How popular is the baby name Irene 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 Irene.
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The movie Fame, released In May of 1980, followed a group of teenagers attending a performing arts high school in New York City.
The movie was a success, but its theme song was even more of a success.
“Fame” the song — performed by one of the film’s young stars, Irene Cara (who played Coco Hernandez) — reached #1 on Billboard‘s Disco Action chart in August and #4 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in September. It even ended up winning the Oscar for Best Original Song.
And in 1981, for the first and only time, the unlikely name Fame made an appearance in the U.S. baby name data:
1983: unlisted
1982: unlisted
1981: 7 baby girls named Fame [debut]
1980: unlisted
1979: unlisted
(In the song, Cara sings the lyrics “remember my name” multiple times…could this line have acted as a subtle name-prompt to listeners?)
Neither Fame the TV show (1982-1987) nor Fame the movie remake (2009) managed to revive the baby name Fame after 1981.
Here’s Cara lip-syncing to “Fame” in New York City in 1982:
We already know that Gone with the Wind had an effect on the usage of Scarlett and Tara. But what other baby names did it influence?
The main character, Scarlett O’Hara, had sisters named Suellen (a contraction of “Susan Elinor”) and Carreen (“Caroline Irene”). She also had a a sister-in-law named Melanie Hamilton. All three of these names were given a double-boost by Gone with the Wind — first, after the release of the book in mid-1936, and, second, after the release of the film in late 1939.
Suellen
Here’s the U.S. usage of the name Suellen. (In the movie, the character was played by actress Evelyn Keyes.)
1942: 144 baby girls named Suellen
1941: 159 baby girls named Suellen [peak]
1940: 141 baby girls named Suellen
1939: 40 baby girls named Suellen
1938: 31 baby girls named Suellen
1937: 30 baby girls named Suellen
1936: 5 baby girls named Suellen [debut]
1935: unlisted
1934: unlisted
The name saw peak usage in 1941 — also the year that variant form Sueellen debuted. After that, usage petered out.
Carreen
Here’s the U.S. usage of the name Carreen. (In the movie, the character was played by actress Ann Rutherford.)
1942: unlisted
1941: 8 baby girls named Carreen
1940: 6 baby girls named Carreen
1939: unlisted
1938: unlisted
1937: 8 baby girls named Carreen [debut]
1936: unlisted
1935: unlisted
1934: unlisted
The name Carreen appeared in the data a few more times in the ’60s and ’70s, but that’s it. Interestingly, the variant form Careen, which debuted in 1936, has seen more usage in the U.S. overall.
Melanie
Here’s the U.S. usage of the name Melanie from the mid-’30s to the early ’40s. (In the movie, the character was played by actress Olivia de Havilland.)
1942: 388 baby girls named Melanie
1941: 308 baby girls named Melanie
1940: 200 baby girls named Melanie
1939: 57 baby girls named Melanie
1938: 53 baby girls named Melanie
1937: 39 baby girls named Melanie
1936: 13 baby girls named Melanie
1935: 9 baby girls named Melanie
1934: 9 baby girls named Melanie
The name Melanie is quite old — it comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “black” or “dark” — but its usage was revived by Gone with the Wind. It went on to crack the top 100 for the first time in 1968 and has been popular ever since. It ranked 82nd in 2010.
While cleaning out my bookmarks the other day, I rediscovered this post on French names from francophile blog Polly-Vous Francais. It contrasts the names found in the birth and death announcements of a French newspaper. Here’s a sampling:
Male Births
Male Deaths
Female Births
Female Deaths
Anselme Edouard Guillaume Hipployte Hugo Lancelot Louis Timothée Victor Vladimir
Albert Emile Gabriel Jacques Jean Paul Pierre Roger Vincent Yves
Looking for a set of baby names with something in common? If so, here are some 5-letter anagram names for you to check out!
Anagrams are words that contain the same set of letters, but not in the same sequence. For instance, the words “alter,” “alert,” and “later” are all anagrams of one another.
Anagram names can be a neat option for siblings — particularly multiples (like twins and triplets). They’re also a clever way to connect a baby name to the name of an older relative (e.g., grandpa Klaus, grandson Lukas).
Below are hundreds of five-letter names (collected from the SSA’s huge database of U.S. baby names) that happen to be anagrams of other names.
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