How popular is the baby name Elvis 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 Elvis.

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Popularity of the baby name Elvis


Posts that mention the name Elvis

What popularized the baby name Deborah?

Actress Deborah Kerr in the movie "Black Narcissus" (1947)

Right on the heels of Cheryl, the baby name Deborah skyrocketed in usage during the late ’40s and early ’50s:

  • 1952: 49,808 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 4th]
  • 1951: 42,060 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 4th]
  • 1950: 29,067 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 7th]
  • 1949: 19,208 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 15th]
  • 1948: 11,245 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 30th]
  • 1947: 5,838 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 62nd]
  • 1946: 2,470 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 119th]
  • 1945: 1,464 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 161st]
  • 1944: 1,293 baby girls named Deborah [rank: 168th]

It peaked at 2nd place (behind Mary) in 1955.

Deborah, based on the ancient Hebrew word for “bee,” had already been on a slow and steady rise. So what fueled the explosion?

I’d say the one-two punch of actresses Deborah Kerr and Debra Paget.

Scottish-born Deborah Kerr, who had been in films since the early 1940s, didn’t became one of the biggest names in Hollywood until later in the decade. (Her surname rhymes with car; MGM cleverly came up with the line, “Kerr rhymes with star.”)

Kerr ended up in some of the most financially successful movies of the era, such as King Solomon’s Mines (1950), Quo Vadis (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), and The King and I (1956) with Yul Brynner.

Denver-born* Debra Paget, a starlet of the 1950s, also appeared in some big films such as the top-grossing movie of the decade, The Ten Commandments (1956). The same year she appeared opposite Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender (1956).

Though many variants of Deborah were being used around that time, Debra saw particular success, thanks to Paget. In fact, Debra surpassed Deborah in usage for five years in a row:

Girls named DebraGirls named Deborah
196122,153 [rank: 13th]24,095 [rank: 10th]
196026,737 [rank: 8th]25,265 [rank: 10th]
195931,371 [rank: 7th]19,553 [rank: 9th]
195835,520 [rank: 6th]32,940 [rank: 7th]
195742,734 [rank: 4th]40,062 [rank: 6th]
195648,299 [rank: 2nd]47,830 [rank: 4th]
195550,541 [rank: 4th]52,314 [rank: 2nd]
195445,894 [rank: 6th]54,685 [rank: 3rd]
195336,856 [rank: 7th]52,188 [rank: 3rd]
195226,832 [rank: 9th]49,808 [rank: 4th]
195117,074 [rank: 18th]42,060 [rank: 4th]

(Interesting fact: One of the babies named for Debra Paget was future actress Debra Winger, born in 1955.)

The occupational surname Paget, a diminutive form of the word page (a “youth employed as a personal attendant to a person of rank”), was also appearing in the SSA’s data as a girl around this time. It debuted in 1948, the year Debra Paget appeared in her first film, Cry of the City.

Which spelling do you prefer, the traditional Deborah or the streamlined Debra?

Sources: Deborah Kerr – Wikipedia, Debra Paget – Wikipedia, Page – Online Etymology Dictionary

Popular and unique baby names in Iowa, 2016

Flag of Iowa
Flag of Iowa

I love that the Social Security Administration releases so much baby name data to the public. But I’ve always had mixed feelings about that 5-baby threshold for inclusion. (Due to privacy concerns, the government doesn’t release names given to fewer than 5 babies per gender, per year.)

Part of me appreciates the threshold. For instance, I like that it adds significance to the pop culture-inspired debut names I’m always posting about, as these names had to hit a certain minimum level of usage in order to register in the data.

But the other part of me? The other part just really, really wants to see those rare/crazy names at the bottom of the list.

So I get excited when I find U.S. data from an official source that does go down to single-instance usage. Up until recently, I only knew about Sonoma County and Los Angeles County, but recently I discovered that Iowa (an entire state!) also releases down-to-1 baby name data. Yay!

But before we get to the rare names, let’s look at the state of Iowa’s top baby names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Olivia, 203 baby girls
2. Emma, 181
3. Charlotte, 158
4. Harper, 156
5. Ava & Evelyn, 148 each (2-way tie)
6. Amelia, 125
7. Nora, 123
8. Sophia, 112
9. Addison, 101
10. Grace, 96

Boy Names
1. Oliver, 197 baby boys
2. Owen, 178
3. William, 174
4. Wyatt, 170
5. Henry, 165
6. Liam, 159
7. Noah, 149
8. Benjamin, 148
9. Jackson, 144
10. Lincoln, 123

  • In the girls’ top 10, Addison and Grace replaced Avery.
  • In the boys’ top 10, Benjamin and Lincoln replaced Mason and Elijah.
  • In 2015, the top two names were Emma and Liam.

(The SSA rankings for Iowa are similar, but not exactly the same. One notable difference on is that the SSA ranks Grayson 10th on the boys list, and puts Lincoln down in 13th.)

And now for the rarities!

Iowa’s website offers interactive baby name usage graphs that include all names bestowed at least once from 2000 to 2016. Here’s a sampling of rare baby names in Iowa (2000-2016 usage):

Girl NamesBoy Names
Arabia (1)
Bishop (1)
Currency (1)
Dream (3)
Eros (1)
Fairy (1)
Gatsby (1)
Heritage (1)
Irish (5)
Jasper (1)
KeyEssence (1)
Lisbon (1)
Michigan (1)
Nirvana (3)
Orchid (1)
PairoDice (1)
Qy (1)
Reminisce (1)
Scully (1)
Tear (1)
Unity (4)
Veruca (1)
Windy (2)
Xanadu (1)
Yawh (1)
Zinnia (1)		Arcade (1)
Banksy (1)
Cactus (1)
Denali (2)
Elvis (18)
Fonzy (1)
Galaxy (1)
Helium (1)
Indigo (2)
Jeep (3)
Kal-El (3)
Lightning (1)
Mowgli (1)
Notorious (1)
Opttimus (1)
Player (1)
Quest (3)
Racer (3)
Sanctify (1)
Tavern (1)
Universe (1)
Vegas (1)
Winner (4)
Xyn (1)
Young-Sky (1)
Zealand (1)

If you decide to dig through the data, leave a comment and let me know what you spot!

And if you’re friends with any expectant parents in Iowa, tell those lucky ducks that they have access to full sets of baby name rankings for their state. Either send them a link to this post or to one of the pages below…

Sources: Top Baby Names – Iowa Department of Public Health, Baby Names Popularity Over Time – Iowa Department of Public Health

Image: Adapted from Flag of Iowa (public domain)

Pop culture baby name game, 2017

pop culture baby name game 2017

It’s time for the annual Pop Culture Baby Name Game!

This year we’re kicking things off January 8th, the birthday of Elvis Presley! (He was born in 1935 and would have been 83 today.)

So how do you play the game? Just brainstorm for baby names that could have gotten a boost in usage in 2017 thanks to the influence popular culture: movies, music, television, social media, video games, sports, politics, products, trends, and so forth.

Here are the names we’ve come up with so far:

  • Amilyn – movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi (stolen from Abby)
  • Antiope – movie Wonder Woman
  • Asahd – son of DJ Khaled (suggested by alex)
  • Asperitas – a new type of cloud (suggested by elbowin)
  • Bea – rumored Beyoncé baby name
  • Bear – son of Liam Payne
  • Bilquis – TV show American Gods
  • Callum – move Assassin’s Creed
  • Cardi – rapper Cardi B
  • Carter – son of Beyoncé and Jay-Z (suggested by elbowin)
  • Chance – Chance The Rapper
  • Creeley – TV show Damnation
  • Darci Lynne – winner of America’s Got Talent
  • Eclipse – August solar eclipse
  • Eissa – son of Janet Jackson
  • Eleven – TV show Stranger Things
  • Fatima – 100th anniversary of Marian apparitions
  • Fenty – Rihanna’s company Fenty Beauty
  • Gal – actress Gal Godot
  • Gravity – daughter of fashion models Lucky Blue Smith (male) and Stormi Bree (female)
  • Grover – fictional baby born on TV show Girls
  • Halley – fictional baby born on TV show Big Bang Theory
  • Harvey – hurricane
  • Hela – movie Thor: Ragnarok
  • Irma – hurricane
  • Issa Rae – actress Issa Rae
  • Jacinda – New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern
  • Jumanji – movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
  • Jyn – movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
  • Kelsea – singer Kelsea Ballerini
  • Kendrick – rapper Kendrick Lamar
  • Kensli – daughter of Chance the Rapper (suggested by alex)
  • Kenzo – son of Kevin Hart
  • Laureline – movie Valerian
  • Libratus – artificial intelligence (suggested by elbowin)
  • Mahershala – actor Mahershala Ali
  • Maren – singer Maren Morris
  • Mika – news presenter Mika Brzezinski (suggested by alex)
  • Ovince – MMA competitor Ovince Saint Preux
  • Poppy – singer Poppy; movie Trolls
  • Ragnarok – movie Thor: Ragnarok
  • Revel – son of actors Matthew and Renee Morrison
  • Rumi – daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z
  • Saffie – victim of Manchester bombing (suggested by elbowin)
  • Sally – former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates
  • Saoirse – actress Saoirse Ronan
  • Shadow – TV show American Gods
  • Shawn – rumored Beyoncé baby name
  • Shayla – beauty influencer Shayla Mitchell
  • Sir – son of Beyoncé and Jay-Z
  • Sonequa – actress Sonequa Martin-Green
  • Sovereign – daughter of Cam Newton
  • Strummer – son of Julia Stiles
  • Sturgill – musician Sturgill Simpson
  • Sza – singer SZA
  • Tenney – doll/character Tenney Grant (full name: “Tennyson Evangeline”)
  • Totality – August solar eclipse
  • Valerian – movie Valerian
  • Valkyrie – movie Thor: Ragnarok
  • Yulin – San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz (suggested by elbowin)
  • Zaya – movie Gods of Egypt (stolen from Maybe it is Daijir?)
  • Zelle – payment app

Have any additions to make? Comment below! Just don’t forget to mention the pop culture influence.

The SSA will release the next batch of baby name data in May, so I will post the results to the game a few days after that 2017 data becomes available.

If you don’t want to miss the results post, please subscribe to NBN by entering your email address into the “Get New Posts via Email” form in the sidebar.

P.S. Have some ideas for 2018? Comment with those too — I’ll add them to next year’s game. One addition I just made: Grayson, for the winter storm. (Here’s a Massachusetts baby named Grayson, and a Maine baby possibly named Grayson.)

What popularized the baby name Clint in the 1950s?

Actor Clint Walker as character Cheyenne Bodie in the TV series "Cheyenne" (1955-1963).
Clint Walker in “Cheyenne“

The name Clint was already moderately popular in the early 1950s, but usage increased considerably in middle of the decade:

  • 1959: 482 baby boys named Clint (rank: 357th)
  • 1958: 476 baby boys named Clint (rank: 350th)
  • 1957: 397 baby boys named Clint (rank: 385th)
  • 1956: 257 baby boys named Clint (rank: 470th)
  • 1955: 116 baby boys named Clint (rank: 681st)
  • 1954: 79 baby boys named Clint (rank: 813th)
  • 1953: 108 baby boys named Clint (rank: 688th)
  • 1952: 83 baby boys named Clint (rank: 772nd)
  • 1951: 79 baby boys named Clint (rank: 792nd)
  • 1950: 60 baby boys named Clint (rank: 886th)

The reason for the rise?

My money’s on Clint Walker, the actor who played the part of Cheyenne Bodie in the successful TV Western Cheyenne (1955-1963), which happened to be television’s first hour-long Western.

Cheyenne Bodie was “a former frontier scout who drifts through the old West, traveling without any particular motivation from one adventure to another.”

The series was held together not so much by its premise as by its charismatic star, Clint Walker, who rose from obscurity to become one of the icons of the TV western. With his powerful physique and towering height, Walker commanded the small screen through sheer presence; his performance gained gravity simply from the way his body dominated the screen.

According to the Nielsen ratings, Cheyenne was a top-20 series for three seasons straight (1957-58, 1958-59, and 1959-60).

The show also boosted the male usage of Cheyenne during the second half of the 1950s and through most of the 1960s.

But I should mention that Clint Walker and Cheyenne are only part of the story, as several other gun-slinging Clints also emerged around this time:

  • Clint Tollinger, a character played by Robert Mitchum in the movie Man with the Gun (1955).
  • Clint Reno, a character played by Elvis Presley in the movie Love Me Tender (1956).
  • Clint Travis, a character played by and Paul “Kelo” Henderson in the TV series 26 Men (1957-1959).

There was also a non-gun-slinging teenager named Clint in the short Micky Mouse Club serial The Adventures of Clint and Mac (most episodes aired in January of 1958).

The rise of Clint didn’t continue into the ’60s, despite a continued Clint presence in pop culture:

  • Clint Eastwood, the actor who played Rowdy Yates on the TV series Rawhide (1959-1966).
  • Clint McCoy, a character played by Rory Calhoun in the movie Young Fury (1965).

But usage picked back up in the ’70s. Clint saw peak popularity in 1980. These days, usage is roughly back down to pre-Cheyenne levels.

Do you like the name Clint? Would you use it for your baby boy?

Source: Cheyenne, U.S. Western – The Museum of Broadcast Communications