How popular is the baby name Itasca 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 Itasca.

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Popularity of the baby name Itasca


Posts that mention the name Itasca

Interesting one-hit wonder names in the U.S. baby name data

single flower

They came, they went, and they never came back!

These baby names are one-hit wonders in the U.S. baby name data. That is, they’ve only popped up once, ever, in the entire dataset of U.S. baby names (which accounts for all names given to at least 5 U.S. babies per year since 1880).

There are thousands of one-hit wonders in the dataset, but the names below have interesting stories behind their single appearance, so these are the one-hits I’m writing specific posts about. Just click on a name to read more.

2020s

  • 2020: Jexi

2010s

2000s

1990s

1980s

1970s

1960s

1950s

1940s

1930s

1920s

1910s

1900s

  • (none yet)

1890s

As I discover (and write about) more one-hit wonders in the data, I’ll add the names/links to this page. In the meanwhile, do you have any favorite one-hit wonder baby names?

Image: Adapted from Solitary Poppy by Andy Beecroft under CC BY-SA 2.0.

[Latest update: Apr. 2024]

Where did the baby name Itasca come from in 1919?

Lake Itasca (Minnesota)
Lake Itasca

The rare name Itasca was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1919:

  • 1921: unlisted
  • 1920: unlisted
  • 1919: 5 baby girls named Itasca [debut]
  • 1918: unlisted
  • 1917: unlisted

Interestingly, all five of those babies were born in Texas.

What boosted the name into the data that year?

Well, if there is a reason (and it’s not something specific to Texas), my theory is the educational short film Itasca Makes Her Bow (1919) by Outing-Chester Pictures. It was a documentary about Minnesota’s Lake Itasca, the primary source of the Mississippi River.

Back in those days, short films were played in movie theaters ahead of main features. They were even reviewed in the newspapers. The New York Times, for instance, said Itasca Makes Her Bow was “one of the most interesting numbers on the program” at Manhattan’s opulent Strand Theatre while it was playing there in May of 1919.

I think advertising for the film — plus the fact that the film’s title makes the place name sound like a personal name — could be behind the debut.

So, where does the word Itasca come from?

It was coined by 19th-century geographer Henry Schoolcraft, who wished to signify the “true head” of the Mississippi River with a combination of the Latin words veritas (meaning “truth”) and caput (meaning “head”).

What are your thoughts on Itasca as a baby name?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Lake Itasca Mississippi Source by Christine Karim under CC BY-SA 3.0.