How popular is the baby name Marlon 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 Marlon.

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Popularity of the baby name Marlon


Posts that mention the name Marlon

Where did the baby name Morningstar come from in 1973?

Wounded Knee poster (AIM, 1973)

In 1973, from February 27 until May 8, American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and Oglala Lakota occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The standoff lasted 71 days, and both the activists and the federal government were armed. Gunfire wounded several people on each side and ultimately killed two of the occupiers.

The first victim was 48-year-old activist Frank Clearwater, who had hitchhiked to Wounded Knee with his pregnant wife Morning Star, 37. They arrived on April 16, Frank was shot in the head on April 17, and he died in the hospital on April 25. The news of his death was widely reported.

The same year, the baby name Morningstar appeared in the U.S. baby name data for the very first time:

  • 1976: unlisted
  • 1975: 9 baby girls named Morningstar
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: 8 baby girls named Morningstar [debut]
  • 1972: unlisted
  • 1971: unlisted

(The SSA data omits spaces, so some these babies may have been named “Morning Star.”)

Supporters of the Indian movement extolled Frank. The 1973 folk song “The Ballad of Frank Clearwater,” for instance, refers to Frank as an “Apache who longed to be free.”

But Frank’s background remains unclear. Some sources said he was Apache, while others said he was Cherokee. Some sources said he was from North Carolina, while others said he was from from Oklahoma.

One thing that is clear about Frank is his legal name: “Frank J. Clear.”

Morning Star’s name may have similarly been invented. And it’s possible that neither she nor Frank was Native American — that they were simply people who (like Marlon Brando) supported the American Indian Movement, and who chose to go by Indian-sounding names as a sign of solidarity.

We may never know Morning Star’s true identity, or what became of her (or her baby) after 1973. But her name — be it real or assumed — lives on in the U.S. baby name data…

Sources:

Image: Prevent a 2nd massacre at Wounded Knee (LOC)

Where did the baby name Franchot come from in 1934?

Actor Franchot Tone in the movie "Today We Live" (1933)
Franchot Tone in “Today We Live”

Uniquely named female film stars were inspiring debuts on the baby name charts as early as the 1910s, starting with Francelia in 1912.

But the first male film star to inspire a baby name debut didn’t come along until the 1930s.

That film star was actor Franchot Tone. He shot to fame in 1933, the year he appeared in seven films — including one with Jean Harlow, another with Loretta Young, and two with Joan Crawford (his future wife).

The name Franchot debuted in the U.S. baby name data the very next year:

  • 1937: 10 baby boys named Franchot
  • 1936: 21 baby boys named Franchot [peak usage]
  • 1935: 6 baby boys named Franchot
  • 1934: 9 baby boys named Franchot [debut]
  • 1933: unlisted
  • 1934: unlisted

In fact, it was one of the top baby name debuts of 1934.

The usage of Franchot peaked in 1936, the year Tone appeared in the very successful 1935 film Mutiny on the Bounty. (Movita, Marlon Brando’s future wife, was also in the film.)

Franchot Tone’s birth name was Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone. Franchot, pronounced fran-show, was his mother’s maiden name. It’s one of the many names (and surnames) that can be traced back to the Late Latin Franciscus, meaning “Frankish” or “Frenchman.”

What do you think of the baby name Franchot?

Sources: Franchot Tone – Wikipedia, SSA

What brought the baby name Stedman back in 1987?

Stedman Graham on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (in 1989)
Stedman Graham on “The Oprah Winfrey Show“

According to Wikipedia, Stedman Graham is an “educator, author, businessman and speaker.” But, without Wikipedia’s help, how would you describe Stedman? That’s right: “Oprah’s boyfriend.”

Oprah began dating Stedman Graham in mid-1986, a few months before The Oprah Winfrey Show premiered. We’ve already seen how the name Oprah debuted in the U.S. baby name data that year, but did you know that the talk show gave the baby name Stedman a boost as well?

  • 1990: 38 baby boys named Stedman
  • 1989: 82 baby boys named Stedman (peak usage)
  • 1988: 29 baby boys named Stedman
  • 1987: 20 baby boys named Stedman
  • 1986: unlisted
  • 1985: unlisted

Not only did “Stedman” reappear in the data in 1987 after a 48-year absence, but, the following year, the name Steadman similarly re-emerged, and the names Stedmen, Stedmon and Stedmond all appeared for the very first time.

And what accounts for the Stedman spike of 1989?

In February of that year, Stedman appeared as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show for the first time. The episode was about “men who marry or date famous women, and how they cope with it.” The other guests were actress Susan Lucci and her husband Helmut, and singer Barbara Mandrell and her husband Ken.

While usage of the name Stedman has tapered off since 1989, the relationship between Oprah and Stedman is still going strong nearly 3 decades later. They attended the Oscars together last month, in fact.

Stedman is one several “significant other” baby names I’ve spotted in the SSA’s baby name data so far. Others include Josanne, Movita and Tarita (all associated with Marlon Brando), Syreeta and Londie (both associated with Stevie Wonder), Loray and Altovise (both associated with Sammy Davis, Jr.), one-hit wonder Kayatana (girlfriend of Flip Wilson), Marva (first wife of Joe Louis) and Sonji (first wife of Muhammad Ali). Stedman is unique, though, in that it’s a male name that was popularized by a famous female — not a common scenario, it seems.

Sources: Stedman Graham – Wikipedia, Oprah’s Beau Drops In Her Main Squeeze Meets Star’s Tv ‘Family’, SSA

Image: Screenshot of The Oprah Winfrey Show

Where did the baby name Jorel come from in 1979?

The character Jor-El (played by Marlon Brando) in the movie "Superman" (1978)
Jor-El in “Superman“

The name Jorel first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1979:

  • 1981: 27 baby boys named Jorel
  • 1980: 10 baby boys named Jorel
  • 1979: 22 baby boys named Jorel [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

It was highest-debuting boy name of the year, in fact.

Where did it come from?

The movie Superman, which, despite being released in mid-December of 1978, was the second-highest-grossing film of the year. (The highest-grossing film, Grease, came out in June.)

Superman’s father, Kryptonian scientist Jor-El (played by Marlon Brando), wasn’t on-screen long before the planet Krypton was destroyed. Still, he made enough of an impression that nearly two dozen babies were named in his honor.

(The SSA strips hyphens out of the data, so there’s no telling just how many of these baby Jorels were actually named “Jor-El.”)

Interestingly, the name has been in the data every year since:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Jorel in the U.S. since 1880.
Usage of the baby name Jorel

Usage peaked in the mid-1980s, then started petering out…until the early 2000s, when it bounced back. Why? Perhaps the combined influence of the TV show Smallville (2001-2011) and the film Superman Returns (2006).

The name saw it’s second-highest year of usage in 2014, following the release of the movie Man of Steel (2013), in which Jor-El was played by Russell Crowe.

What’s your opinion of the name Jor-El?

Sources: Superman (1978 film) – Wikipedia, SSA

Image: Screenshot of Superman