How popular is the baby name Keith 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 Keith.
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In August of 1969, Rolling Stones guitarist/songwriter Keith Richards and his girlfriend, model/actress Anita Pallenberg, welcomed their first child, a baby boy. They named him Marlon.
Why Marlon?
In his 2010 memoir Life, Richards explained:
Marlon’s full name is Marlon Leon Sundeep. Brando called up while Anita was in hospital, to compliment her on [her role in the movie] Performance. “Marlon, that’s a good name. Why don’t we call him Marlon?”
It’s a curious that they chose “Marlon” given the fact that, during the filming of the 1968 movie Candy, Marlon Brando had tried to seduce Anita, “and, when that failed, tried to seduce Anita and me together.” Maybe the choice had more to do with the timing of the phone call…?
In any case, Richards and Pallenberg (who also had a role in the movie Barbarella) would go on to have two more children: daughter Dandelion Angela in 1972, and son Tara in 1976.
Sources:
Richards, Keith and James Fox. Life. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010.
The unusual name Wanderlei popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 2009:
2011: unlisted
2010: unlisted
2009: 5 baby boys named Wanderlei [debut]
2008: unlisted
2007: unlisted
So far, that’s the only time it’s made an appearance (though the very similar name Vanderlei has shown up twice, also starting in 2009).
What was the influence?
Brazilian mixed martial artist Wanderlei Silva, who made a name for himself in the U.S. thanks to the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).
After being part of the UFC in the late ’90s, he re-joined in mid-2007 — at a time when the company was growing in popularity and getting mainstream media coverage. His first bout in the Octagon was against Chuck Liddell at the end of 2007. He lost that match, but won his next one against Keith Jardine in mid-2008.
I’ve never heard Silva pronounce his own first name, but the sports announcers call him VAN-der-lay. (Interesting side note: The letter “w” doesn’t naturally occur in Portuguese, so you’ll only see it in personal names and foreign words.)
You might be surprised to learn that the first name Wanderlei — along with the spelling variants Wanderley, Vanderley, and Vanderlei — are not exactly uncommon in Brazil. Other people with the name include, for instance, former soccer players Wanderley Paiva and Vanderlei Luxemburgo.
These first names come directly from the corresponding Brazilian surnames, all of which derive from a single Dutch surname: Van der Ley.
And the Dutch surname can be traced back to a single man: Gaspar van der Ley, “a well-known 17th century officer from the Dutch West India Company” who settled in Brazil during the period (1630-1654) when the Dutch controlled a large part of northeastern Brazil. (His first name is also spelled Caspar and Kaspar, depending upon the source.)
What does the surname Van der Ley mean? It’s a variant of yet another surname, Van der Lee, the original bearers of which would have lived near a canal called “De Lee” or “De Lede.” The second component of the name is derived from the Middle Dutch word lede or leide, which referred to dug or excavated watercourse (as opposed to a natural one).
What are your thoughts on the baby name Wanderlei?
After peaking in the mid-1960s, usage of the baby name Angie began to decline. But this decline was interrupted when, in 1974, usage suddenly shot up again, and the name reached a new peak in 1975:
The Rolling Stones song “Angie,” which was released in August of 1973. The acoustic ballad reached #1 on Billboard‘s “Hot 100” chart two months later. In fact, it reached #1 in many different countries, making it a worldwide hit.
In his 2010 memoir Life, guitarist Keith Richards described how he wrote the song while he was staying at a drug clinic in Switzerland. Specifically, he wrote it around the time his girlfriend, model Anita Pallenberg, “was down the road having our daughter, Angela” (born in April of 1972).
Interestingly, though, the song was not named with the newborn in mind — the choice of name was pure coincidence:
Once I came out of the usual trauma, I had a guitar with me and I wrote “Angie” in an afternoon, sitting in bed, because I could finally move my fingers and put them in the right place again […]. I just went, “Angie, Angie.” It was not about any particular person; it was a name, like, “ohhh, Diana.” I didn’t know Angela was going to be called Angela when I wrote “Angie.” In those days you didn’t know what sex the thing was going to be until it popped out. In fact, Anita named her Dandelion. She was only given the added name Angela because she was born in a Catholic hospital where they insisted that a “proper” name be added.
What are your thoughts on the baby name Angie? Would you use it as a legal name, or would you prefer it as a nickname (for Angela, Angelica, Angelina, etc.)?
P.S. As soon as Dandelion Angela Richards “grew up a little bit,” she decided to go by her middle name, Angela, instead of her first name.
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