How popular is the baby name Linda in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Linda.
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The sitcom I Love Lucy (1951-1957) was TV’s first mega-hit. It won five Emmys and was ranked the #1 TV show in America four out of its six seasons.
The central characters were Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, played by real-life couple Lucille Ball (b. 1911 in New York) and Desiderio “Desi” Arnaz (b. 1917 in Cuba).
Ricky worked as a singer and bandleader at the Tropicana nightclub, while Lucy was a housewife on a quest for show business fame who “concocted hilarious (and ultimately doomed) schemes to finagle her way out of the kitchen and into the limelight.”
Though the show ended in 1957, and a modified version called The Ford Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show kept the characters on the air for several more years.
So did I Love Lucy affect U.S. baby names? Yes, though not as much as one might expect, given its popularity.
Lucy & Lucille Old-fashioned Lucy and Lucille spent most of the 20th century declining in usage. But Lucy saw an increase in 1952, and both names saw increases in 1953. (The most fashionable L-name at that time was #1 Linda.)
Ricky & Ricardo Ricky and Ricardo had been on the rise since the ’40s, but those rises accelerated during the ’50s. One event that certainly helped Ricky was the birth of Little Ricky on a particularly popular episode that aired in January of 1953.
Little Ricky’s birth coincided with the birth of Lucy and Desi’s second child, Desi Arnaz, Jr. In fact, the cover of the very first issue of TV Guide (April, 1953) featured a photo of baby Desi:
First issue of “TV Guide“
(Another Ricky who was on TV in the ’50s was Ricky Nelson, son of Ozzie and Harriet.)
Desi & Arnaz The ’50s is the first decade we see the regular appearance of Desi (pronounced DEH-zee) in the data. Similarly, we first see the surname Arnaz (pronounced ahr-NEZ) in 1958 specifically. Variant spelling Arnez showed up in 1960.
Now it’s your turn: Do you love the name Lucy? Or do you prefer Lucille?
Did you know that New York City’s website hosts vital statistics reports (PDFs) going all the way back to the 1960s? And that, from 1991 onward, these annual reports include baby name rankings for NYC?
I don’t want you to have to comb through a whole bunch of PDFs to find the city’s historical top-ten lists, though, so I gathered all the lists into a single blog post.
The name tables in the reports also incorporate several older sets rankings (from 1990, 1985, 1980, 1948, 1928, and 1898 specifically) for comparison, and those are here well — just scroll to the bottom.
2019
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2019. (Here’s my post about the 2019 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2019)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2019)
1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Sophia 4. Mia 5. Isabella 6. Leah 7. Ava 8. Chloe 9. Amelia 10. Charlotte
1. Liam 2. Noah 3. Ethan 4. Jacob 5. Lucas 6. Aiden 7. Daniel 8. Michael 9. David 10. Matthew
2018
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2018. (Here’s my post about the 2018 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2018)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2018)
1. Emma 2. Isabella 3. Sophia 4. Mia 5. Olivia 6. Ava 7. Leah 8. Sarah 9. Amelia 10. Chloe
1. Liam 2. Noah 3. Ethan 4. Jacob 5. Aiden 6. David 7. Lucas 8. Matthew 9. Daniel 10. Alexander
2017
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2017. (Here’s my post about the 2017 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2017)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2017)
1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Mia 4. Sophia 5. Isabella 6. Ava 7. Leah 8. Emily 9. Sarah 10. Abigail
1. Liam 2. Noah 3. Jacob 4. Ethan 5. David 6. Lucas 7. Matthew 8. Jayden 9. Aiden 10. Daniel
2016
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2016. (Here’s my post about the 2016 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2016)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2016)
1. Olivia 2. Sophia 3. Emma 4. Isabella 5. Mia 6. Ava 7. Emily 8. Leah 9. Sarah 10. Madison
1. Liam 2. Jacob 3. Ethan 4. Noah 5. Aiden 6. Matthew 7. Daniel 8. Lucas 9. Michael 10. Dylan
2015
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2015. (Here’s my post about the 2015 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2015)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2015)
1. Olivia 2. Sophia 3. Emma (tie) 4. Mia (tie) 5. Isabella 6. Leah 7. Emily 8. Ava 9. Chloe 10. Madison
1. Ethan 2. Liam 3. Noah 4. Jacob 5. Jayden 6. Matthew 7. David 8. Daniel (tie) 9. Dylan (tie) 10. Aiden
2014
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2014. (Here’s my post about the 2014 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2014)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2014)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Olivia 4. Mia 5. Emma 6. Emily 7. Leah 8. Ava 9. Sofia 10. Chloe
1. Ethan 2. Jacob 3. Liam 4. Jayden 5. Noah 6. Daniel 7. Michael 8. Alexander 9. David 10. Matthew
2013
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2013.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2013)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2013)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Emma 4. Olivia 5. Mia 6. Emily 7. Leah 8. Sofia 9. Madison 10. Chloe
1. Jayden 2. Ethan 3. Jacob 4. Daniel 5. David 6. Noah 7. Michael 8. Matthew 9. Alexander 10. Liam
2012
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2012.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2012)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2012)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Emma 4. Olivia 5. Emily 6. Mia 7. Chloe 8. Madison 9. Leah 10. Ava
1. Jayden 2. Ethan 3. Jacob 4. Daniel 5. Matthew 6. Michael 7. Aiden 8. David 9. Ryan 10. Alexander
2011
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2011. (Here’s my post about the 2011 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2011)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2011)
1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Olivia 4. Emma 5. Mia 6. Emily 7. Madison 8. Leah 9. Chloe 10. Sofia
1. Jayden 2. Jacob 3. Ethan 4. Daniel 5. Michael 6. Matthew 7. Justin 8. David 9. Aiden 10. Alexander
2010
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2010.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2010)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2010)
1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Olivia 4. Emily 5. Madison 6. Mia 7. Emma 8. Leah 9. Sarah 10. Chloe
1. Jayden 2. Ethan 3. Daniel 4. Jacob 5. David 6. Justin 7. Michael 8. Matthew 9. Joseph 10. Joshua
2009
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2009.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2009)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2009)
1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Mia 4. Emily 5. Olivia 6. Madison 7. Sarah 8. Ashley 9. Leah 10. Emma
1. Jayden 2. Daniel 3. Ethan 4. Michael 5. David 6. Justin 7. Matthew 8. Joshua 9. Alexander 10. Christopher
2008
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2008.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2008)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2008)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Emily 4. Olivia 5. Sarah 6. Madison 7. Ashley 8. Mia 9. Samantha 10. Emma
1. Jayden 2. Daniel 3. Michael 4. Matthew 5. David 6. Joshua 7. Justin 8. Anthony 9. Christopher 10. Ethan/Ryan (tied for 10th)
2007
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2007. (Here’s my post about the 2007 NYC rankings.)
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Kevin 4. Daniel 5. Jonathan 6. Joseph 7. Anthony 8. Matthew 9. David 10. Justin
*The name was spelled “Sara” (without the h) in the 1995 annual report, but “Sarah” (with the h) on all the other reports. So, assuming that “Sara” was a typo, I’ve spelled it with the h here.
1994
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1994.
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Kevin 4. Anthony 5. Jonathan 6. Daniel 7. Joseph 8. Matthew 9. David 10. Brandon
1993
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1993.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1993)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1993)
1. Ashley 2. Stephanie 3. Jessica 4. Amanda 5. Samantha 6. Nicole 7. Jennifer 8. Michelle 9. Melissa 10. Christina
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Kevin 4. Jonathan 5. Anthony 6. Daniel 7. Joseph 8. David 9. Matthew 10. John
1992
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1992.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1992)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1992)
1. Ashley 2. Stephanie 3. Jessica 4. Amanda 5. Samantha 6. Jennifer 7. Nicole 8. Michelle 9. Melissa 10. Christina
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Jonathan 4. Anthony 5. Joseph 6. Daniel 7. David 8. Kevin 9. Matthew 10. John
1991
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1991.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1991)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1991)
1. Stephanie 2. Ashley 3. Jessica 4. Amanda 5. Samantha 6. Jennifer 7. Nicole 8. Michelle 9. Melissa 10. Christina
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Jonathan 4. Anthony 5. Joseph 6. Daniel 7. David 8. Matthew 9. Kevin 10. John
1990
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1990.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1990)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1990)
1. Stephanie 2. Jessica 3. Ashley 4. Jennifer 5. Amanda 6. Samantha 7. Nicole 8. Christina 9. Melissa 10. Michelle
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Jonathan 4. Anthony 5. David 6. Daniel 7. Joseph 8. Matthew 9. John 10. Andrew
1985
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1985.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1985)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1985)
1. Jennifer 2. Jessica 3. Christina 4. Stephanie 5. Melissa 6. Nicole 7. Elizabeth 8. Amanda 9. Danielle 10. Lauren
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Daniel 4. David 5. Anthony 6. Joseph 7. Jonathan 8. Jason 9. John 10. Robert
1980
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1980.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1980)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1980)
1. Jennifer 2. Jessica 3. Melissa 4. Nicole 5. Michelle 6. Elizabeth 7. Lisa 8. Christina 9. Tiffany 10. Maria
1. Michael 2. David 3. Jason 4. Joseph 5. Christopher 6. Anthony 7. John 8. Daniel 9. Robert 10. James
1948
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1948.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1948)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1948)
1. Linda 2. Mary 3. Barbara 4. Patricia 5. Susan 6. Kathleen 7. Carol 8. Nancy 9. Margaret 10. Diane
1. Robert 2. John 3. James 4. Michael 5. William 6. Richard 7. Joseph 8. Thomas 9. Stephen 10. David
1928
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1928.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1928)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1928)
1. Mary 2. Marie 3. Annie 4. Margaret 5. Catherine 6. Gloria 7. Helen 8. Teresa 9. Joan 10. Barbara
1. John 2. William 3. Joseph 4. James 5. Richard 6. Edward 7. Robert 8. Thomas 9. George 10. Louis
1898
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1898.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1898)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1898)
1. Mary 2. Catherine 3. Margaret 4. Annie 5. Rose 6. Marie 7. Esther 8. Sarah 9. Frances 10. Ida
1. John 2. William 3. Charles 4. George 5. Joseph 6. Edward 7. James 8. Louis 9. Francis 10. Samuel
NYC typically waits until the following December to release their baby name rankings, so I don’t expect the 2020 rankings to be available until the end of this year.
It’s now more than a decade since Congolese job hopeful Guy Goma found himself offering his not-so-expert analysis of a legal dispute between Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and Apple Corp, The Beatles’ record label, over trademark rights.
Goma, after arriving at the BBC’s West London headquarters for an interview for a job in the IT department on May 8, 2006, was mistaken for a studio guest, British technology journalist Guy Kewney, and ushered all the way into a live BBC News 24 studio.
This was Guy Goma’s unplanned TV appearance:
[The mix-up happened just a couple of months after I started this name blog, incidentally.]
From a 1979 People article about the “eerie similarities” between two Ohio men who discovered, at age 39, that they were twins separated at birth:
Curiously, both had been christened James by their adoptive parents [who lived 40 miles apart]. As schoolboys, both enjoyed math and carpentry — but hated spelling. Both pursued similar adult occupations: Lewis is a security guard at a steel mill, and Springer was a deputy sheriff (though he is now a clerk for a power company). Both married women named Linda, only to divorce and remarry — each a woman named Betty. Both have sons: James Alan Lewis and James Allan Springer.
Penn Jillette, speaking to contestant Paul Gertner during a mid-2020 episode of Penn & Teller: Fool Us:
You gave me this pen. And you gave me the pen with a joke — a joke about my name. You said, “Here’s a pen, Penn.”
When I was in grade school, it would be, “Hey Penn, got a pencil?” “Hey Penn, how’s pencil?” I should have an index of all those pen jokes that were told to me. I’d have over fifty, maybe more than that. It was amazing.
On the name of activist/environmentalist MaVynee Betsch (1935-2005):
Even her name, pronounced “Ma-veen,” requires a politically charged translation. Christened Marvyne, Betsch added an extra e for the environment, and dropped the r in the 1980s to protest the environmental policies of the Reagan administration.
My family had chosen “Linda” in part because it sounded incontrovertibly American to their Soviet ears, practically an idiom of assimilation unto itself. According to a 2018 study, it is the “trendiest” name in U.S. history, having experienced a sharp rise and precipitous fall in popularity amid the postwar baby boom. By naming me Linda, my parents hoped they were conferring an easy American life upon me, a life free of mispronunciations and mistakes. For them, such a life would be forever out of reach.
[…]
Most of the Lindas I have encountered in my age group are also millennial daughters of immigrants; our name is a reminder of our parents’ aspirations and of the immense promise with which our name is laden.
As a 61-year-old man, I have suffered all my life with the name Lynn. My mother simply named me after a little-known celebrity of the early 50s because she wanted a name that was not capable of being shortened. For a while I had people such as Welsh long jumper Lynn Davies to allay the perpetual claims that “it was a girl’s name”. But this led others to believe that it had to be of Welsh derivation. But there are no new male “Lynns” to correct either opinion. All this despite the fact that in the 1930s and 1940s, I believe that Lynn was more popular as a man’s name – especially in America. ~Lynn Jonathan Prescott, Birmingham
From the 2009 book Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity by Leigh H. Edwards:
In [the autobiography] Cash, he explicitly addresses how he represents his identity differently in different contexts, noting how he uses different names for the different “Cashes” he played in different social settings, stating that he “operate[s] at various levels.” He stages a struggle between “Johnny Cash” the hell-rais[ing], hotel-trashing, pill-popping worldwide star and “John R. Cash,” a more subdued, adult persona.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Tiki culture — including Tiki bars — were all the rage in the United States. Even Disneyland got in on the action, introducing the Enchanted Tiki Room in 1963.
So it’s not terribly surprising the that the baby name Tiki emerged in the SSA data in the early 1960s:
1964: 12 baby girls named Tiki
1963: 9 baby girls named Tiki
1962: 5 baby girls named Tiki
1961: unlisted
1960: 15 baby girls named Tiki [debut]
1959: unlisted
But that rather impressive 1960 debut — and subsequent drop-off a year later– suggests that a specific event kicked off the initial usage of Tiki.
I’ve got two theories on this one.
First is the Hawaiian Eye episode “Fatal Cruise,” which aired in February of 1960 and featured actress Linda Lawson as a character named Tiki.
The schooner Tiki
Second is the show Adventures in Paradise, in which the main character, Capt. Adam Troy, travels around the South Pacific on a schooner called the Tiki.
(Adventures in Paradise, which kicked off the names Sondi and Tiare, was created by writer James Michener, who was behind the debuts of Sayonara and Kerith.)
The first theory makes the most sense, because Hawaiian Eye associated the name with a (very pretty) human. But I don’t think we can discount the second theory, because Adventures in Paradise consistently presented “Tiki” as a name…even if it was just the name of a boat.
So where does the word tiki come from? It was used in the Marquesas and in New Zealand to refer to any carving with human features. (The equivalent word in Hawaiian is ki’i and in Tahitian is ti’i.) Originally, though, Tiki was a specific mythological figure: “the Polynesian Adam, the creator of man…sort of half-man and half-god.”
The rare baby name Sugar has an interesting pattern of usage in the U.S. data. It appeared as a boy name during the ’50s, then switched to a girl name in the ’60s—except for an interesting one-year return to the boys’ list in the ’80s.
Usage of Sugar
The initial appearance in 1951 was no doubt influenced by boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, who fought professionally from the ’40s to the ’60s. A number of the 1950s Sugars had “Ray” and “R.” in the middle spot, according to records.
1955: 5 baby boys named Sugar
1954: unlisted
1953: 6 baby boys named Sugar
1952: 7 baby boys named Sugar
1951: 5 baby boys named Sugar [debut]
1950: unlisted
1949: unlisted
Interestingly, he was retired throughout 1953 and most of 1954. (He tried to launch a career as a tap-dancing entertainer during that time.)
The switcheroo in the ’60s was influenced by something a little more obscure: a character in the 1965 movie Beach Blanket Bingo. The film starred Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, but also featured a singing character named Sugar Kane (played by Linda Evans).
1967: unlisted
1966: unlisted
1965: 6 baby girls named Sugar
1964: unlisted
1963: unlisted
That was the only ’60s appearance, but the name came back for all of the ’70s. Two pop culture influences that probably helped usage roll along during that decade were the 1971 song “Brown Sugar” by the Rolling Stones and the 1974 movie Sugar Hill, starring Marki Bey (who had put the name Marki on the map several years earlier) as the title character.
Finally, there’s that anomalous, single-year return to the boys’ side of the list:
1982: 5 baby girls named Sugar
1981: 11 baby boys named Sugar
1980: 5 baby girls named Sugar
My best guess here is boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, who fought from the ’70s to the ’90s. The specific reason might have been “The Showdown” — his highly publicized fight against Thomas Hearns in September of 1981.
What are your thoughts on “Sugar” as a name? Do you think of it more as a girl name or as a boy name?
P.S. Sugar Ray Robinson was born Walker Smith. Sugar Ray Leonard was born Ray Charles Leonard — named after the singer, then nicknamed after the original Sugar Ray.
Some thought he was arrogant when [Sugar Ray Leonard] usurped the nickname Sugar Ray, after the man many consider boxing’s best fighter, pound-for-pound. But not the one person who counted.
“I’m gratified he’s using my name,” Sugar Ray Robinson said. “It’s great when kids think enough of you to use your name.”
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