How popular is the baby name Joyce 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 Joyce.

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Popularity of the baby name Joyce


Posts that mention the name Joyce

What gave the baby name Candida a boost in 1971?

Tony Orlando and Dawn's album "Candida" (1970)
Dawn album

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Candida — which comes from the Latin word candidus, meaning “shining white” — saw a jump in usage (and entered the top 1,000 for the first time) in 1971:

  • 1973: 163 baby girls named Candida [rank: 802nd]
  • 1972: 170 baby girls named Candida [rank: 798th]
  • 1971: 222 baby girls named Candida [rank: 687th]
  • 1970: 95 baby girls named Candida
  • 1969: 30 baby girls named Candida

What gave it a boost that year?

The song “Candida” (pronounced kan-DEE-dah), which was sung by Tony Orlando…but credited to a non-existent group called Dawn.

(Orlando, an executive at Columbia Records, recorded the song for a competitor, Bell Records. Not wanting to jeopardize his career, he asked that Bell not reveal his name. “Dawn” was chosen because it was the name of the daughter of Bell executive Steve Wax.)

“Candida” was released in July of 1970. It peaked at #3 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in early October.

Here’s what it sounds like:

In an interview, one of the co-writers of the song, Toni Wine, explained how she came up with the name Candida:

We knew we wanted a Spanish girl’s name. Rosita had been taken. Juanita was a hit. Maria had happened. We knew we wanted to write a Latin-flavored song […] We needed a three-syllable word, and all those girls were gone. So Candida had been a name that I had toyed with, and there she became a reality.

The name of the fictitious group also influenced expectant parents: Dawn, already a top-100 girl name, entered the girls’ top 20 for the first time in 1970.

Speaking of Dawn…after it scored a second #1 hit, “Knock Three Times,” Tony Orlando decided to give up his day job and make Dawn a reality. He recruited a pair of backup singers, Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson, and the three of them started touring.

Telma Hopkins, Tony Orlando, and Joyce Vincent Wilson on the "Tony Orlando and Dawn Show" (1975)
Telma Hopkins, Tony Orlando, and Joyce Vincent Wilson

Together, the trio scored two more #1 hits:

  • “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” (1973), as Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, and
  • “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)” (1975), as Tony Orlando and Dawn.

They also hosted a musical variety series, The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show, which was broadcast on CBS from mid-1974 until late 1976. The New York Times described the series as “mildly hip, in a safe middle-of-the-road sort of way. It’s slick. It’s disarmingly hokey. Imagine, if you will, Sonny & Cher filtered through Lawrence Welk.”

While the show was on the air, the baby names Tony, Orlando, Telma, and Candida all saw discernible (if slight) upticks in usage.

What are your thoughts on the name Candida? Would you use it?

P.S. The name Telma saw another uptick while Telma Hopkins, who went on to become an actress, was starring on the sitcom Getting By (1993-1994).

Sources:

Second image: Screenshot of The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show (episode from 1975)

Wisconsin family with 21 children

The Schoelzel family of Wisconsin (in 1949)
The Schoelzel family (in 1949)

During the second quarter of the 20th century, Rudolph August Schoelzel and Olivia Henrietta Schoelzel (née Gutenberger) of Colby, Wisconsin, welcomed 21 children — 10 girls and 11 boys.

Here are the names of all 21 siblings:

  1. Rudolph August, Jr. (born in 1925)
  2. DuWayne D. (b. 1926)
  3. Darlene D. (b. 1927)
  4. Doris Janet (b. 1928)
  5. Jerold Elroy (b. 1929)
  6. Lyle James (b. 1930)
  7. Beatrice Joyce (b. 1931)
  8. Darnell H. (b. 1932)
  9. Ione Mardell (b. 1933)
  10. Emerita Ella (b. 1934)
  11. Audris Ann (b. 1936)
  12. Ronald R. (b. 1937)
  13. Glen R. (b. 1938)
  14. James E. (b. 1939)
  15. Patricia Elayne (b. 1940)
  16. Arlyn August (b. 1941)
  17. Sandra, possibly Cassandra (b. circa 1942)
  18. Dennis Dale (b. 1945)
  19. Colleen Margarette Edna (b. 1946), nicknamed “Connie”
  20. Albert A. (b. 1947)
  21. Korliss Colette (b. 1948)

(The 21-child Schoelzel family was almost as big as the 22-child Schoville family, also of Wisconsin.)

More than half of the Schoelzel children are listed on the 1950 U.S. Census:

The Schoelzel family on the 1950 U.S. Census
The Schoelzel family (1950 U.S. Census)

Which of the above names do you like most?

P.S. Thank you to Destiny for letting me know about the Schoelzel family! (Destiny also told me about both the Jones family and the Miller family.)

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Marshfield News-Herald (8 Nov. 1949)

What gave the baby name Amaryllis a boost in 1927?

Illustration of Amaryllis Minton from McCall's magazine (Oct. 1926)
Amaryllis Minton

The flower-name Amaryllis first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1926. The following year, the name came as close as it’s ever come to reaching the girls’ top 1,000:

  • 1929: 28 baby girls named Amaryllis
  • 1928: 28 baby girls named Amaryllis
  • 1927: 45 baby girls named Amaryllis [rank: 1,139th]
  • 1926: 7 baby girls named Amaryllis [debut]
  • 1925: unlisted
  • 1924: unlisted

What caused the debut and the subsequent spike?

The Magic Garden, a romantic tale written by Indiana author Gene Stratton-Porter.

The protagonist of the story — which was originally published in McCall’s magazine over the course of six months (from October of 1926 to March of 1927) — was a young girl named Amaryllis Minton.

Her father’s millions provided the little girl servants and governesses to order around, but all the money in the world could not buy love, so one day after her fifth birthday she ran away to find it. Among the flowers of an enchanting garden, she came upon a little boy who was lonely, too, and and wanted a playmate.

Incidentally, Amaryllis didn’t realize she was named after a flower until partway through the narrative.

In 1927, The Magic Garden was serialized in various newspapers across the country, published in book form, and adapted into a successful silent film (starring actresses Joyce Coad as young Amaryllis and Margaret Morris as grown-up Amaryllis).

What are your thoughts on the name Amaryllis?

P.S. The flower was named after a female character in Virgil’s Eclogues, but Virgil didn’t invent the name. In Roman literature, Amaryllis was a stock character — “a natural, pretty young woman who was usually a shepherdess.” The name derives from the Ancient Greek verb amarysso, meaning “to sparkle.”

Sources:

Image: Clipping from McCall’s magazine (Oct. 1926)

Free cupcakes for people with “Joy” names

Hostess cupcake

Do you know a U.S. resident — either yourself or someone else — who has the word “Joy” in any part of their name (first, middle, or last)?

If so, you have until July 2 to enter that person into the Hostess Joy Drops sweepstakes:

100 winners will be selected to receive a Hostess Joy Drops package. If your “Joy” lives in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah or Virginia, they may get their package via a special drone delivery.

The package (valued at about $55) includes a box of CupCakes, a box of Twinkies, a bag of Donettes, and various other “summer fun essentials” such as sunglasses, a Frisbee, and a sheet of stickers.

Finally, just for fun, here’s a sampling of the dozens of “Joy” names in the SSA data: Joy, Joyce, LaJoy, LaJoyce, Joya, Joycie, Joyanne, Joyanna, Joyette, Joyetta, Joyelle, Joyella, Joylene, Joylynn, Joynell, Joynae, Joyous, and Joyful.

Image: Adapted from Hostess CupCake Whole by Evan-Amos under CC0 1.0.