How popular is the baby name Nat 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 Nat.
The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.
Tuesday’s post about the Victorian-style Tylney Hall Hotel reminded me of a list of Victorian-era names that I’ve had bookmarked forever.
The list was created by amateur genealogist G. M. Atwater as a resource for writers. It contains names and name combinations that were commonly seen in the U.S. from the 1840s to the 1890s. Below is the full list (with a few minor changes).
| Victorian Era Female Names | Victorian Era Male Names |
|---|---|
|
|
Which female name and male name do you like best?
The unusual baby name Frosty has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just once so far:
What inspired this sudden interest in Frosty?
The Christmas song “Frosty the Snow Man,” believe it or not. Written and composed by Steve Nelson and Walter “Jack” Rollins, it was first published in 1950.
The lyrics tell the story of a snowman named Frosty (with “a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal”) who magically comes to life when an “old silk hat” is placed on his head.
Gene Autry was one of the first artists to record it, and his version saw the greatest success during the 1950 holiday season. According to Billboard magazine, Autry’s “Frosty” peaked at #2 on the Best Selling Children’s Records chart for several weeks in a row at the end of 1950 and the beginning of 1951. More importantly, it peaked at #7 on the Best Selling Pop Singles chart during the first week of 1951. (The rankings that week were “based on reports received December 27, 28 and 29.”)
Other recordings of “Frosty the Snow Man” available during the 1950 holiday season included versions by Nat “King” Cole, Red Foley, Roy Rogers, Vaughn Monroe, Curt Massey, Guy Lombardo, Dick “Two-Ton” Baker, Harry Babbitt, and Jimmy Durante.
What are your thoughts on Frosty as a baby name? Do you like it more or less than Bimbo?
P.S. The biggest hit of Gene Autry’s career? “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” released just ahead of the 1949 holiday season. (Incidentally, the name Rudolph saw peak usage around the time Italian-born silent film actor Rudolph Valentino died in 1926, at age 31.)
Sources:
Image: “Frosty the Snow Man” sheet music (Smithsonian)
Many of us probably don’t know anything about the 1950 movie Captain Carey, U.S.A.
But I bet most of us could hum a few bars of the film’s theme song, “Mona Lisa” [vid].
The song, performed by Nat “King” Cole, was the #1 song in the nation for several weeks straight in the summer of 1950. It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song in early 1951.
Not surprisingly, the song inspired dozens of expectant parents to name their baby girls Monalisa in 1950:
Monalisa became the top baby name debut that year, and it’s been on the list ever since.
Even more impressive? The jump in the number of babies named Mona that year:
You can bet many of those babies were given the middle name Lisa. :)
The song refers to Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa, a 16th-century portrait of Lisa Gherardini. Mona is a contraction of Madonna, or ma donna, Italian for “my lady,” and Lisa is a short form of Elisabetta, the Italian form of Elizabeth.
Source: SSA
Image: Adapted from Nat King Cole Mona Lisa 1957
