How popular is the baby name Grizelda 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 Grizelda.

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Popularity of the baby name Grizelda


Posts that mention the name Grizelda

What brought the baby name Valleri back in 1968?

The Monkees performing the song "Valleri" on their TV series (1966-1968)
The Monkees performing “Valleri”

The name Valleri both re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data and reached peaked usage in 1968:

  • 1970: 5 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1969: 6 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1968: 17 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted

Why?

Because of the song “Valleri” by The Monkees.

It was introduced to TV audiences in February of 1967, during an episode of the band’s self-titled NBC sitcom. In the closing credits, the song’s title was spelled “Valerie”:

Song title spelled "Valerie" (Feb. 1967)

Two months later, the song was featured in another episode. This time around, the title was spelled “Valleri”:

Song title spelled "Valleri" (Apr. 1967)

I don’t know why the name’s spelling was changed, but I do know that it referred to a real person: a girl who the song’s co-writer, Bobby Hart, had been enamored with as a teenager.

The Monkees’ record label hadn’t planned to include “Valleri” on an album (due in part to contractual issues), but several disc jockeys began playing bootleg recordings on the radio, and the song became popular with listeners. This prompted the label to re-record “Valleri” for the 1968 album The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees.

In February of 1968 — a year after debuting on television — “Valleri” [vid] finally came out as a single. It peaked at #3 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart the following month.

What are your thoughts on the name Valleri? (Which spelling do you prefer?)

P.S. The other song introduced in that February 1967 episode of The Monkees was “Your Auntie Grizelda.”

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of The Monkees (episodes from Feb. and Apr. 1967)

From Patient Griselda to Auntie Grizelda

The Monkees' album "More of the Monkees" (1967)
The Monkees album

On Monday afternoon, my husband randomly acquired free tickets to a Monkees concert. So that’s what we did Monday night. :)

I’m not a huge Monkees fan, but I did grow up watching Monkees reruns on television, so I happen to know a lot of their songs.

And one of the songs they played, called “Your Auntie Grizelda,” reminded of an interesting fact.

Did you know that the name Griselda (the original spelling of Grizelda) is sometimes used as a synonym for patience? Specifically, the name represents “the ideal of a patient, uncomplaining wife.” The connection comes from medieval folklore:

The allusion is to the heroine called Griselda (or Patient Griselda) who features in the final tale of the Decameron (1351-53) by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75) and also in “The Clerk’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387) by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400). Griselda is depicted as the wife of a rich nobleman, who tests her faithfulness to him by pretending that he has killed their children and is preparing to marry another woman: she patiently remains true to her vows and is ultimately rewarded when her husband admits his deception. If he thinks he has married a Griselda who will put up with his infidelities, he will soon discover that he is sorely mistaken.

(Here’s the English translation of the story of Griselda as it appears in the Decameron, if you’d like to read it.)

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt twisted the reference a bit by calling her periodic bouts of depression her “Griselda mood,” in honor of the long-suffering Griselda.

Where does the name Griselda come from? The Italian version is thought to be based on a Germanic name made up of the elements gris, “grey,” and hild, “battle.”

What are your thoughts on the name Griselda?

Sources:

  • Manser, Martin H. The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions. New York: Facts on File, 2008.
  • Marton, Kati. Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History. New York: Random House, 2010.