How popular is the baby name Mary 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 Mary.

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Popularity of the baby name Mary


Posts that mention the name Mary

What gave the baby name Thomasina a boost in 1964?

Title of the movie "The Three Lives of Thomasina" (1963)
“The Three Lives of Thomasina“

According to the U.S. baby name data, usage of the name Thomasina (pronounced tom-ah-SEE-nah) increased in 1964 and peaked two years later:

  • 1967: 59 baby girls named Thomasina
  • 1966: 85 baby girls named Thomasina (peak usage)
  • 1965: 75 baby girls named Thomasina
  • 1964: 76 baby girls named Thomasina
  • 1963: 46 baby girls named Thomasina
  • 1962: 51 baby girls named Thomasina

What was influencing this name in the mid-1960s?

The live-action Disney movie The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963), which went into wide release in June of 1964.

The Three Lives of Thomasina was set in early 20th century Scotland and featured an orange tabby cat named Thomasina (whose voice-overs were performed by English actress Elspeth March).

At the start of the film, Thomasina lived with 7-year-old Mary MacDhui and Mary’s widowed father. After going through a traumatic experience, though, Thomasina not only became separated from Mary, but also lost her memory. Would she ever find her way back home?

In November of 1965, over the course of three weeks, The Three Lives of Thomasina was broadcast on television as part of Disney’s popular anthology series (known as Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color during most of the ’60s).

What are your thoughts on the name Thomasina?

P.S. The name Perri was also influenced by an animal in a live-action Disney movie…

Sources: The Three Lives of Thomasina – Wikipedia, List of Walt Disney anthology television series episodes (seasons 1–29) – Wikipedia, SSA

Image: Screenshot of The Three Lives of Thomasina

What gave the baby name Mercedes a boost in 1989?

The character Mercedes Lane from the movie "License to Drive" (1988)
Mercedes Lane from “License to Drive“

The name Mercedes, which has featured in the U.S. baby name data since the very beginning, saw a steep rise in usage during the late 1980s and early 1990s:

  • 1992: 1,729 baby girls named Mercedes [rank: 178th]
  • 1991: 1,798 baby girls named Mercedes [rank: 164th]
  • 1990: 1,654 baby girls named Mercedes [rank: 176th]
  • 1989: 1,219 baby girls named Mercedes [rank: 224th]
  • 1988: 609 baby girls named Mercedes [rank: 395th]
  • 1987: 427 baby girls named Mercedes [rank: 501st]
  • 1986: 385 baby girls named Mercedes [rank: 530th]

What triggered the increase?

I think the answer is a combination of two different things.

The initial influence was the Pebbles song “Mercedes Boy” [vid], in which the singer repeatedly asks, “Do you wanna ride in my Mercedes, boy?” The song was released as a single in March of 1988 and ranked #2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for two weeks in July.

Pebbles' single "Mercedes Boy" (1988)
Pebbles single

The second influence was a character from the teen comedy License to Drive, which came out in theaters in July of 1988. Mercedes Lane (played by Heather Graham) was the crush of main character Les Anderson (played by Corey Haim) — who wasn’t going to let the fact that he’d failed his driver’s exam stop him from taking Mercedes out on a date in his grandfather’s prized Cadillac.

The License to Drive soundtrack didn’t include “Mercedes Boy,” but viewers could hear more than a minute of the song during a scene in which Les was out driving with his father.

The name Mercedes means “mercies” in Spanish. It comes from Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, one of the many titles of the Virgin Mary.

The name came to be associated with cars in the first years of the 1900s. Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek ordered a racing car (built to his specifications) from German manufacturer Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in 1900, and he dubbed the car “Mercedes” in honor of his daughter Mercédès (b. 1889). The car became so successful that, in 1902, DMG began using “Mercedes” as the official trade name of its entire line of cars.

What are your thoughts on the name Mercedes?

Sources: Mercedes Boy – Wikipedia, Billboard Hot 100 for the week of 9 Jul. 1988, License to Drive – Wikipedia, Emil Jellinek – Wikipedia, SSA

Top image: Screenshot of License to Drive

What gave the baby name Corliss a boost in the 1920s?

Movie actress Corliss Palmer (1899-1952)
Corliss Palmer

According to the U.S. baby name data, the uncommon name Corliss started seeing more usage in the early 1920s:

  • 1924: 30 baby girls named Corliss
  • 1923: 25 baby girls named Corliss
  • 1922: 21 baby girls named Corliss
  • 1921: 6 baby girls named Corliss
  • 1920: 6 baby girls named Corliss

Why?

Because of Corliss Palmer, a Georgia-born actress who was best known for her association with a married millionaire.

In 1920, Corliss entered the “Fame and Fortune” contest being advertised in a trio of fan magazines: Motion Picture Magazine, Motion Picture Classic, and Shadowland.

All three of these magazines were published by wealthy businessman Eugene V. Brewster, who hoped that hosting the annual contest would help him discover “prospective stars.” (The contest did, in fact, launch the careers of Glenda Farrell, Mary Astor, and Clara Bow.)

Corliss was declared the winner of the contest in early 1921, and, for the next few years, Brewster promoted her heavily in his magazines. She was the subject of numerous articles, and her name and image were used to advertise products like face powder and perfume.

More significantly, Corliss and Brewster became romantically involved. Corliss even moved into Brewster’s home — much to the chagrin of Brewster’s wife.

News of the affair broke when Mrs. Brewster filed a separation suit against her husband in late 1922. She named Corliss in the suit.

Corliss Palmer and Eugene V. Brewster (in 1924)
Corliss Palmer and Eugene V. Brewster

Further developments — such as Brewster buying a quarter-million dollar estate in New Jersey to share with Corliss in January of 1924, and Mrs. Brewster suing Corliss for alienation of affection three months later — kept Corliss Palmer in the headlines for several years.

Finally, in late 1926, Brewster — whose wife had refused to grant him a divorce — went go Mexico and got one anyway. The next day, he married Corliss.

Soon after, it was announced that the lawsuits had been settled out of court, and that Brewster had sold his movie magazines as part of the settlement.

During the latter half of the 1920s, Corliss appeared in a string of grade-B movies, usually as a secondary character.

In 1931, amid the Great Depression, Brewster filed for bankruptcy. Corliss and Brewster separated in 1932, and divorced in 1933.

The newspapers claimed that the actress’s full name was Corliss Modena Palmer, but she’s listed as “Helen” on the 1900 U.S. Census (as a one-year-old) and as “Caroline” on the 1910 U.S. Census.

The English surname Corliss derives from an Old Norse word meaning “careless” (i.e., a nickname for a carefree person). What are your thoughts on Corliss as a first name?

Sources:

Image: Clippings from Motion Picture Classic (Dec. 1920) and the Americus Times-Recorder (3 Dec. 1924)

Where did the baby name Lux come from in 2001?

The character Lux Lisbon from the movie "The Virgin Suicides" (1999)
Lux Lisbon from “The Virgin Suicides“

The modern name Lux debuted in the U.S. baby name data during the first year of the 21st century:

  • 2003: 14 baby girls named Lux
  • 2002: 16 baby girls named Lux
  • 2001: 9 baby girls and 5 baby boys named Lux [dual-gender debut]
  • 2000: unlisted
  • 1999: unlisted

Why were expectant parents seeing the Latin word for “light” as a viable baby name around that time?

Likely because of the character Lux Lisbon (played by actress Kirsten Dunst) from the movie The Virgin Suicides (1999), which wasn’t given a wide theatrical release until May of 2000.

Set in a suburb of Detroit in the mid-1970s, The Virgin Suicides followed the five beautiful Lisbon sisters: Therese, Mary, Bonnie, Lux, and Cecilia. They were the teenage daughters of strict Catholic parents, and therefore off-limits to the neighborhood boys “who loved and lusted after” them (and from whose collective perspective the story was told).

Lux Lisbon — the “most perfect” of the sisters — was the only one to lose her virginity (to high school heartthrob Trip Fontaine, played by actor Josh Hartnett) during her short life.

The film was based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Jeffrey Eugenides.

What are your thoughts on the name Lux? Do you think it works better as a girl name or as a boy name?

Sources: The Virgin Suicides (film) – Wikipedia, The Virgin Suicides review – Roger Ebert, SSA

Image: Screenshot of The Virgin Suicides