The word jinx means “curse” or “hex,” but that hasn’t stopped parents from using it as a baby name!
After the silent Western Galloping Jinx came out in 1925, 6 baby girls (at least) got the name Jinx in 1926.
The name then dropped back out of the U.S. baby name data. It didn’t re-emerge until Eugenia “Jinx” Falkenburg — a model, actress, and early talk-show host — started to become famous in the early 1940s.
- 1945: 7 baby girls named Jinx
- 1944: 9 baby girls named Jinx
- 1943: 7 baby girls named Jinx
- 1942: unlisted
- 1941: unlisted
Her childhood nickname, “Jinx,” had been coined by her mother, tennis champion Marguerite (“Mickey”), who said, rather paradoxically, that “she thought it would bring the girl good fortune.” Her father, an engineer named Eugene, already had dibs on the nickname “Genie.”
Jinx must have loved her nickname, because she tried to make her full legal name “Jinx” in early 1942. Her lawyer argued that a shorter name on the marquee would help support the war effort:
The name Falkenburg requires 150 light bulbs, which in one evening will use enough electrical power to aid in the production of 26,00 [sic] pounds of aluminum or illuminate a city of 105,000 population.
But Judge Emmet H. Wilson “ruled there is no legal precedent to such dramatic shortening” of a name. So Jinx settled for dropping her birth name Eugenia and making her full legal name Jinx Falkenburg.
Jinx, who began her career as a model and actress, “pioneered the talk show format on radio and television” with her husband, Texas-born John Reagan “Tex” McCrary. Their first radio program was a morning program called “Hi Jinx.”
What are your thoughts on Jinx as a personal name?
Sources:
- “Jinx Falkenburg Name Legal.” New York Times 15 Aug. 1942.
- Jinx Falkenburg – Wikipedia
- “Short Name Asked To Help Defense.” St. Petersburg Times 13 Mar. 1942: 19.
- Thurber, Jon. “Jinx Falkenburg, 84; Model and Actress Later Pioneered Talk Show.” Los Angeles Times 29 Aug. 2003.
P.S. Gwili, Sivi, and Donivee are three more forgotten Hollywood actresses who left their mark on the U.S. baby name charts.
