How popular is the baby name Jackie 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 Jackie.

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Popularity of the baby name Jackie


Posts that mention the name Jackie

Baby born to University of Alabama fans, named Crimson Tide

football field

It may be April Fools’ Day, but this name isn’t a joke.

J.L. and Jackie Redd of Tallassee, Alabama, have named their baby boy Crimson Tide Redd in honor of the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team.

The young couple made an agreement before their son’s birth that J.L. could be in charge of naming the baby, wanting to use his last name, Redd, as inspiration.

J.L.’s family was “extremely excited” about the name. Jackie’s family, however, “couldn’t understand why we’d name our child after a football team.”

Crimson Tide will go by the nickname Ty.

Update, Jan. 2014: We have two more!

First, there’s Krimson Tyde Steele, born in December of 2013 to parents Summer and Steven Steele of Andalusia, Alabama.

Second, there’s 2-year-old Crimson Tide Broadhurst, son of Shane and Emily Broadhurst of Phenix City, Alabama. (They also have a 5-month-old daughter named Alliegh Bama.)

P.S. Here’s a list of names associated with the color red, just in case you’re interested. :)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from New Meadowlands Stadium: Mezz Corner (cropped) by section215 under CC BY 2.0.

What gave the baby name Timi a boost in the 1960s?

Timi Yuro's album "Hurt!" (1961)
Timi Yuro album

The name Timi saw a swift rise in usage during the first half of the 1960s:

  • 1965: 67 baby girls named Timi
  • 1964: 71 baby girls named Timi [peak usage]
  • 1963: 54 baby girls named Timi
  • 1962: 47 baby girls named Timi
  • 1961: 17 baby girls named Timi
  • 1960: unlisted

Why?

Because of Italian-American singer Timi Yuro, born Rosemary Timotea Auro in Chicago in 1940.

Her deep, strident, almost masculine voice, staggered delivery and the occasional sob, created a compelling musical presence.

Timi’s first hit song, “Hurt,” was also her biggest hit song. The R&B ballad reached #4 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in September of 1961. Other singles that did well on the charts were “Smile” (1961), “What’s A Matter Baby” (1962), and “Make the World Go Away” (1963).

She also made a number of TV appearances during the ’60s, both on late-night talk shows (like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show) and on music shows (like American Bandstand and The Lloyd Thaxton Show).

Interestingly, Timi was almost the original singer of Burt Bacharach’s “What The World Needs Now.” Here’s how she told the story:

…And I missed out on a friggin’ smash. I went to the office a few days later, and [Bacharach] played “What the World Needs Now” for me. And I started singing it and he said, “No, I want you to say, [beats hand against the table to accent every word] What…the…world…needs…now…” And I said, “Oh, go f*ck yourself,” and I left his office. And I blew that song. It was out a few weeks later with Jackie DeShannon.

What are your thoughts on the name Timi?

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Where did the baby name Prisca come from in 1959?

Diplomatic daughter Prisca Bunau-Varilla (in 1960).
Prisca Bunau-Varilla

The pretty name Prisca — which is related to the more familiar name Priscilla — appeared in the U.S. baby name data for the first time in 1959:

  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: 5 baby girls named Prisca
  • 1963: unlisted
  • 1962: 5 baby girls named Prisca
  • 1961: unlisted
  • 1960: unlisted
  • 1959: 10 baby girls named Prisca [debut]
  • 1958: unlisted

The most high-profile Prisca around that time was teenager Prisca Bunau-Varilla, the stepdaughter of Hervé Alphand, French Ambassador to the U.S. from 1956 to 1965.

Hervé had married Prisca’s mother Nicole in mid-1958. Both Hervé and Nicole had divorced from their original spouses a year earlier. (Nicole’s first husband was French aviation pioneer Étienne Bunau-Varilla.)

Prisca started being mentioned in the news a few months later. In October, for instance, she brought her hula hoop to an embassy party so that everyone (including the Cuban Ambassador to the U.S.) could try “the exercise that’s sweeping the country.” In November, she invited some teenage friends to attend a supper honoring a group of traveling French movie stars in order to meet leading man Gérard Philipe. A few weeks later, she helped her mother entertain opera singer Maria Callas.

Diplomatic daughter Prisca Bunau-Varilla (in 1960).
Prisca Bunau-Varilla

For years, Prisca’s name continued to pop up in the newspapers. She was even featured in LIFE magazine twice (in 1959 and in 1960). This was largely thanks to her mother, a popular Washington hostess who became close to Jackie Kennedy in the early ’60s.

Do you like the name Prisca? Do you like it more or less than Priscilla? (Both are based on the Latin word priscus, meaning “ancient” or “old-fashioned.”)

Sources:

Images: Clippings from Life magazine (11 Jul. 1960)