So far I’ve only posted about two mystery names, Laquita and Nerine. But there are plenty of others.
One of those others is Djuna, which was the most impressive girl-name debut in the U.S. baby name data in 1964:
- 1966: 24 baby girls named Djuna
- 1965: 32 baby girls named Djuna
- 1964: 198 baby girls named Djuna [rank: 738th]
- 1963: unlisted
- 1962: unlisted
In fact, 198 was the highest debut number ever up to that point, and it remained the record-holder until Kizzy (inspired by Roots) came along with a whopping 1,115 baby girls in 1977.
And that’s not all. A bunch of similar names became more popular in 1964 as well:
| 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | |
| Djuna | – | 198* | 32 | 24 |
| Djuana | – | 190 | 77 | 35 |
| Dwana | 17 | 82 | 39 | 37 |
| Duana | 7 | 29 | 18 | 11 |
| Dejuana | – | 24 | 11 | 13 |
| Dewanna | 13 | 24 | 22 | 30 |
| Dwanna | 10 | 24 | 10 | 12 |
| Duanna | – | 10 | 6 | 6 |
| Dujuana | – | 10* | 5 | – |
| Djana | – | 9* | – | – |
| Duuna | – | 9* | – | – |
| Duwana | – | 9* | – | – |
| Djuan (f) | – | 7* | – | – |
| Dejuna | – | 6* | – | – |
| Duuana | – | 6* | – | – |
| Duwanna | – | 6* | – | – |
| Dywana | – | 6* | – | – |
| Djuanna | – | 5* | – | – |
| Dajuana | – | – | 9* | – |
(Djana, Duuna, Dejuna and Duuana were one-hit wonders.)
Where did these names come from?
I haven’t a clue. The very first Djuna seems to be writer Djuna Barnes (1892-1982), but I don’t think she made any headlines in the 1960s.
The name was also used in a bunch Ellery Queen novels, but that Djuna was a boy. (And the books were published in the ’40s and ’50s, mostly.)
Olympian Wilma Rudolph named her baby girl Djuana in mid-1964. This may have contributed to the surge in usage. But many (most?) of the Djunas and Djuanas I’ve seen so far were born during the first half of the year, so it can’t be the main cause.
So…I’m stumped.
Do you guys have any ideas?
UPDATE: We worked together to figure out that the answer was TV character Djuna Phrayne, who was featured on a single episode of the TV series Channing. Thank you, everyone!