How popular is the baby name Donald in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Donald.
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Country music singer Loretta Lynn (originally Loretta Webb) was born in rural Kentucky in 1932.
Why was she given the name Loretta? Here’s how she told the story in her 1976 memoir:
We just had this one-room cabin they made from logs, with the cracks filled with moss and clay. The wind used to whistle in so bad, Mommy would paper the walls with pages from her Sears and Roebuck catalog and movie magazines. I remember I could see pictures of Hitler, Clark Gable, and that Russian man — Stalin, is that his name? (…) Mommy never went to the movies, but she always liked pictures of Loretta Young and Claudette Colbert. Right over my crib she pasted pictures of them two stars. That’s how I got my name. Lots of times I wonder if I would have made it in country music if I was named Claudette.
Loretta Lynn was the second of eight children; she had an older brother named Melvin and six younger siblings named Herman, Willie, Donald, Peggy Sue, Betty, and Brenda Gail (later known as Crystal Gayle).
P.S. Actress Loretta Young was born Gretchen Young in 1913. Her stage name was chosen by fellow actress Colleen Moore, who named her “after the most beautiful doll I had ever had. Loretta.”
Davey was the fastest-rising boy name of the year in terms of relative increase, and David was the second-fastest-rising boy name of the year (after Donald) in terms of absolute increase.
The names Davy and Davie also saw upticks in usage in 1929.
What was influencing these names?
Child actor Davey Lee (born David Lea in Hollywood, California, in late 1924).
Davey Lee appeared in six feature films between 1928 and 1930. (He was credited as “David Lee” in two of the films.)
His first movie, The Singing Fool, was a partial-talkie released in September of 1928. He played the part of Sonny, the son of main character Al Stone (played by Al Jolson), an entertainer who’d been deserted by his wife. Here’s how one film critic summarized the young actor:
This little David Lee playing the Jolsons’ kid is a perfect wonder. He plays sick, dead, happy, asleep, affectionate and sad, and talks, in his wee voice that gets over without a blemish.
The Singing Fool was the highest-grossing film of 1928, and one of the film’s songs, “Sonny Boy,” was also a best seller.
The song’s title was used for one of Davey Lee’s subsequent movies, Sonny Boy, which was another partial-talkie released in April of the following year. Here’s how the film critic for the New York Times described the experience of seeing Lee on the big screen:
There was many a rousing outburst [of] laughter [from the audience] at a word or two from the diminutive Davey. His childish speech was not always distinct, but (…) whether or not one understood his lines, they nevertheless carried a strong appeal to one’s heart.
What are your thoughts on the name Davey? (Do like this spelling?)
P.S. The baby name Davey went on to reach peak usage in the mid-1950s, thanks to the Davy Crockett craze…
According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Venetia — which was the fastest-rising baby name of 1956 — saw its highest usage in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
What was drawing attention to the name during those years?
Pin-up model and actress Venetia (pronounced ven-EE-sha) Stevenson.
In August of 1955, several memorable photos of 17-year-old Venetia and her boyfriend, actor Russ Tamblyn, were published in Life magazine. (In all four photos, acrobatic Russ was upside-down, usually in mid-air.)
Russ & Venetia
Several months later, on Valentine’s Day of 1956, the couple got married at the Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes, California.
They were in the news again when they divorced in April of the following year.
In mid-1957, television host Ed Sullivan teamed up with Popular Photography magazine to find the “Most Photogenic Girl in the World.” The winner? Venetia Stevenson, who beat out 1,691 other contenders. She was presented with an award on an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show in early August, then featured on the cover of Popular Photography in September.
Venetia in “Popular Photography“
From 1958 to 1961, Venetia appeared on about a dozen TV shows (including Cheyenne, Colt .45, and 77 Sunset Strip) and in around 10 films (including one in which she co-starred with Audie Murphy).
She quit acting upon marrying Don Everly of The Everly Brothers in 1962. (She’d met Don and Phil on Ed Sullivan.)
Venetia Stevenson was born Joanna Venetia Invicta Stevenson in London in 1938 to film director Robert Stevenson and actress Anna Lee. (Her birth was reported in the papers, and there was a corresponding spike in the number of baby girls named Venetia in England and Wales that year.) The Stevenson family relocated to Hollywood in 1939.
The Latin word “Venetia” originally referred to an ancient region in northeastern Italy (roughly equivalent to the modern region of Veneto). The region was named after its inhabitants, the Veneti.
What are your thoughts on name Venetia?
P.S. During the 1960s, Venetia Stevenson and Don Everly welcomed three children: Stacy Dawn, Erin Invicta, and Edan Donald. Erin, who was in a tumultuous relationship with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose for several years, inspired Rose to write the hit song “Sweet Child o’ Mine” (1988).
P.P.S. Here’s a suspicious fact: In the spring of 1959, Don Everly and his first wife, Mary Sue, welcomed a baby named Venetia Ember. Where did her first name come from? “Venetia Stevenson, whom Don had met in New York when the brothers were there for an Ed Sullivan gig in 1957.”
Several of the above are non-traditional spellings of more common names such as Antoine, Donald, Melanie, and Yvonne.
Of all the ONE names above, which one do you like most? Let me know in the comments!
P.S. You might also want to check out names with a numerological value of 1, or names starting with the letter I, as the Roman numeral I (“unus” in Latin) has a value of 1. Here are long lists of girl names and boy names starting with I.
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