According to the U.S. baby name data, the usage of Tracy increased for both boys and girls during the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s.
The boys’ rise was probably bolstered by a pair of masculine associations: leading man Spencer Tracy (who’d become famous in the mid-1930s) and comic strip character Dick Tracy (who first appeared in the papers in the early ’30s).
The girls’ rise was likely influenced by fictional character Tracy Lord, the protagonist of the play The Philadelphia Story (1939), which was adapted for the big and small screens multiple times. Tracy Lord — a beautiful but self-centered heiress — was portrayed by Katharine Hepburn in 1940 (film), Barbara Bel Geddes in late 1950 (TV), Dorothy McGuire in late 1954 (TV), Grace Kelly in 1956 (film), and Diana Lynn in late 1959 (TV).
Notably, the 1959 televised production of The Philadelphia Story featured original music, including “Tracy’s Theme” [vid] — an instrumental song that peaked at #13 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in February of 1960.
Another influence on the girls’ usage may have been AP columnist Hal Boyle, who often wrote about his daughter Tracy Ann (from the time she was adopted in 1953 until the early 1970s). Photos of Tracy Ann Boyle occasionally ran in the newspapers.
The name Tracy was being given more often to baby girls than to baby boys by 1954, and the girls’ usage was more than double the boys’ usage by the end of the 1950s:
| Girls named Tracy | Boys named Tracy | |
| 1962 | 8,308 (rank: 55th) | 3,340 (rank: 111th) |
| 1961 | 6,987 (rank: 64th) | 3,185 (rank: 119th) |
| 1960 | 5,767 (rank: 84th) | 2,584 (rank: 137th) |
| 1959 | 3,367 (rank: 131st) | 1,450 (rank: 199th) |
| 1958 | 2,110 (rank: 178th) | 1,249 (rank: 212th) |
| 1957 | 1,966 (rank: 183rd) | 1,156 (rank: 223rd) |
| 1956 | 1,386 (rank: 219th) | 773 (rank: 261st) |
| 1955 | 936 (rank: 280th) | 526 (rank: 323rd) |
| 1954 | 612 (rank: 348th) | 445 (rank: 338th) |
| 1953 | 326 (rank: 477th) | 327 (rank: 387th) |
Do you know of anything else (e.g., famous people, characters, news stories) that might have helped popularize the name Tracy in the mid-20th century? (Did I miss anything?)
Sources: The Philadelphia Story (play) – Wikipedia, Tracy’s Theme – Wikipedia, Billboard Hot 100 for the week of 22 Feb. 1960, SSA
Images: Clippings from the Oakland Tribune (6 Dec. 1959) and the Meriden Journal (17 Sept. 1959)
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