How popular is the baby name Jane 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 Jane.
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On August 9, Gavin and Carrie Jones of Duncanville, Texas, welcomed a set of quints — three boys and two girls:
Let’s play a game. You’re given a chance to change one of the above names (first + middle combo). Which one do you change, and what do you replace it with?
Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus
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):
| Girls | Boys |
| Alma Anzac Myrtle (b. 1916) | Anzac Gallipoli Claude (b. 1916) |
| Annie Anzac | Anzac Kitchener |
| Anzac Cavel Verdon | Lalbert Anzac |
| Clover Anzac | Valentine Anzac |
| Dardandella Anzac (b. 1916) | Vivian Anzac Jasper |
| Maple Anzac | William 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
In 1939, the name Torchy made its one and only appearance in the U.S. baby name data:
Two years later, variant spelling Torchie did the same thing.
Where did these two one-hit wonders come from?
My guess is fast-talking fictional newspaper reporter Torchy Blane, the heroine of nine low-budget movies released in the late ’30s with titles like Torchy Gets Her Man (1938), Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939) and Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939). All of the films “followed the same formula — the nimble-minded, intuitive Torchy (who never bothered to take notes when she interviewed a person) would end up solving a crime way before her lunkhead boyfriend, police Det. Steve McBride.”
Ironically, Torchy Blane’s real first name wasn’t Torchy. According to two of the films, her first name was actually Theresa.
Most of the time the Torchy was played by actress Glenda Farrell, though twice she was played by other actresses (Lola Lane and Jane Wyman, respectively).
And that reminds me — did you know that Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel was inspired by Torchy Blane to create the character Lois Lane? He’s how he puts it:
Our heroine was of course a working girl whose priority was grabbing big scoops. What inspired me in the creation was Glenda Farrell, the movie star who portrayed Torchy Blane. Because of the name Lola Lane, who also played Torchy, appealed to me, I called my character Lois Lane.
P.S. Speaking of Glenda Farrell…she was behind the Glenda trend that lasted from 1933 (she appeared in a whopping 11 movies that year) until the middle of the century.
Sources:
Update, 10/2017: I may have discovered an even better explanation for Torchy! In 1939, the soap opera Guiding Light introduced a new character named Torchy Reynolds. (This was back when the soap was radio-only.) Torchy, a former showgirl from San Francisco, was part of the story until 1942. Her time on the show (1939-1942) matches up better with the 1939 and 1941 single-year appearances of Torchy and Torchie than the film series (1937-1939) does. What do you think?
I’ve found long names, and alphabetical sibling names, but this is the first time I’ve spotted a long, alphabetical name that belonged to a single individual.
A baby girl born on December 19, 1882, in West Derby, Liverpool, England, to Arthur and Sarah Pepper was named:
Ann Bertha Cecilia Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypatia Inez Jane Kate Louisa Maud Nora Ophelia Quince Rebecca Starkey Teresa Ulyses Venus Winifred Xenophon Yetty Zeus Pepper
Regarding the name, the Boston Evening Transcript quipped, “Apparently the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has little power in London”:
(The handwriting on the original birth record is relatively clear, but certain names are hard to make out — this accounts for the spelling differences between my version and the Transcript‘s version.)
Thoughts?
Sources:
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