After re-emerging in the U.S. baby name data in 1943, the name Corliss went on to feature in the girls’ top 1,000 from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s.
- 1946: 182 baby girls named Corliss [rank: 591st]
- 1945: 80 baby girls named Corliss [rank: 843rd]
- 1944: 70 baby girls named Corliss [rank: 918th]
- 1943: 44 baby girls named Corliss
- 1942: unlisted
- 1941: 6 baby girls named Corliss
(The spelling Corlis also saw higher usage during that period, and Corless was a one-hit wonder in 1947.)
What accounts for the trendiness of Corliss during those years?
A fictional teenage girl named Corliss Archer.
Created by writer F. Hugh Herbert, the “energetic and vivacious” Corliss was introduced in early 1943 as the central character of…
- A series of six short stories published in the popular women’s magazine Good Housekeeping (starting in January),
- The radio program Meet Corliss Archer (which also started in January), and
- The Broadway play Kiss and Tell (which premiered in March).
In 1945, the play was adapted into a film of the same name starring 17-year-old Shirley Temple. The following year (which, admittedly, was the first year of the baby boom) the name Corliss reached peak usage.
Shirley Temple also starred in a second Corliss Archer film, A Kiss for Corliss, which was released in 1949.
During the 1950s, the radio program Meet Corliss Archer was adapted to television twice:
- In the first adaptation, which was broadcast live on CBS from 1951 to 1952, Corliss was played by Lugene Sanders.
- In the second, which was produced for first-run syndication during the 1954-55 season, Corliss was played by Ann Baker (above).
The radio program itself remained on the air for more than 13 years, until mid-1956.
I’m not sure why F. Hugh Herbert chose “Corliss” as the name of the character. (Perhaps he was inspired by Corliss Palmer?) But I do know that the character was based on his own teenage daughters, Diana and Pamela. He wrote,
I merely had to put into the lips of Corliss some of their more pungent phrases, into the life of Corliss some of their exuberant high spirits, their natural gaiety, bounce, and charm.
Sources:
- F. Hugh Herbert – Wikipedia
- Meet Corliss Archer – Wikipedia
- Kearney, Mary Celeste. “Recycling Judy and Corliss: Transmedia exploitation and the first teen-girl production trend.” Feminist Media Studies, vol. 4, no. 3, 2004, pp. 265-295.
- Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- Kiss and Tell – Broadway Play – Original | IBDB
- Brooks, Tim and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. 9th ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 2007.
- “A Kiss for Corliss” [Advertisement]. Life 14 Nov. 1949: 23.
- SSA
Image: Screenshots of Kiss and Tell (1945) and Meet Corliss Archer (1954-55)