indiana.
Carrie Nation Brooks, born on December 4, 1901, in Oklahoma.
In late 1976, Alex Haley’s best-selling novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family was published.
The book — which tells a sweeping, multi-generational tale that lasts from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800 — begins with the story of Kunta Kinte, a Mandinka teenager who was captured in Africa, transported via slave ship to North America, and sold to a Virginia plantation owner.
In January of 1977, an 8-episode miniseries based on the novel aired on television for 8 consecutive nights (on ABC).
The televised version of Roots was wildly popular, earning 9 Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, a Peabody, and some of the highest Nielsen ratings of all time.
It also had an unprecedented influence on baby names, inspiring thousands African-American parents to name their babies after Roots characters and actors. Below are some examples.
Kizzy, Levar, Kunta & Kinte
Kizzy and Kunta Kinte from “Roots“
According to the U.S. baby name data, the top debut names of 1977 were Kizzy and Levar.
Kizzy came from the character Kizzy, daughter of Kunta Kinte, who was featured during the middle episodes of the series.
1979: 269 baby girls named Kizzy [rank: 648th]
1978: 456 baby girls named Kizzy [rank: 439th]
1977: 1,115 baby girls named Kizzy [rank: 223rd] [debut]
1976: unlisted
1975: unlisted
So far, Kizzy’s 1977 debut is the highest baby name debut ever.
During the scene in which the newborn Kizzy is named, Kunta Kinte says, “Girl, your name is Kizzy. […] Your name means ‘stay put,’ but it don’t mean ‘stay a slave.’ It will never mean that!”
Here’s how one Florida couple, who welcomed a baby girl in early 1977, decided to name their daughter Kizzy:
“I identified with Kunta Kinte, and I thought the name Kizzy was a way I could express that,” said Willie Parker of Carol City, a Miami suburb.
His wife, Carrie, initially wanted to name their new daughter Nicole. But Parker said he was especially moved by the scene from the television series in which Kinte names his child and then raises her to the stars and tells her to behold the only thing greater than herself. So, he persuaded his wife to name their child Kizzy.
Levar came from actor LeVar Burton, who played the young version of protagonist Kunta Kinte in the first two episodes of the miniseries.
1979: 175 baby boys named Levar [rank: 645th]
1978: 254 baby boys named Levar [rank: 512th]
1977: 523 baby boys named Levar [rank: 343rd] [debut]
1976: unlisted
1975: unlisted
The names Lavar, Levarr, Lavarr and Lavare also got a boost in 1977. (The last three were debuts.)
Omoro and baby Kunta Kinte from “Roots“
Kunta not only debuted in 1977, but it popped into the top 1,000 for the first and only time that year as well.
1979: 16 baby boys named Kunta
1978: 52 baby boys named named Kunta
1977: 215 baby boys named Kunta [rank: 572nd] [debut]
1976: unlisted
1975: unlisted
Kinte also reached the top 1,000 for the first and only time in 1977, after debuting the year before.
1979: 6 baby boys named Kinte
1978: 38 baby boys named Kinte
1977: 104 baby boys named Kinte [rank: 839th]
1976: 5 baby boys named Kinte [debut]
1975: unlisted
The New York Times reported in March of 1977 that a young couple from Harlem, John and Nefhertiti Reid, had welcomed a baby boy on February 18 and named him Kunta Kinte Reid. He was “one of 20 newborn black boys and girls in New York City last month who were given the names Kunta Kinte or Kizzy.”
Officials in the health departments of several cities reported that 15 babies last month had been named Kunta Kinte or Kizzy in Los Angeles, 10 in Detroit and eight in Atlanta. In Cleveland, male and female twins were named after the two characters.
These names, already seeing enough usage nationally to appear in the U.S. baby name data, were influenced by Roots as well. Two got a boost, but the third did not…
Though it did not return to the data when Roots aired, “[o]ne family in Detroit named their child Vereen, apparently for actor Ben Vereen, who in the television show portrayed Kizzy’s son, Chicken George.”
Looking for a set of baby names with something in common? If so, here are some 6-letter anagram names for you to check out!
Anagrams are words that contain the same set of letters, but not in the same sequence. For instance, the words “listen,” “silent,” and “tinsel” are all anagrams of one another.
Anagram names can be a neat option for siblings — particularly multiples (like twins and triplets). They’re also a clever way to connect a baby name to the name of an older relative (e.g., grandpa Weston, grandson Townes).
Below are hundreds of six-letter names (collected from the SSA’s huge database of U.S. baby names) that happen to be anagrams of other names.
Have you seen any of the most popular baby girl names beyond the top 1,000 yet? If not, here they are — down to the names that were given to 100 babies each last year. The 1,000th most popular girl name was Dania, given to 249 babies, and after Dania comes…
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