How popular is the baby name Dorothy 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 Dorothy.

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Popularity of the baby name Dorothy


Posts that mention the name Dorothy

What gave the baby name Harolyn a boost in 1945?

Harolyn, 1945

The baby name Harolyn saw peak usage in the U.S. in 1945:

  • 1947: 28 baby girls named Harolyn
  • 1946: 19 baby girls named Harolyn
  • 1945: 45 baby girls named Harolyn
    • 13 born in New York
    • 6 born in Pennsylvania
  • 1944: 12 baby girls named Harolyn
  • 1943: 13 baby girls named Harolyn

Why?

Because of a pint-sized beauty queen from New Jersey named Harolyn Cheryl Meyer.

It all started the year before, in May of 1944, when the men aboard the USS New Jersey (at that time involved in WWII and stationed near the Philippines) decided to hold a beauty contest. The crew “wrote to the New Jersey state Chamber of Commerce proposing a pinup contest among girls from the state whose pictures would be posted on the battleship’s bulletin boards.”

On May 17th, the request was published in the Newark Evening News. The crew soon ended up with about 75 entrants. All of them were young women…except for one. The odd one out was a smiling 5-month-old baby in her birthday suit.

That was baby Harolyn Meyer, born in December of 1943. The photo had been taken for her father, Army Air Forces pilot Lieutenant Harold Meyer, who hadn’t yet seen her. Harold’s Flying Fortress had recently been shot down over Europe, and he was being held as a prisoner of war in Germany.

The photo was submitted by Harolyn’s mother’s mother, who thought entering the baby’s picture in a pin-up contest as a joke would lift her daughter’s spirits.

The crew of the USS New Jersey took a vote in November, and, surprisingly, Harolyn won the contest with 555 out of 1,376 votes. One crewmember later suggested that “his fellow seamen may have been captivated by the photograph of the infant because she reminded them of home and family.”

In December, Mrs. Meyer was notified by letter that Harolyn had become the ship’s official pin-up girl. The win was also announced in the papers.

More importantly, though, an updated photo of Harolyn — now 15 months old — ran on the front pages of various newspapers starting in March of 1945. (The photo appeared as late as July in some papers.) It showed Harolyn and her mother meeting with New Jersey governor Walter E. Edge, who was presenting Harolyn with $3,200 in War Bonds “through donations by the crew of the USS New Jersey for use in obtaining her future education.”

What are your thoughts on the baby name Harolyn?

Sources:

  • Journal Page 7b – Battleship USS New Jersey BB-62
  • “Bonds for Pin-up Baby.” Record [Hackensack, New Jersey] 16 Mar. 1945: 1.
  • “Pinup Baby Given War Bonds” Mount Dora Topic 17 May 1945: 1.
  • “Pin-up Girl Poses in Birthday Suit.” News-Press [Fort Myers, FL] 14 Dec. 1944: 2.

P.S. A secondary influence on this name may have been Harolyn (b. 1943), the daughter of Dorothy Dandridge and Harold Nicholas.

P.P.S. Harolyn’s middle name, Cheryl, was very on-trend for the mid-1940s.

Babies named for Dovima

Fashion model Dovima (1927-1990) in the movie "Funny Face" (1957)
Dovima

The rare name Dovima has never appeared in the U.S. baby name data. But it has popped up a few times in the birth records:

  • Dovima R. Sanchez (born in 1956 in California)
  • Dovima M. Tom (b. 1959, California)
  • Dovima M. Ayers (b. 1959, Vermont)

I think their shared first name was inspired by one of the highest-paid fashion models of the 1950s — and the very first model to go by a single name — Dovima.

Dovima worked with photographers like Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon (who called her “the last of the great elegant, aristocratic beauties”). Her photographs appeared in magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Notably, she also had a small role in the romantic comedy Funny Face (1957), which starred Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.

How did she come to have her single name?

She was born Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba in New York City in 1927. She spent several years of her childhood bedridden with rheumatic fever, and, during that time, invented the name “Dovima” (from the first letters of her three given names: Dorothy, Virginia, Margaret) for an imaginary friend.

What are your thoughts on the name Dovima?

P.S. Another three-in-one name I’ve blogged about is Louvima.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Funny Face

[Latest update: Sept. 2024]

What turned Sway into a baby name in 2001?

The character Sway from the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000)
Sara “Sway” Wayland from “Gone in 60 Seconds”

The word Sway popped up for the first time in the U.S. baby name data in 2001:

  • 2003: 14 baby girls and 5 baby boys named Sway
  • 2002: 12 baby girls named Sway
  • 2001: 8 baby girls named Sway [debut]
  • 2000: unlisted
  • 1999: unlisted

For a long time I assumed the main influence was MTV personality Sway Calloway. But, while I still think Sway had an influence on male usage, I’ve since discovered a much better explanation for the 2001 debut as a female name.

One of the main characters in the 2000 car heist film Gone in 60 Seconds was mechanic-slash-bartender Sara “Sway” Wayland (played by Angelina Jolie). She was the love interest of protagonist Randall “Memphis” Raines (played by Nicolas Cage), who was tasked with stealing 50 specific, expensive cars inside of 72 hours.

The film didn’t get great reviews, but I do remember appreciating the fact that each of the 50 cars was assigned a feminine code-name:

Mary, Barbara, Lindsey, Laura, Alma, Madeline, Patricia, Carol, Daniela, Stefanie, Erin, Pamela, Olga, Anne, Kate, Vanessa, Denise, Diane, Lisa, Nadine, Angelina, Rose, Susan, Tracey, Rachel, Bernadene, Deborah, Stacey, Josephine, Hillary, Kimberley, Renee, Dorothy, Donna, Samantha, Ellen, Gabriela, Shannon, Jessica, Sharon, Tina, Marsha, Natalie, Virginia, Tanya, Grace, Ashley, Cathy, Lynn, Eleanor

So, how do you feel about the name Sway? If you were having a baby girl, would you be more likely to name her something modern, like Sway, or something traditional, like Sara or Susan?

Sources: Gone in 60 Seconds (2000 film) – Wikipedia, Talk:Gone in 60 Seconds (2000 film) – Wikipedia

Where did the baby name Stanja come from in 1963?

Actress Stanja Lowe on an episode of "My Three Sons" (October, 1962)
Stanja Lowe on “My Three Sons“

The unusual name Stanja was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data during the 1960s:

  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: unlisted
  • 1963: 6 baby girls named Stanja [debut]
  • 1962: unlisted
  • 1961: unlisted

Where did it come from?

TV actress Stanja Lowe — though it’s impossible to link the debut to a single TV appearance, as Stanja could be seen on multiple shows (Perry Mason, My Three Sons, Dr. Kildare, etc.) from 1962 to 1963.

She was born in Cleveland in 1929 with the name Sidney Stanja Lowe.

Her father, K. Elmo Lowe, was an actor and director with the Cleveland Play House from the early ’20s to the late ’60s; her mother, Dorothy Paxton, was an actress. (Her parents called each other “K” and “Paxton.”)

Stanja’s first name was sometimes misspelled “Stanya” in credits, and by the press.

I’m not certain about the etymology of Stanja, but my wild guess is Czech, based on the fact that I found it used as a character name in a play by Austrian-Bohemian writer Franz Werfel (who also wrote The Song of Bernadette).

What are your thoughts on the name Stanja?

Sources: Stanja Lowe – IMDb, SSA
Image: Screenshot of My Three Sons