How popular is the baby name Jeane 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 Jeane.

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Popularity of the baby name Jeane


Posts that mention the name Jeane

Where did the baby name Junellen come from in 1947?

Junellen Hawthorne on the cover of "Calling All Girls" (November, 1944)
Junellen Hawthorne

The baby name Junellen has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just once so far, in 1947:

  • 1949: unlisted
  • 1948: unlisted
  • 1947: 12 baby girls named Junellen [debut]
  • 1946: unlisted
  • 1945: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A fashion model named Junellen Hawthorne.

Junellen was profiled in an article called “Model from Vermont” that was published in Parade, the nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, in March of 1947. The issue’s cover also featured a photo of Junellen (though not her name).

Junellen Hawthorne in Parade Magazine (March, 1947)
“Model from Vermont”

According to the article, 20-year-old Junellen Hawthorne lived part-time on her family’s farm in Vermont, and the other part of the time in New York City, where she worked as a fashion model for the John Robert Powers modeling agency (believed to be the world’s first modeling agency).

Junellen’s Parade photos were shot by photographer André de Dienes, who, about a year and a half earlier, had hired a 19-year-old named Norma Jeane Baker (the future Marilyn Monroe!) for her first modeling job.

So how did Junellen come to have her unusual first name? Her parents created it by combining their own names, Junior and Ellen. (Junellen was an only child.)

What are your thoughts on the name Junellen?

Sources:

What popularized the baby name Marilyn in the 1920s?

Broadway actress Marilyn Miller (1898-1936)
Marilyn Miller

In the early 1920s, the baby name Marilyn, which was already on the rise, began to rise much more swiftly:

  • 1925: 3,419 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 83rd]
  • 1924: 2,860 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 101st]
  • 1923: 2,286 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 118th]
  • 1922: 1,698 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 145th]
  • 1921: 696 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 253rd]
  • 1920: 522 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 288th]

By 1925, it was one of the top 100 girl names in the nation.

Graph of the popularity of the baby name Marilyn in the U.S. since 1880.
Usage of the baby name Marilyn

What popularized it?

Broadway star Marilyn Miller, who was at the height of her fame in the 1920s. After performing in several Ziegfeld Follies shows, she went on to star in musical comedies like Sally (1920), Sunny (1925), and Rosalie (1928). She also appeared in several films.

She was born Mary Ellen Reynolds in Indiana in 1898. Her stage name was created by combining her first name with her mother’s middle name (Lynn), and adding her stepfather’s surname (Miller). She initially spelled it “Marilynn.”

Sadly, Marilyn Miller died in 1936 (due to complications following nasal surgery). The same year, the name Marilyn reached the highest ranking it would ever attain:

  • 1939: 9,539 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 19th]
  • 1938: 9,745 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 19th]
  • 1937: 9,738 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 13th]
  • 1936: 11,065 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 13th]
  • 1935: 10,416 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 14th]
  • 1934: 9,384 baby girls named Marilyn [rank: 17th]

A decade later, in 1946, Twentieth Century Fox executive Ben Lyon — a former actor who had co-stared with Marilyn Miller in her last film — signed a young actress named Norma Jeane Baker. She reminded him of Miller, so he suggested that she change her name to “Marilyn.” Adding her mother’s maiden name, she became “Marilyn Monroe.”

The baby name Marilyn remained in the top 100 until 1959, with Marilyn Monroe giving it a bit of a boost in the mid-1950s. Since then, though, usage has been slowly declining (except for a couple of years in the early 2010s, thanks to the 2011 Marilyn Monroe biopic My Week with Marilyn).

What are your thoughts on the name Marilyn?

Sources:

P.S. A few decades later, another Mary Ellen in the entertainment business became famous under the name Mala