How popular is the baby name Marianne 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 Marianne.

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Popularity of the baby name Marianne


Posts that mention the name Marianne

What gave the baby name Marianne a boost in 1957?

Terry Gilkyson and the Easy Riders' song "Marianne" (1957)
“Marianne” single

According to the U.S. baby name data, name Marianne nearly doubled in usage in 1957:

  • 1959: 1,915 baby girls named Marianne [rank: 186th]
  • 1958: 2,076 baby girls named Marianne [rank: 181st]
  • 1957: 3,021 baby girls named Marianne [rank: 139th]
  • 1956: 1,617 baby girls named Marianne [rank: 202nd]
  • 1955: 1,747 baby girls named Marianne [rank: 191st]

Why?

Because of the calypso song “Marianne,” which became popular during the first months of the year (during America’s short-lived “calypso craze,” which had been kicked off by Harry Belafonte’s mid-1956 album Calypso).

“Marianne” [vid] by folk music trio Terry Gilkyson and the Easy Riders was released during the final days of 1956. It was based on the calypso song “Mary Ann” (1946) by Trinidadian calypsonian Roaring Lion (birth name: Rafael de Leon), though its lyrics were substantially different.

During the months that followed, other artists (including Burl Ives) released their own recordings of “Marianne.” The most successful cover was that by The Hilltoppers, who performed the song live on The Steve Allen Show in late February.

In mid-March, the recordings of “Marianne” by the Easy Riders and the Hilltoppers peaked at #5 and #8 (respectively) on Billboard‘s Top 100 chart (a precursor to today’s Hot 100 chart).

What are your thoughts on the name Marianne?

Sources:

Popular baby names on Nantucket, 2023

Flag of Massachusetts
Flag of Massachusetts

The Massachusetts island of Nantucket, which sits about 30 miles off the coast Cape Cod, is home to over 14,000 year-round residents (though the population “swells to around 80,000 or more” during July and August).

According to the Nantucket Town Clerk’s office, a total of 158 babies were born on the island in 2023. But we only have access to the names of 108 of these babies. Why?

[B]ecause of a Massachusetts law that separates birth certificates based on the parent’s marital status. If the parents were not married at the time of the birth or the father is not named on the record, the birth certificate is considered a restricted record and is not public.

So, out of the 108 known names, which were the most popular? For girls it was a tie between Leah and Sarah (given to two babies each), and for boys it was a tie between Grayson and Lucas (also given to two babies each).

The 100 other babies were given 100 single-use names:

Archibald, Abigail, Abraham, Alejandro, Alister, Alyssa, Alvaro, Amina, Andrew, Asher, Aurora, Bayard, Beckett, Benjaminas, Brenda, Callan, Carter, Catherine, Cameron, Charlotte, Christiaan, Colin, Cole, Cooper, Curren, Damien, Daniel, Debora, Eden, Edwin, Edward, Emilia, Emma, Enzo, Evelyn, Ezra, Fabian, Fae, Fiona, Gaby, Gabriella, Greydon, Griffyn, Harbor, Henry, Israel, Jacob, Jaden, James, Jantyah, Jefferson, Joshua, Julie, Justina, Kairi, Kiara, Lakelyn, La’Klia, Larkin, Latifa, Leon, Liv, Luna, Lydia, Mabel, Madison, Marianne, Marlow, Matheus, Maverick, Max, Mia, Mila, Milo, Miles, Mukhammadyusuf, Nia, Penelope, Quinn, River, Robin, Roman, Samir, Scarlett, Sergio, Shay, Shepard, Silverio, Skye, Stephanie, Sullivan, Theodore, Therdore, Tiller, Timothy, Wilder, William, Yasna, Yvonne, Zaniyah

Tiller caught my eye — it may have come from the English surname (which originally referred to someone who tilled the soil), but, given the location, I’m hoping it was inspired by the tiller of a boat. Maybe Tiller will become the boaters’ version of Taylor/Tyler? :)

Olivia and Liam — the top names in Boston last year — are nowhere to be found on Nantucket’s list, interestingly.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Massachusetts (public domain)

Where did the baby name Carrieanne come from in 1968?

The Hollies single "Carrie Anne" (1967)
The Hollies single

The song “Carrie Anne” by the British band The Hollies came out in May of 1967. It had been written by band member Graham Nash about singer Marianne Faithfull, but Graham was too shy to use Marianne’s real name in the lyrics, so “Carrie Anne” was substituted. The song peaked at #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart a few months later, in August.

The same year, various versions of the name debuted in the U.S. baby name data. It wasn’t until the next year, though, that the spelling Carrie Anne finally showed up:

Name1966196719681969
Carrieann.20*2718
Kariann.171720
Carianne.11*89
Karianne.6*1917
Cariann.5*1316
Carriann.5*8.
Carrianne..10*5
Carrieanne..7*6
Totals:.6410991
*Debut

Here’s the band performing the song in 1969. (Graham Nash had moved on to Crosby, Stills & Nash by this point, so he’s not part of the performance.)

Similar names featuring “Kerry,” like Kerrianne, also saw higher usage in the late ’60s. Three of these Kerry-variants (Kerryanne, Kerianne, & Keriann) debuted in ’68.

One non-U.S baby who was named Carrie Anne in 1967 was Canadian actress Carrie-Anne Moss, who went on to star in The Matrix as Trinity — the character that popularized the baby name Trinity impressively during the early 2000s.

The song was also one of the factors behind the swift rise of the name Carrie during the 1970s:

  • 1972: 5422 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1971: 5976 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1970: 4976 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1969: 3887 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1968: 3978 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1967: 3196 baby girls named Carrie
  • 1966: 2475 baby girls named Carrie

“Carrie Anne” kicked things off, but the rise was later fueled by actress Caroline “Carrie” Snodgress of the film Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), the Stephen King book Carrie (1974), and the book-based movie Carrie (1976) — which featured Piper Laurie and a young John Travolta.

The baby name Carrie saw peak usage in 1976 and 1977, reaching 28th place in the rankings both years.

Do you like the name Carrie? How about the combo Carrie Anne?

Sources: The Hollies, Carrie-Anne, Chart History | Billboard, Carrie Anne – Wikipedia, Who’s that girl? Meet the muses who inspired some of our most iconic pop songs – Daily Mail

Where did the baby name Deshannon come from in 1969?

Jackie DeShannon album "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (1969).
Jackie DeShannon album

Right around the time the name Shannon was seeing a steep rise in usage, the name Deshannon debuted in the U.S. baby name data:

Girls named ShannonGirls named Deshannon
197210,965
[rank: 22nd]		14
197112,651
[rank: 21st]		12
197013,548
[rank: 22nd]		13
196910,448
[rank: 31st]		12*
19686,402
[rank: 53rd]		.
19673,446
[rank: 101st]		.
19662,992
[rank: 120th]		.
*Debut

The influence? Singer Jackie DeShannon, whose biggest hit, “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” peaked at #4 on Billboard‘s “Hot 100” chart in the summer of 1969.

But this wasn’t DeShannon’s first hit. She’d already seen success with the Burt Bacharach song “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” which had peaked at #7 in the summer of 1965.

So it seems that sudden trendiness of “Shannon” was the x-factor that prepared expectant parents to see more name-potential in “DeShannon” the second time around.

The singer’s birth name was Sharon Lee Myers. She went through various stage names before settling on “Jackie DeShannon.” “Jackie” was chosen because it was gender-neutral, while “DeShannon” was created out of two earlier ideas: “Dee,” which, by itself, made the full name too close to ones already in use (like Sandra Dee and Brenda Lee), and “de Shannon,” which was often written incorrectly.

DeShannon also had a successful career as a songwriter, working with performers like Jimmy Page and Marianne Faithfull. In 1982, she received the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for “Bette Davis Eyes,” which she had co-written with Donna Weiss. (The song was a 1981 hit for singer Kim Carnes.)

How do you like DeShannon as a baby name?

Sources: What The World Needs Now Is Jackie DeShannon, Jackie DeShannon – Wikipedia