How popular is the baby name Johnny 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 Johnny.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Johnny


Posts that mention the name Johnny

What gave the baby name Shelby a boost in the 1930s?

The character Shelby Barrett from the movie "The Woman in Red" (1935)
Shelby Barrett from “The Woman in Red“

The interesting name Shelva first appeared in the U.S. baby data for both girls and boys in 1936. In fact it was the top debut name of the year for both genders, which is very impressive. It also became the new highest-debuting girl name of all time (breaking Laquita’s record from 1930) and remained so throughout the ’40s and ’50s.

Here are the numbers:

  • 1938: 163 baby girls named Shelva [rank: 533rd]
  • 1937: 194 baby girls named Shelva [rank: 471st]
  • 1936: 89 baby girls named Shelva [rank: 710th]
    • 9 baby boys named Shelva as well
  • 1935: unlisted
  • 1934: unlisted

So, where did the name Shelva come from?

It took me forever to figure this one out, but the answer is that it’s a variant of the name Shelby.

Turns out that a whole bunch Shelby-like names — Shelbie, Shelba, Shelbia, Shelvie, Shelvy, Shelvey, Shelva, Shelvia, Shelda — debuted in the data (as girl names) in 1935/1936, right around the time that that Shelby — previously more of a boy name — became popular for girls:

Girls named ShelbyBoys named Shelby
19381,713 [rank: 142nd]214 [rank: 386th]
19371,997 [rank: 119th]203 [rank: 389th]
19361,071 [rank: 178th]151 [rank: 458th]
193567 [rank: 848th]121 [rank: 527th]
193417133 [rank: 500th]

What caused the spike and the sex-change for Shelby circa 1936?

The character Shelby Barrett from the movie "The Woman in Red" (1935)
Shelby Barrett from “The Woman in Red“

A character from movie The Woman in Red, which was released in early 1935.

The film’s protagonist, professional horsewoman Shelby Barrett (played by actress Barbara Stanwyck), was being wooed by two men before she decided to marry Johnny Wyatt, a polo player from a once-wealthy family.

Later on, without telling her husband, she accepted an invitation to go aboard the yacht of the other man — nouveau-riche equestrian Gene Fairchild — and happened to witness an accidental drowning.

She could either “remain quiet and permit [Fairchild] to be convicted of murder or, by admitting she was the mysterious woman in red who was on his yacht (however innocently) on the fatal night, clear him but risk the wreckage of her marriage.”

The movie was based on the 1932 book North Shore by Wallace Irwin. His story was also serialized in the newspapers under the title Dangerous Waters in 1933-1934.

Which name would you be more likely to use for a baby girl today: Shelby or Shelva?

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of The Woman in Red

[Latest update: Feb. 2019]

Baby names typed by the right hand: Better?

computer keyboard

Years ago, I came up with a list of one-handed baby names — that is, names that are typed with either the left hand or the right hand on a QWERTY keyboard.

Turns out there may be a slight advantage to right-hand names.

According to a study published recently in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, “the QWERTY keyboard may gradually attach more positive meanings to words with more letters located on the right side of the layout (everything to the right of T, G and B).”

Why?

It has to do with fluency.

We tend to like simplicity over complexity, and the harder-to-type letter pairs are on a QWERTY keyboard’s left side — these two facts together may lead people to prefer words (and names) that are typed on the right.

Which names are typed by the right hand only? My original list:

  • Holly
  • Io
  • Jill, Jim, Jimi, Jimmy, Jin, Jo, John, Johnny, Jon, Joni, Joy, Juho, Juli, Julio, Jun, Juno
  • Kiki, Kim, Kimi, Kimiko, Kimmy, Kimo, Kip, Kiyoko, Kojo, Kollin, Kumiko, Kyou
  • Lili, Lilly, Lilou, Lily, Lin, Lino, Loni, Lonny, Lou, Lulu, Lyn, Lynn
  • Miki, Mikki, Mikko, Milly, Milo, Mimi, Min, Minh, Miyu, Molly, Momoko
  • Nik, Nikhil, Niki, Nikki, Niko, Nikol, Nikon, Nuno
  • Olli, Olujimi, Om
  • Phil, Philip, Phillip, Pio, Polly, Poppy
  • Yoko, Yuko, Yumi, Yumiko

Can you think of any others?

Source: Mosher, Dave. “The QWERTY Effect: How Typing May Shape the Meaning of Words.” Wired 7 Mar. 2012. (h/t Anthony Mitchell, @aem76us)

Image: Adapted from Apple Macintosh Plus Extended Keyboard by MagicTom13 under CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Jersey family with 18 children

kinderfest

In 1951, Joseph and Clara Carey of New Jersey welcomed their 18th child. The parents and all but three of the children posed for a newspaper photo that year. According to the caption, the 15 kids in the photo were named…

  • Carol, 17
  • Joseph, 15
  • Crawford, 13
  • William, 12
  • Margaret, 11
  • Raymond, 10
  • Geraldine, 9
  • Dorothy Ann, 8
  • Doris Joan, 7
  • Emily, 6
  • Dale, 5
  • Vernon, 4
  • Barbara, 3
  • Johnny, 2
  • Bruce, baby

What do you think the other three were named? (I have no idea about the genders.)

Which of the 15 names above is your favorite?

Source: “Mother Carey Has 18 Children Born in 18 Years.” Robesonian 16 Jan. 1951: 1.

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

Where did the baby name Rambo come from in the 1980s?

Part of the movie poster for "Rambo: First Blood Part II" (1985).
“Rambo: First Blood Part II”

Vengeful Vietnam veteran John Rambo — the fictional character created by author David Morrell — was portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in the iconic ’80s movies First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), and Rambo III (1988).

The cultural impact of the character was so great that “Rambo” is now a word you can find in the dictionary. One dictionary, for instance, defines the noun Rambo as “a fanatically militant or violently aggressive person.”

How many baby boys were named Rambo after the movies started coming out? Dozens, according to the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1991: unlisted
  • 1990: 6 baby boys named Rambo
  • 1989: 6 baby boys named Rambo
  • 1988: 9 baby boys named Rambo
  • 1987: 7 baby boys named Rambo
  • 1986: 13 baby boys named Rambo
  • 1985: 18 baby boys named Rambo [peak]
  • 1984: 5 baby boys named Rambo [debut]
  • 1983: unlisted
  • 1982: unlisted

How did writer David Morrell settle upon the surname “Rambo” for his tough-guy character? Strangely enough, the inspiration came from a piece of fruit:

In the early stages of composition, I struggled to find a strong name for the character. One afternoon while I was writing, my wife came home from a grocery store and said that she’d found a new kind of apple that she thought was delicious. Apples were the farthest thing from my mind while I struggled to find that character’s name, but politely I took a bite of the apple and discovered that it was in fact delicious. “What’s it called?” I asked. “Rambo,” she replied. This was in Pennsylvania, where the Rambo type of apple is grown and appreciated. Instantly, I recognized the sound of force. It also reminded me of the way some people pronounce the name of a French poet I’d been studying, Rimbaud, whose most famous work is A SEASON IN HELL, which I felt was an apt metaphor for the prisoner-of-war experiences that I imagined Rambo suffering.

The Rambo apple takes its name from 17th-century Swedish immigrant Peter Gunnarsson Rambo. His adopted surname “Rambo” might refer to Ramberget, the prominent hill on the Swedish island of Hisingen (where Peter was born).

The surname Rambo also has several other potential origins:

  • the French surname Rambeau, which can be derived from any of several personal names:
    • Rainbaut (Old French, made up of Germanic elements meaning “counsel” and “bold, brave”),
    • Hrambehrt (Germanic, “crow” and “bright”), or
    • Hrambald (Germanic, “crow” and “bold, brave”); or
  • the German surname Rambow, which can come from any of several place-names in northeastern Germany.

Oh, and here’s an interesting fact about the character’s first name: In Morrell’s original Rambo book, First Blood (1972), there was no first name. :) The scriptwriters are the ones who dubbed Rambo “John,” taking the name from the Civil War-era song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”

What are your thoughts on Rambo as a baby name?

Update, 5/2013: Rambo is back! The SSA just released the 2012 dataset, and it reveals that — after an absence of more than 20 years — Rambo is back in the data with 5 baby boys. For the current total number of Rambos, scroll to the bottom of the Rambo data table.

Sources: