We’ve talked about babies named after Bon Jovi, Danity Kane, Roxette, and even Starship. So today let’s look at Jodeci.
In 1990, the four-man R&B group Jodeci was formed by Joel “JoJo” Hailey, Donald “DeVante Swing” DeGrate, Dalvin “Mr. Dalvin” DeGrate, and Cedric “K-Ci” Hailey. The name of the band was pieced together from the jo of JoJo, the de of DeGrate, and the ci of K-Ci.
Jodeci’s first album, the successful Forever My Lady, was released in 1991. Sure enough, that’s the year we start seeing babies named Jodeci:
- 1996: 29 girls, 13 boys named Jodeci
- 1995: 32 girls, 15 boys named Jodeci
- 1994: 19 girls, 23 boys named Jodeci
- 1993: 33 girls, 29 boys named Jodeci
- 1992: 77 girls, 94 boys named Jodeci
- 1991: 13 girls, 12 boys named Jodeci [debut]
- 1990: unlisted
- 1989: unlisted
We also see a steep rise in the usage of DeVante, which was the fastest-rising boy name of 1991:
- 1994: 852 baby boys named Devante [rank: 309th]
- 1993: 961 baby boys named Devante [rank: 289th]
- 1992: 1565 baby boys named Devante [rank: 199th] (peak)
- 1991: 131 baby boys named Devante [rank: 923rd]
- 1990: 9 baby boys named Devante
(And the sudden trendiness of DeVante gave big boosts to variant forms like Davante, Dvonte, Devonta, Devonte, Davonte, Davonta, Devontae, Davontae, Devontay, Dvontae, Devaunte, etc.
And in 1992, Dalvin became the second-fastest-rising boy name:
- 1994: 143 baby boys named Dalvin [rank: 912th]
- 1993: 179 baby boys named Dalvin [rank: 789th] (peak)
- 1992: 132 baby boys named Dalvin [rank: 923rd]
- 1991: 6 baby boys named Dalvin
- 1990: 13 baby boys named Dalvin
Jodeci put out a second album in 1993, a third in 1995, then went on hiatus in 1996. After they stopped releasing new material, usage of the name declined.
A related name that was used around this time was K-Ci:
- 2001: unlisted
- 2000: 6 boys named K-Ci
- 1999: 6 boys named K-Ci
- 1998: 5 boys named K-Ci
- 1997: unlisted
- 1996: unlisted
- 1995: 7 boys named K-Ci [debut]
- 1994: unlisted
This one was helped along by the band K-Ci & JoJo, formed by two Jodeci members around 1996.
The names Jodeci and K-Ci may be down, but don’t count them out. In about a month, a reality TV show starring K-Ci and JoJo will premiere on TVOne. Also, there’s a talented high school football player out there named Jodeci Mays. (He scored seven touchdowns a couple of weeks ago.) Visibility often leads to usage, so the TV show and/or the athlete could help revive the names, you never know…
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