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 Jordache come from in 1980?

Jordache commercial
Jordache commercial

Young people have been wearing jeans since the 1950s, thanks to the influence of jeans-wearing movie stars like Marlon Brando, James Dean and Paul Newman.

But designer jeans didn’t catch on until the late 1970s.

Designer jeans, made for the dance floor and the roller-disco rink, were tighter, sexier, and more sophisticated. Their hallmarks were instantly recognizable: a covetable name and logo on the back pocket, a high price, and a curve-hugging fit.

And what brand went on to become one of the most popular designer jean brands of the 1980s?

Jordache (pronounced JOR-dash).

Jordache Logo
Jordache Logo

The Jordache Jeans label was created in New York City in 1978 by Israeli brothers Josef (Joe), Raphael (Ralph) and Abraham (Avi) Nakash.

The word Jordache was created from the “Jo” of Joe, the “R” of Ralph, the “D” of David (Ralph’s eldest son), the “A” of Avi, and sh-sound of Nakash.

The brothers had built up a small chain of stores selling brand-name jeans at discounted prices during the ’70s, but during the New York City blackout of 1977, their largest store was looted and burned down. With the insurance settlement, they decided to start manufacturing their own jeans.

But designer jeans by Calvin Klein, Gloria Vanderbilt, Chic, Sergio Valente, Sasson, Zena, Bon Jour, and others were already on the market. To differentiate themselves, the bothers launched a controversial advertising campaign for Jordache Jeans in January of 1979.

Banned by all three major television networks at first, the 1979 30-second spot featured a topless model on horseback clad only in Jordache and accompanied by the jingle “You’ve got the look I want to know better.”

The ad may have been too lewd for the big networks, “but the independent New York stations carried it, and within weeks Jordache was a hit among teenage girls.”

And so, by the start of the 1980s, Jordache was huge.

How huge?

So huge that it became a baby name.

Jordache first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1980:

  • 1982: unlisted
  • 1981: 8 baby boys named Jordache
  • 1980: 12 baby boys named Jordache [debut]
  • 1979: unlisted
  • 1978: unlisted

But the baby name Jordache didn’t catch on. It made the list three more times during the ’80s, then dropped off, never to return.

I find it really interesting that Jordache, a fashion brand, was use more often as a boy name than as a girl name. (I have found a handful of females with the name, so they do exist.)

What do you think — does the name “Jordache” seem masculine or feminine to you?

Sources:

Top image: Screenshot of Jordache commercial

Baby name story: Thursday October Christian

Mutiny on the Bounty

On April 5, 1789, the HMS Bounty began sailing back to England from Tahiti with its cargo of breadfruit plants. Three weeks and 1,300 miles later, mutiny broke out.

The mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, took control of the ship. They sent commanding officer Lt. William Bligh and the rest of the crew out on a small boat.

The mutineers returned to Tahiti. Most stayed there. The rest sailed on to Pitcairn Island, bringing with them a group of kidnapped Tahitian women.

The first baby born to the mutineers and their Tahitian wives was Fletcher Christian’s son. He arrived in mid-October, 1790, on what was thought to be a Thursday, so he was named Thursday October Christian.

The choice of name is perhaps emblematic of a willingness to forgo the past by not using a name common in the Christian family whilst not choosing to adopt a name more redolent of a Polynesian present and future.

Subsequent babies born to the mutineers were given common English names. Thursday October’s younger siblings, for instance, were Charles and Mary.

In mid-1814, toward the end of the War of 1812, a pair of British warships happened to spot Pitcairn.

Thursday October Christian came aboard one of the ships and was sketched by Lt. John Shillibeer. The men on the warships had discovered that the Islanders’ calendar was set a day too fast, so Shillibeer tried to correct the discrepancy by captioning the sketch “Friday Fletcher October Christian.”

"Friday Fletcher October Christian" (Thursday October Christian)

If this adjustment was done to make the name of Pitcairn’s first-born conform to the Western or American date, the sketch should have been captioned “Wednesday October Christian.” The name change in Shillibeer’s account (which gained wide circulation) was to bedevil a host of subsequent writers.

Thursday October Christian (1790-1831) had seven children, the seventh of whom was named Thursday October Christian II.

Thursday October II (1820-1911) went on to have 17 children, but did not pass the name down again.

P.S. The movie Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) starred Marlon Brando and Tarita.

Sources:

  • Bartky, Ian R. One Time Fits All: The Campaigns for Global Uniformity. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2007.
  • Lewis, Andrew. “Pitcairn’s Tortured Past: A Legal History.” Justice, Legality and the Rule of Law: Lessons from the Pitcairn Prosecutions. Ed. Dawn Oliver. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 39-62.

Where did the baby name Sacheen come from in 1973?

Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather (at the Oscars in 1973)
Sacheen Littlefeather

Marlon Brando won an Oscar for his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972).

But he didn’t accept it.

Instead, he sent a Native American woman named Sacheen (pronounced sah-SHEEN) Littlefeather to the Academy Awards ceremony, which was held in early 1973. Sacheen refused the Oscar on Brando’s behalf, citing “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.”

Right on cue, over two dozen babies are named Sacheen in 1973:

  • 1975: 14 baby girls named Sacheen
  • 1974: 25 baby girls named Sacheen
  • 1973: 26 baby girls named Sacheen [debut]
  • 1972: unlisted
  • 1971: unlisted

Where does the name come from?

According to Sacheen’s website, she was born Marie Cruz to an Apache father and a mother of mixed European descent. (She was named Marie after her maternal grandmother.)

While participating in the Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-1971), her “Navajo friends nicknamed her “Sacheen,” a word she says means “little bear.” She liked the name and took it.”

Several online sources tell me that the Navajo word for “bear” is commonly written shash or shush, and these are similar to the Sach- of Sacheen’s name. But the Navajo words for “little” are yaz (yáázh) and yazzie (yázhí), neither of which resemble -een, so I’m not sure where the second part of her name comes from.

How do you feel about the name Sacheen?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of the TV broadcast of the 45th Academy Awards

Where did the baby name Tarita come from in 1961?

Tarita Teri'ipia, third wife of Marlon Brando
Tarita Teri’ipia

In 1962, Brando swapped Movita for Tarita.

Marlon Brando divorced his second wife, Movita, to be with his Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) co-star, 20-year-old Bora Bora native Tarita Teri’ipia. Their common-law marriage lasted from 1962 to 1972.

Tarita Teriipia had been making headlines since early 1961. (A LIFE article published in March dubbed her the “Cinderella of the South Seas.”) So it’s not surprising that 1961 is the year we see the name Tarita debut in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1963: 31 baby girls named Tarita
  • 1962: 19 baby girls named Tarita
  • 1961: 29 baby girls named Tarita [debut]
  • 1960: unlisted
  • 1959: unlisted

No doubt the initial usage was due to the movie (and the press surrounding the movie). But the continued usage was likely influenced by Tarita’s relationship with Brando, as she didn’t appear in any films after Mutiny on the Bounty.

About 200 more babies were named Tarita in the ’70s and ’80s, but the name stopped appearing in the SSA’s data after 1989.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Life magazine (17 Mar. 1961)