How popular is the baby name Frederick 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 Frederick.

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Popularity of the baby name Frederick


Posts that mention the name Frederick

What popularized the baby name Mariah in the early 1990s?

Mariah Carey's self-titled debut album (1990)
Mariah Carey album

This post is ultimately about Mariah Carey, but, before we get to her, let’s start with some backstory regarding the name Mariah…

In 1941, the bestselling book Storm by author George R. Stewart was published. The book — innovative for its time — featured an extratropical cyclone as a protagonist. And that cyclone had a name: “Maria.” (A junior meteorologist in the story gave female names to all the storms he tracked.)

Stewart wished for the name Maria to be pronounced mah-RYE-ah (as opposed to mah-REE-ah), according to the book’s introduction:

Another little point — although I don’t really care particularly, still I always thought of Maria and pronounced the name in the old-fashioned English and American way. The soft Spanish pronunciation is fine for some heroines, but our Maria here is too big for any man to embrace and much too boisterous. So put the accent on the second syllable, and pronounce it “rye.”

The book "Storm" (1941) by George Stewart.
“Storm” by George Stewart

A decade later, songwriting team Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe were inspired by the book to write the wistful ballad “They Call the Wind Maria” — which retained that mah-RYE-ah pronunciation. The song was featured in their musical Paint Your Wagon, which ran on Broadway from November of 1951 to July of 1952.

Nearly two decades after that, in late 1969, a movie version of Paint Your Wagon (starring Clint Eastwood) came out. In the film, the song “They Call the Wind Maria” [vid] was sung by Harve Presnell.

Several months later, in March of 1970, future pop star Mariah Carey was born in New York to a former opera singer (mother) and an aeronautical engineer (father). Her parents decided to name her after the song, but added an “h” in order to emphasize the nonstandard mah-RYE-ah pronunciation.

Carey kicked off her prodigious singing career with a string of #1 hits: “Vision of Love” (1990), “Love Takes Time” (1990), “Someday” (1991), “I Don’t Wanna Cry” (1991), and “Emotions” (1991). Her success on the charts popularized the baby name Mariah during the early 1990s:

  • 1993: 4,092 baby girls named Mariah [rank: 81st]
  • 1992: 4,711 baby girls named Mariah [rank: 74th]
  • 1991: 5,192 baby girls named Mariah [rank: 69th]
  • 1990: 1,103 baby girls named Mariah [rank: 259th]
  • 1989: 399 baby girls named Mariah [rank: 562nd]
  • 1988: 424 baby girls named Mariah [rank: 521st]

The name Mariah was one of the top 100 girl names in the U.S. from 1991 to 2001, and again from 2005 to 2011.

So, in a sense, the thousands of babies named for Mariah Carey in the early 1990s actually have a fictional storm from the early 1940s to thank for their name.

But that’s not all. The book Storm also “helped to popularize the idea of naming hurricanes,” so it had a hand in naming Barbara, Hazel, Andrew, and all the other babies with hurricane-inspired names.

What are your thoughts on the name Mariah?

P.S. In the Broadway musical Hamilton, the first name of Alexander Hamilton’s mistress Maria Reynolds is pronounced mah-RYE-ah. Regarding this pronunciation, playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda cites historian Ron Chernow, who stated in his book Alexander Hamilton (2004) that Maria’s name was “probably pronounced ‘Mariah.'”

Sources:

Where did the baby name Anzac come from in the 1910s?

ANZAC poster (portion)

I didn’t know that Anzac Day existed until a few days ago, when I read about people named Anzac at the blog Waltzing More Than Matilda.

Anzac Day is celebrated in both Australia and New Zealand every April 25.

ANZAC stands for “Australian and New Zealand Army Corps” — the group of soldiers Australia and New Zealand sent to fight in WWI’s Gallipoli Campaign, which began on April 25, 1915.

The campaign failed, but the efforts of these soldiers gave the two fledgling nations a much-needed sense of identity, and pride.

As a baby name, “Anzac” has been used more often as a middle name than as a first name, and it’s given more often to boys than to girls.

Here are some specifics on the usage of Anzac (and Gallipoli, and Dardanelles) courtesy of the National Library of Australia:

In Victoria for instance, in 1915, seven children were given the name Anzac, one with the name Gallipoli and 24 with Dardanelles or a variation. However, 1916 was the boom year with 153 children named ‘Anzac’ before a rapid drop to just five in 1917, three in 1918, four in 1919 and four in 1920.

All other states also recorded the births of Anzacs with South Australia having 95 named children between 30 May 1915 and 25 April 1928. 24 registrations were made in 1915. This nearly doubled to 46 in 1916 but dropped to just two in 1917, eight in 1918, five in 1919 and a trickle of others to just one born on Anzac Day in 1928. In addition one child in South Australia in each of the years 1915, 1916 and 1918 was named Gallipoli whereas the name Dardanella or similar was given to 19, 43, 10 and four in each of the years 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918 respectively.

Across the ditch in New Zealand there was a similar trend. In 1915 there were nine children named Anzac with two as first names, four with the name of Gallipoli (one as first name) and 38 with the name of Dardanelles, Dardanella or similar. The following year again saw a relative spike in numbers with 97 children now named Anzac (six as first name), four with the name Gallipoli (one as first) and 32 with the name of Dardanelles or a variation.

Here are some WWI-era examples of given names that include “Anzac” (stolen from the Waltzing More Than Matilda post, with some details added by me):

GirlsBoys
Alma Anzac Myrtle (b. 1916)Anzac Gallipoli Claude (b. 1916)
Annie AnzacAnzac Kitchener
Anzac Cavel VerdonLalbert Anzac
Clover AnzacValentine Anzac
Dardandella Anzac (b. 1916)Vivian Anzac Jasper
Maple AnzacWilliam Anzac France (b. 1916)
Verdun Anzac Jane (b. 1917; went by “Verna”)Winston Anzac (b. 1916)

And here are a few extra examples of WWI-era Anzacs:

So…is “Anzac” still an appropriate name for a baby, now that we’re in the 21st century?

Some people don’t think so.

In 2004, Melbourne couple Reimana Pirika and Gaylene George (of New Zealand and Australia, respectively) decided to name their newborn son Anzac. This angered veterans, who saw it as improper use of the acronym.

Australian politician Danna Vale’s opinion was pretty interesting:

She said that after World War I some children were named Anzac in the “spirit of the times”.

“Over the passage of time views have changed, and I, too, encourage the family to consider the concerns of the ex-service community on the use of Anzac as a child’s name.”

Ms. Vale said she would speak to the RSL about action that could be taken to stop Anzac being used as a name.

Are certain baby names only appropriate in the “spirit of the times”? Do they become inappropriate after too many years/generations have elapsed? What do you think?

Sources:

Image: Coloured illustration of Anzac troops after the fighting at Gallipoli during World War I, State Library of Queensland

Baby nearly named Bandoline Fixatrice

Here’s something interesting I found in a newspaper from 1885:

The Rev. Frederick George Lee, the well known ritualistic rector of All Souls’, Lambeth, England, writes that he had a child presented to him recently for baptism; and when he said to the parents and sponsors, “Name the child,” the answer was, “Bandoline Fixatrice.” The father was a barber and thought no prettier name could be found than the cosmetic in question. The clergyman, of course, refused to baptize the baby girl by that name and the parents had to be content with the homely name of Mary Ann.

First, I should note that Rev. Frederick George Lee was the vicar of All Saints’ Church in Lambeth, not All Souls’. Splitting hairs, perhaps…

Speaking of hairs, what is this strangely named cosmetic called “bandoline fixatrice”?

Bandoline advertisement, 1921
Bandoline ad, 1921

Turns out it was just called “bandoline” and it was used as a hair fixative, not unlike today’s gels and mousses.

One 1891 newspaper told women that “belles must use bandoline” in order to achieve the fashionable curls of the day.

But bandoline wasn’t just for the ladies. Men used it too. And it wasn’t just for the hair on your head, but also for taming unruly eyebrows and mustaches.

Usage of bandoline began in the mid-1800s, back when it was made by boiling quince seeds in water. Here’s one recipe:

Grandmother’s Bandoline

3/4 of a dram of quince seed.
1/4 pint of hot water.
1/4 ounce of rose water.
3 drops of oil of cloves.
3 drops of oil of lavender.
3 drops of essence of violet.

Soak the seeds over night in the hot water, putting them in a bowl at the back of the stove. Into the rose water put the perfumed oils and the violet essence. Then mingle the perfumery with the mucilage made of the seeds and water, straining it previously.

Later on (late 1800s and early 1900s) commercial versions like Jackson’s Bandoline and Owl Bandoline became available.

After the 1920s, bandoline fell out of fashion.

So, what do you think of the word “bandoline” as a given name? Is it better or worse than the name Mary?

Sources:

  • Mixter, Margaret. “Keeping Hair in Curl During Hot Weather.” Daily True American 21 Jul. 1906: 8.
  • “Religious Notes.” Brooklyn Eagle 22 Feb. 1885: 10.
  • “The Girl with a Curl.” Pittsburgh Press 1 Nov. 1891: 11.
  • Walsh, John Henry. A Manual of Domestic Economy. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1874.

Wisconsin family with 22 children

Some of the Schoville family of Wisconsin (in 1950)
Some of the Schoville family (in 1950)

Fred and Edith Schoville of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, had their first child in 1926, their last in 1952, and 20 in between. That’s a total of 22 children. All were single births.

Here are the names of all 22, plus as many of the birth years as I could verify.

  1. Marjorie Maxine (born in 1925)
  2. Freddie (b. 1926)
  3. Lola Jean (b. 1928)
  4. Betty Lavonne (b. 1929)
  5. Marlin Dwayne (b. 1932)
  6. Phyllis Marie (b. 1933)
  7. Donna Mae (b. 1934)
  8. Annabelle
  9. Patsy L.
  10. Larry Lee (b. 1938)
  11. Janice P. (b. 1939)
  12. Sharon H.
  13. Frederick P. (b. 1941)
  14. Susan Kay (b. 1942)
  15. Ronald A.
  16. Robert A. (b. 1945)
  17. Karen C. (b. 1946)
  18. Linda Lou (b. 1947)
  19. Gary G. (b. 1948)
  20. Charles William (b. 1949)
  21. Steven (b. 1951)
  22. Randy Joe (b. 1952)

More than half of the Schoville children are listed on the 1950 U.S. Census:

The Schoville family on the 1950 U.S. Census
The Schoville family (1950 U.S. Census)

Which girl name is your favorite? How about boy name?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Spokane Daily Chronicle (18 Apr. 1950)

[Latest update: Oct. 2024]