How popular is the baby name Nasiya 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 Nasiya.

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Popularity of the baby name Nasiya


Posts that mention the name Nasiya

Where did the baby name Anansa come from in 1979?

The character Dr. Anansa Linderby (played by Beverly Johnson) from the movie "Ashanti" (1979)
Dr. Anansa Linderby from “Ashanti“

The rare name Anansa first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1979:

  • 1981: unlisted
  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: 5 baby girls named Anansa [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

Why?

Because of a celebrity baby, or a movie character, or both.

Fashion model Beverly Johnson made her acting debut in the late ’70s adventure film Ashanti, in which she and Michael Caine portrayed married medical doctors named Anansa and David Linderby. Ashanti was shot largely in Africa during 1978.

The same year, in late December, Johnson gave birth to a baby girl — her first and only child.

In January of 1979, Jet magazine published a photo of Johnson and her newborn daughter, who’d been named Anansa.

“I loved the name,” she beamed, “and I was pregnant with her during [filming]. I even told the producers that if I had a girl I would name her Anansa.”

Model Beverly Johnson with baby Anansa
Beverly Johnson holding baby Anansa

Several months later, in April, Ashanti finally came out in theaters.

The movie clearly gave the baby name Ashanti a boost in 1979:

  • 1981: 89 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1980: 191 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1979: 175 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1978: 53 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1977: 44 baby girls named Ashanti

But I’m not sure if it was the primary reason for the debut of Anansa, considering that Jet magazine has a long history of influencing U.S. baby names (e.g., Nasiya, Kushana, Nkenge, Charlayne, Tondalaya).

Ashanti was based on the Spanish-language novel Ébano (1974) by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa. In the book, the protagonists were named David and Nadia Alexander (and neither one was a doctor).

I don’t know how the screenwriters came up with the name Anansa, but it does remind me of Anansi — the name of a spider character in the folktales of the Ashanti (and other Akan peoples).

What are your thoughts on the name Anansa?

P.S. Beverly Johnson became the first African-American model featured on the cover of American Vogue in 1974 — eight years after Donyale Luna appeared on the cover of British Vogue, in 1966.

Sources:

Images: Screenshot of Ashanti; clipping from Jet magazine (18 Jan. 1979).

What gave the baby name Cadel a boost in the early 2010s?

Australian cyclist Cadel Evans
Cadel Evans

Last week, the Los Angeles Times profiled a 12-year-old girl named Evan Kim who ran the Ventura Marathon and placed second among all females with a time of 2 hours and 58 minutes.

How did she come to have the (typically male) name Evan?

Born into a family of athletes in 2012, she was named after Cadel Evans, the cyclist who won the Tour de France the year prior.

Cadel (pronounced kuh-DEL) Evans is the only Australian to have ever won the Tour de France. I don’t know how many other U.S. babies were named “Evan” after Evans, but dozens were named Cadel:

  • 2013: 10 baby boys named Cadel
  • 2012: 19 baby boys named Cadel [peak usage]
  • 2011: 17 baby boys named Cadel
  • 2010: 12 baby boys named Cadel
  • 2009: 12 baby boys named Cadel
  • 2008: 14 baby boys named Cadel
  • 2007: 14 baby boys named Cadel
  • 2006: 8 baby boys named Cadel
  • 2005: 6 baby boys named Cadel [debut]
  • 2004: unlisted

In fact, usage of the name tracks with Cadel Evans’ Tour de France career: He first participated in 2005, he placed second in both 2007 and 2008, and he finally won in 2011.

His first name is a simplified spelling of the Welsh name Cadell, which can be traced back to the Old Welsh word cat, meaning “battle.” (One of Evans’ great-grandfathers immigrated to Australia from Wales.)

What are your thoughts on the name Cadel? (How about on Evan as a girl name?)

P.S. Another young runner we’ve talked about is Nasiya Jobe, and another professional cyclist we’ve talked about is Lance Armstrong.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from CadelEvans by troye owens under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Where did the baby name Nasiriyah come from in 2003?

Aftermath of the Battle of Nasiriyah, 2003

The name Nasiriyah was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 2003:

  • 2005: unlisted
  • 2004: unlisted
  • 2003: 15 baby girls named Nasiriyah [debut]
  • 2002: unlisted
  • 2001: unlisted

Where did “Nasiriyah” come from, and what happened in 2003 to draw people’s attention to it?

It came from the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. The city was founded and named after a local sheikh name Nasir in the 1870s. (The Arabic name Nasir means “helper.”)

The event that introduced Nasiriyah to the American public was the Iraq War (which overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein and, thereby, had an influence on Iraqi baby names). The Battle of Nasiriyah, one of the first major battles of the war, was fought between U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces and lasted from March 23 to April 2.

(One of the female soldiers involved in the battle, Jessica Lynch, had a baby girl in 2007 and gave her the middle name Ann in honor of Lori Ann Piestewa, the first woman in the U.S. military killed in the Iraq War.)

What do you think of Nasiriyah as a baby name? Do you like it more or less than the similar names Nayirah and Nasiya?

Sources: Nasiriyah – Wikipedia, U.S. Marines in Battle: An-Nasiriyah (PDF)

Where did the baby name Nasiya come from in 1984?

Nasiya Jobe on the cover of Jet magazine (June, 1984).
Nasiya Jobe on the cover of “Jet“

In 1984, both Nasiya and Laken debuted in the U.S. baby name data with 19 baby girls.

Laken, inspired by Santa Barbara, went on to reach the top 1,000 for a 6-year stretch in the 1990s.

Nasiya, on the other hand, never really gained traction.

  • 1987: unlisted
  • 1986: 5 baby girls named Nasiya
  • 1985: 5 baby girls named Nasiya
  • 1984: 19 baby girls named Nasiya [debut]
  • 1983: unlisted
  • 1982: unlisted

This may have been because it was inspired not by a popular soap opera, but by a little girl who was only in the news for a matter of months before slipping into obscurity again.

Nasiya Jobe, a 5-year-old long distance runner from Richmond, California, started making headlines in 1984.

She was on the cover of Jet in June. At that time, she held eight national records for her age group.

In mid-July, various U.S. newspapers ran a photo of Nasiya being passed the Olympic Torch at the start of her 1-kilometer leg of the relay between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

She appeared once more in Jet, twice in Ebony Jr!, and also in other publications. She even appeared on several TV programs, including Good Morning, America.

In a lengthy Sports Illustrated article that September, Nasiya’s father Darrell explained that her name was pronounced NAS-ee-yuh and meant “child of God” in Hebrew. (I can’t find any proof of this.)

SI also mentioned that “[s]he currently holds nine national age-group records and has two more pending for distances ranging from 400 (1:50.5) to 15,000 meters (1:17:56).”

Nasiya turned 6 that November.

The following year, she was profiled by People Magazine in January and Weekly World News in April. WWN mentioned that she was up to 11 national records at that point.

And then…nothing. She seems to disappear. Did she stop doing media appearances/interviews? Did she stop running altogether? I don’t know.

But at least one of her records still stands: her half-marathon time of 1:51:31, which she set at the age of 5 years and 328 days, remains a World Single-Age Record for women according to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians.

Sources:

Image: © 1984 Jet