Ready for a mystery from the ’80s? Today’s mystery baby name is Fashionette, which popped up in the SSA data for three consecutive years in the 1980s:
- 1989: unlisted
- 1988: 6 baby girls named Fashionette
- 1987: 15 baby girls named Fashionette
- 1986: 7 baby girls named Fashionette [debut]
- 1985: unlisted
Why? I don’t know!
Research tells me that “Fashionette” was the name of a hair net introduced in the 1900s, a novelty song [vid] popular in the 1920s, and an air conditioner introduced by General Electric in the 1960s.
It’s also been used as the name of various local businesses (particularly beauty salons, clothing stores, and sewing stores) and at least one online business (a designer handbag store).
But what the heck was it in the 1980s? What turned Fashionette into a baby name?
The SSA’s state-by-state data doesn’t offer any clues, but records suggest that more than a few of those ’80s Fashionettes were born in Texas. (One had the very Texas-sounding first-middle combo “Dallas Fashionette.”)
So, I’m stumped. Do you have any theories about where the name Fashionette came from?