How popular is the baby name Eric 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 Eric.

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Popularity of the baby name Eric


Posts that mention the name Eric

Baby name story: Tangiene

Title of the TV series "Popcorn Playhouse" (1961-1978)
“Popcorn Playhouse“

In the 1960s and ’70s, the children’s TV program Popcorn Playhouse aired live on weekday afternoons in Edmonton, Canada. The show was set in a faux log cabin (complete with a wall-mounted moose head) and hosted by a man called “Klondike Eric.”

Each episode of Popcorn Playhouse featured 36 local children, each of whom was briefly interviewed.

In 1972, one of the children on the show was 10-year-old Tangyne (pronounced tan-jeen) Taylor. After introducing herself, Tangyne was asked to repeat her unusual name several times.

Watching that particular episode at home (along with her three daughters) was an Edmonton mom who liked the sound of the name Tangyne. She liked it so much, in fact, that she decided she would name her next baby girl Tangyne.

That baby girl came along in 1975, and she did indeed get the name. In her case, though, it was spelled Tangiene.

This past January, nearly 50 years later, Tangyne Berry (née Taylor) — now living in St. John’s and working at Memorial University of Newfoundland — was a guest on a local radio show.

Tangiene Poholko — now also living in St. John’s, and also working at Memorial University — was alerted by co-workers that a woman on the radio happened to have her very uncommon name.

So Tangiene found Tangyne on Facebook and sent her a message. It didn’t take them long to figure out that one was the namesake of the other. (Here’s a video of them telling the story.)

So, how did the original Tangyne come to have her name? Her birth occurred early in the morning, so her father — who was born in Wales, but grew up in England — chose the name Tangyne, which he claimed meant “rising of the sun” in Welsh.

So far, I haven’t found any Welsh words that resemble Tangyne. (The word for “sunrise,” for instance, is codiad haul. Words meaning “daybreak” include cyfddydd and gwawr.)

But I am very curious about the impact of Popcorn Playhouse on Edmonton-area baby names during the 1960s and ’70s. Unfortunately, very few recordings of the show exist, and Alberta’s baby name data only goes back to 1980. So if you happen to know anyone who was named after a kid on Popcorn Playhouse, please leave a comment!

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Popcorn Playhouse

What turned Blade into a baby name in the early 1980s?

The character Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) from the movie "Blade Runner" (1982)
Rick Deckard from “Blade Runner”

The name Blade first emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 1982:

  • 1984: 8 baby boys named Blade
  • 1983: unlisted
  • 1982: 7 baby boys named Blade [debut]
  • 1981: unlisted
  • 1980: unlisted

Why?

I think the influence was the 1982 movie Blade Runner, which was based on the dystopian sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick.

The movie was set in Los Angeles in 2019. The main character, Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford), worked as a “blade runner” — a police officer tasked with tracking down and killing genetically-engineered humans known as “replicants” (which were designed to work in space colonies, but sometimes escaped to Earth).

This is one of several cases in which a baby name seems to have been inspired by a movie title as opposed to a movie character. Another example is Seattle, which debuted the year after Sleepless in Seattle came out.

The baby name Blade went on to see a steep rise in usage during the first half of the 1990s, no doubt thanks to the Young and the Restless character Alexander “Blade” Bladeson (played by Michael Tylo). The character appeared on the soap opera from early 1992 to late 1995.

The character Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) from the movie "Blade" (1998)
Blade from “Blade”

Blade never managed to crack the boys’ top 1,000, but it did reach and maintain its highest level of popularity from the mid-’90s through the first years of the 2000s.

  • 2003: 89 baby boys named Blade
  • 2002: 112 baby boys named Blade (peak popularity)
  • 2001: 103 baby boys named Blade
  • 2000: 95 baby boys named Blade
  • 1999: 99 baby boys named Blade

During most of this period, the primary pop culture influence would have been the movie character Blade, who was featured in a trilogy of superhero/horror films: Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004).

Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) was an African-American dhampir (half-human, half-vampire) whose mission was to hunt and kill vampires. His birth name was Eric Brooks; his nickname was a reference to his proficiency with bladed weapons such as swords and daggers. (Like Black Panther, Blade originated as a Marvel comic book character.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Blade? Would you use it?

Sources: Blade Runner – Wikipedia, List of The Young and the Restless characters (1990s) – Wikipedia, Blade (character) – Wikipedia, Blade (Eric Brooks) – Marvel, SSA

Images: Screenshots of Blade Runner and Blade

Popular baby names in Spain, 2022

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

The country of Spain, which makes up most of Europe’s Iberian Peninsula, shares land borders with France, Andorra, and Portugal.

Last year, Spain welcomed 159,649 baby girls and 169,602 baby boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Lucia and Martin (again).

Here are Spain’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Lucia, 3,539 baby girls
  2. Sofia, 2,899
  3. Martina, 2,651
  4. Valeria, 2,580
  5. Maria, 2,443
  6. Julia, 2,240
  7. Paula, 1,912
  8. Emma, 1,864
  9. Olivia, 1,862
  10. Daniela, 1,661
  11. Carla, 1,655
  12. Alma, 1,619
  13. Mia, 1,614
  14. Carmen, 1,613
  15. Vega, 1,544
  16. Lola, 1,542
  17. Lara, 1,537
  18. Sara, 1,453
  19. Alba, 1,440
  20. Jimena, 1,410
  21. Noa, 1,397
  22. Chloe, 1,391
  23. Valentina, 1,365
  24. Claudia, 1,272
  25. Aitana, 1,110
  26. Ana, 1,042 (tie)
  27. Gala, 1,042 (tie)
  28. Vera, 1,029
  29. Abril, 1,028
  30. Alejandra, 1,024
  31. Triana, 997
  32. Manuela, 985
  33. Candela, 974
  34. Laia, 970
  35. Zoe, 908
  36. Ines, 901
  37. Adriana, 895
  38. Victoria, 873
  39. Elena, 868
  40. Blanca, 859
  41. Marina, 839
  42. Carlota, 798
  43. Marta, 708
  44. Clara, 705
  45. Luna, 703
  46. Nora, 699
  47. Lia, 683
  48. Rocio, 676
  49. Ariadna, 641
  50. Irene, 618

Boy Names

  1. Martin, 3,224 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 3,132
  3. Hugo, 3,074
  4. Leo, 2,752
  5. Lucas, 2,537
  6. Manuel, 2,491
  7. Alejandro, 2,281
  8. Pablo, 2,238
  9. Daniel, 2,237
  10. Alvaro, 1,938
  11. Enzo, 1,838
  12. Adrian, 1,683
  13. Luca, 1,677
  14. Diego, 1,540
  15. Thiago, 1,529
  16. Mario, 1,497
  17. Bruno, 1,471
  18. David, 1,389
  19. Oliver, 1,380
  20. Alex, 1,317
  21. Marcos, 1,274
  22. Gonzalo, 1,272
  23. Liam, 1,256
  24. Marco, 1,230
  25. Miguel, 1,226
  26. Izan, 1,220
  27. Antonio, 1,188
  28. Javier, 1,151
  29. Nicolas, 1,150
  30. Gael, 1,109
  31. Marc, 1,040
  32. Juan, 1,036
  33. Dario, 1,009
  34. Angel, 988
  35. Carlos, 977
  36. Jose, 956
  37. Gabriel, 945
  38. Dylan, 883
  39. Rodrigo, 865
  40. Adam, 796
  41. Samuel, 791
  42. Jorge, 775
  43. Jaime, 752
  44. Eric, 741 (tie)
  45. Sergio, 741 (tie)
  46. Pau, 685
  47. Guillermo, 684
  48. Francisco, 674
  49. Hector, 668
  50. Noah, 651

Home to more than 47 million people, Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities (including two island groups) and two autonomous cities (both in North Africa).

Map of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain
Spain’s 17 autonomous communities

The most popular baby names within each of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Andalusia
(17.8% of the population)		MariaManuel
Catalonia
(16.4% of pop.)		JuliaLeo
Madrid (community)
(14.3% of pop.)		LuciaMateo
Valencia (community)
(10.9% of pop.)		LuciaMateo
Galicia
(5.6% of pop.)		NoaMartin
Castile and León
(5.0% of pop.)		LuciaMartin
Basque Country
(4.6% of pop.)		AneMartin
Canary Islands
(4.6% of pop.)		ValeriaMateo
Castilla-La Mancha
(4.3% of pop.)		Lucia & Valeria (tie)Hugo
Murcia
(3.2% of pop.)		LuciaHugo
Aragon
(2.8% of pop.)		LuciaMartin
Balearic Islands
(2.5% of pop.)		MartinaMarc
Extremadura
(2.2% of pop.)		LuciaManuel
Asturias
(2.1% of pop.)		SofiaMartin
Navarre
(1.4% of pop.)		LuciaMateo
Cantabria
(1.2% of pop.)		LuciaMartin & Mateo (tie)
La Rioja
(0.7% of pop.)		LuciaMateo

And the #1 baby names within each of Spain’s two autonomous cities were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Melilla
(0.2% of pop.)		SaraMohamed & Rayan (tie)
Ceuta
(0.2% of pop.)		MariamMohamed

Finally, here’s a link to Spain’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Apellidos y nombres más frecuentes – INEbase, Estadística de nacimientos – INEbase, Population of Spain in 2023 by autonomous community – Statista, Spain – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Autonomous communities of Spain no names by Habbit under CC BY-SA 3.0.

What gave the baby name Marylou a boost in 1961?

Ricky Nelson's single "Hello Mary Lou" (1961).
“Hello Mary Lou” single

The baby name Marylou was generally on the decline during the second half of the 20th century, but there was a conspicuous spike in usage in 1961 specifically:

  • 1963: 207 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 708th]
  • 1962: 207 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 719th]
  • 1961: 300 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 580th]
  • 1960: 227 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 675th]
  • 1959: 223 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 670th]

You can see it on the graph:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Marylou in the United States since 1880
Usage of the baby name Marylou

What caused the spike?

The Ricky Nelson song “Hello Mary Lou” (1961), which peaked at #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in May of 1961.

It was written by Gene Pitney, but sounded enough like the earlier song “Merry, Merry Lou” [vid] by Cayet Mangiaracina that the two musicians are now credited as co-authors.

Here’s “Hello Mary Lou”:

The song was released as the B-side to Nelson’s #1 hit “Travelin’ Man.” It was also included on his sixth studio album, Rick Is 21.

That album title is notable because, on his 21st birthday, Nelson — born Eric Hilliard Nelson in 1940 — officially changed his recording name from “Ricky Nelson” to “Rick Nelson.”

The name change was a hard sell, though, because audiences had known him for so long as Ricky. He’d gone by “Ricky” on his family’s long-running sitcom, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (on radio and/or television from 1944 to 1966), and he’d continued to use “Ricky” when he launched his recording career in 1957. (His first five albums were called Ricky, Ricky Nelson, Ricky Sings Again, Songs by Ricky, and More Songs by Ricky.)

One of the ways he promoted his songs — “Hello Mary Lou” included — was by performing them at the end of weekly Ozzie and Harriet TV episodes. (Elvis Presley was a fan of these musical segments, incidentally.)

Getting back to Mary Lou…what are your thoughts on the compound name Marylou? Would you consider using it?

And, which song you like better: “Hello Mary Lou” from 1961, or “Mary Lou” from 1926?

Sources:

P.S. In April of 1963, Rick Nelson married 17-year-old Kristin Harmon. Later the same year, she began appearing regularly (as “Kris”) on Ozzie and Harriet. As a result, the names Kristin and Kris both saw increased usage in 1963.