How popular is the baby name Patsyann 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 Patsyann.

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Popularity of the baby name Patsyann


Posts that mention the name Patsyann

Interesting one-hit wonder names in the U.S. baby name data

single flower

They came, they went, and they never came back!

These baby names are one-hit wonders in the U.S. baby name data. That is, they’ve only popped up once, ever, in the entire dataset of U.S. baby names (which accounts for all names given to at least 5 U.S. babies per year since 1880).

There are thousands of one-hit wonders in the dataset, but the names below have interesting stories behind their single appearance, so these are the one-hits I’m writing specific posts about. Just click on a name to read more.

2020s

  • (none yet)

2010s

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1990s

1980s

1970s

1960s

1950s

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1930s

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1910s

1900s

  • (none yet)

1890s

As I discover (and write about) more one-hit wonders in the data, I’ll add the names/links to this page. In the meanwhile, do you have any favorite one-hit wonder baby names?

Image: Adapted from Solitary Poppy by Andy Beecroft under CC BY-SA 2.0.

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]

Where did the baby name Patsyann come from in 1933?

The compound name Patsyann (Patsy Ann) was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data, making its single appearance during the 1930s:

  • 1935: unlisted
  • 1934: unlisted
  • 1933: 7 baby girls named Patsyann [debut]
  • 1932: unlisted
  • 1931: unlisted

What put it there? I think the influence was the mystery tale Outrageous Fortune by British author Patricia Wentworth. The story was serialized in many U.S. newspapers in the autumn of 1933.

The mystery involved a shipwrecked man with amnesia. A woman named Nesta* claimed the man was her husband…but really she thought he might know the location of a certain priceless emerald necklace. In the meanwhile, the man’s cousin, a woman named Caroline, tracked him down and tried to help him recover his memory.

The protagonist was clearly Caroline, but Caroline’s roommate Patsy Ann “provide[d] an innocent diversion to the main story with her romantic life.”

In the UK the same year, Outrageous Fortune was published in book form, but under the title Seven Green Stones. Another difference between was Patsy Ann’s name: Pansy Ann in the UK. Perhaps the name had been changed from “Pansy” to “Patsy” for American readers because Patsy sounded trendier than Pansy in the U.S. at the time. The slang meaning of pansy, though relatively new in the ’30s, might have been a factor as well.

(If “Patsy Ann” sounds familiar to longtime readers, I blogged about Patsy Ann, the famous dog from Alaska, a couple of years ago.)

Sources: Patricia Wentworth – Wikipedia, Outrageous Fortune by Patricia Wentworth – Northern Reader, Pansy – Online Etymology Dictionary

*The name Nesta got a boost in 1934.

Unexpected names from Alaska

My husband and I recently visited Alaska (which was awesome). Even though we kept busy, I couldn’t help but notice a ton of interesting names — human names, animal names, place names, boat names, etc. Many of these names (like Juneau, Sitka, Klondike, and Denali) were ones that many of us already associate with Alaska, so for this post I chose five Alaska-related names that I encountered unexpectedly during the trip:

Ladd

Ladd Macaulay (1942-2000) was “a pioneer in establishing private non-profit hatcheries in Alaska,” according to the plaque at the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery in Juneau. I’m not sure how Ladd got his name, but it matches up with the English occupational surname Ladd (denoting a “servant”), so it may have been a surname in his family tree.

The baby name Ladd is not common, but sees enough usage to appear in the SSA data regularly.

Margerie

Margerie glacier is a tidewater glacier in Glacier Bay National Park. “It is about 1-mile wide, with an ice face that is about 250 feet high above the waterline, but with its base about 100 feet below sea level.” It was named after French geographer and geologist Emmanuel de Margerie (1862-1953).

In the data, the baby name Margerie represents a (rare) respelling of the more common name Marjorie.

Patsy Ann

English bull terrier Patsy Ann (1929-1942) became famous in Juneau in the ’30s for greeting ships. “Although deaf from birth, she somehow sensed when an incoming ship was about a half-mile away. She also had an uncanny ability to determine the dock where it would moor.” In 1934, the mayor of the city dubbed her “Official Greeter of Juneau, Alaska.”

The combination Patsy Ann has only ever popped up once in the data.

Peniel

Peniel missionaries from California came to Alaska in the 1890s. “They ministered to both the religious and practical needs of primarily transient people in these communities.” The Hebrew place name Peniel, meaning “face of God,” is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. The NPS website notes that the pronunciation was “pen-aisle.”

The baby name Peniel started appearing in the data in the late ’90s. So far, it’s been given to baby girls and baby boys in equal measure.

Tuliaan

Tuliaan is one of the black bears at Fortress of the Bears, a bear sanctuary in Sitka. She was orphaned in Seward, Alaska, in October of 2013. Her name means “calm” in the Tlingit language.

Neither Tuliaan nor “Tuli” (her nickname) has ever appeared in the SSA data.

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Which of the above names do you like best?