How popular is the baby name Mickey 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 Mickey.

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Popularity of the baby name Mickey


Posts that mention the name Mickey

Mouseketeer names: Annette, Dennis, Karen, Lonnie

The Mickey Mouse Club (1950s)

Annette Funicello, the most popular member of the original Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1959), passed away a couple of days ago.

Seeing her name in the news made me think about the other original Mouseketeers, most of whom were born in the early to mid-1940s (making them teens in the late 1950s). If you’re looking for a baby name reminiscent of sock hops and soda fountains, the first batch of Mouseketeers is not a bad place to start:

  • Annette Funicello (b. 1942)
    • Thanks to Funicello’s fame, the baby name Annette saw a drastic rise in usage during the latter half of the 1950s.
  • Billie Beanblossom (b. 1944)
  • Bonita “Bonnie” Lynn Fields (b. 1944)
  • Bonni Lou Kern (b. 1941)
  • Bronson Scott (b. 1947) – who was a girl, despite her name
  • Charles “Charlie” Laney (b. 1943)
  • Cheryl Holdridge (b. 1944) – who went on to marry Lance Reventlow
  • Carl “Cubby” O’Brien (b. 1946)
  • Dallas Johann (b. 1944)
  • Darlene Gillespie (b. 1941)
    • The baby name Darlene also saw a steep rise in usage while The Mickey Mouse Club was on the air.
  • Dennis Day (b. 1942)
  • Joseph Richard “Dickie” Dodd (b. 1945)
  • Don Agrati (b. 1944)
  • Donald “Don” Underhill (b. 1941)
  • Doreen Tracey (b. 1943)
  • Eileen Diamond (b. 1943)
  • John “Johnny” Crawford (b. 1946)
  • John Joseph “Jay-Jay” Solari (b. 1943)
  • (John) Lee Johann (b. 1942)
  • Judy Harriet (b. 1942)
  • Karen Pendleton (b. 1946)
  • Larry Larsen (b. 1939)
  • Linda Hughes (b. 1946)
  • Leonard “Lonnie” Burr (b. 1943)
  • (Lowrey) Lynn Ready (b. 1944)
  • Margene Storey (b. 1942)
  • Mark Sutherland (b. 1944)
  • Mary Espinosa (b. 1945)
  • Mary Sartori (b. 1943)
  • Mickey Rooney, Jr. (b. 1945)
  • Michael “Mike” Smith (b. 1945)
  • Nancy Abbate (b. 1942)
  • (William) Paul Petersen (b. 1945)
  • Robert “Bobby” Burgess (b. 1941)
  • Ronald “Ronnie” Steiner (b. 1942)
  • Sharon Baird (b. 1942)
  • Sharyn “Sherry” Alberoni (b. 1946)
  • Timothy “Tim” Rooney (b. 1947)
  • Thomas “Tommy” Cole (b. 1941)

Which of the above names do you like the most?

Sources: Girl next door Annette Funicello dies at 70, The Original Mickey Mouse Club Show

Image: Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers 1957 (public domain)

What turned Jinx into a baby name?

Actress Jinx Falkenburg (1919-2003)
Jinx Falkenburg

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:

P.S. Gwili, Sivi, and Donivee are three more forgotten Hollywood actresses who left their mark on the U.S. baby name charts.

What popularized the baby name Velvet?

Poster for the movie "National Velvet" (1944)
“National Velvet” movie poster

In the early 1900s, not many baby girls were named Velvet.

The 1935 publication of Enid Bagnold’s book National Velvet — which featured a 14-year-old main character named Velvet Brown — didn’t change the situation appreciably.

But when the book’s movie adaptation — which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney — was released at the very end of 1944, the baby name Velvet became more popular. In fact, it re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data rather impressively the following year:

  • 1947: 16 baby girls named Velvet
  • 1946: 33 baby girls named Velvet
  • 1945: 36 baby girls named Velvet
  • 1944: unlisted
  • 1943: unlisted
The character Velvet Brown from the TV series "National Velvet" (1960-1962)
Velvet Brown from “National Velvet”

The thing that really gave the name Velvet a boost, though? The television adaptation, which aired on NBC from 1960 to 1962 and starred Lori Martin as Velvet Brown.

  • 1965: 85 baby girls named Velvet
  • 1964: 117 baby girls named Velvet (ranked 988th)
  • 1963: 143 baby girls named Velvet (ranked 883rd)
  • 1962: 261 baby girls named Velvet (ranked 626th)
  • 1961: 331 baby girls named Velvet (ranked 542nd)
  • 1960: 74 baby girls named Velvet

Those four years (1961-1964) are the only years Velvet ranked among the 1,000 most popular baby girl names in the U.S.

(The name Lori saw peak usage in the early ’60s as well, and the name of Velvet’s sister Edwina also got a boost.)

Nowadays, the popularity of Velvet is close to what it was 100 years ago.

  • 2011: 9 baby girls named Velvet
  • 2010: 5 baby girls named Velvet
  • 2009: 9 baby girls named Velvet
  • 2008: 17 baby girls named Velvet

Do you like the name Velvet?

P.S. The word velvet can be traced back to the Latin word villus, meaning “shaggy hair” or “tuft of hair.”

Sources: National Velvet – Wikipedia, SSA