The rare name Troylene has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just three times total. It debuted in 1951, then popped up again twice in the 1960s:
- 1966: unlisted
- 1965: 5 baby girls named Troylene
- 1964: unlisted
- 1963: 13 baby girls named Troylene [peak]
- 6 born in California
- 1962: unlisted
- […unlisted…]
- 1952: unlisted
- 1951: 5 baby girls named Troylene [debut]
- 1950: unlisted
The peak usage in 1963 is easy to explain, so we’ll start there.
In the early ’60s, Dallas burlesque dancer “Candy Barr” (birth name: Juanita Dale Slusher) served over three years of a fifteen-year prison sentence for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Just after she was released in April of 1963, a few photographs of Candy and her 7-year-old daughter Troylene ran in the newspapers. (Troylene’s father was Candy’s second husband, Troy Phillips.)
…So that explains the ’60s. What about the ’50s?
The reason for the debut is trickier to pinpoint — and there may not be a specific reason at all. (“Troylene” may have emerged organically as a variant of trendy names like Darlene and Charlene.)
That said, I do have two theories:
- First, a New Mexico cowgirl named Troylene Boykin (b. 1943). She participated in various kids’ rodeos during the early ’50s, so her name periodically popped up in Southern newspapers starting around 1951. (Sadly, Troylene Boykin died of a heart ailment in 1956.)
- Second, a Texas baby named Zanneta Troylene McKnight (b. 1951). Her twin brother, Clifton Troyce McKnight, was born with an “upside down” stomach (congenital diaphragmatic hernia) and required major surgery soon after they were born in mid-November. They were both highlighted in the local news at that time.
It’s interesting to note that most of the 20th-century Troylenes I found records for were born in Texas, and a good number of them had fathers named Troy. The twins’ father was a Troy, for instance.
What do you think of the baby name Troylene?
Sources:
- Cartwright, Gary. “Say “Cheesecake”.” Texas Monthly Jan. 1986: 280.
- “Winters Baby’s ‘Upside Down’ Stomach Set Right by Surgery.” Abilene Reporter-News 8 Dec. 1951: 25.
