How popular is the baby name Pauline 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 Pauline.

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Popularity of the baby name Pauline


Posts that mention the name Pauline

What gave the baby name Elaine a boost in 1915?

The character Elaine Dodge from the motion picture serial "The Exploits of Elaine" (1914)
Elaine Dodge from “The Exploits of Elaine”

The baby name Elaine, which was already on the rise in the early 1900s, more than doubled in usage in 1915 specifically:

  • 1917: 1,281 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 160th]
  • 1916: 1,236 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 161st]
  • 1915: 1,212 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 155th]
  • 1914: 568 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 221st]
  • 1913: 411 baby girls named Elaine [rank: 238th]

Why?

Because of fictional character Elaine Dodge — the protagonist of a trio of weekly Hearst-Pathé serials that came out one after the other:

  • The Exploits of Elaine (14 installments released from December of 1914 to March of 1915),
  • The New Exploits of Elaine (10 installments released from April to June of 1915), and
  • The Romance of Elaine (12 installments released from June to August of 1915).

Just like The Perils of Pauline, the three “Elaine” serials could be read in print and seen on film concurrently. Installments were published in the newspapers on Sundays, then premiered at the motion picture houses on Mondays.

Elaine Dodge, an adventurous young woman, teamed up with scientist/detective Craig Kennedy and reporter Walter Jameson to track down various bad guys — a shadowy criminal called “the Clutching Hand” in the first serial, a Chinese gang leader named Wu Fang in the second, and a foreign agent named Marcius Del Mar in the third.

In all three pictures, Elaine was played by actress Pearl White (who’d become famous as the star of The Perils of Pauline).

What are your thoughts on the name Elaine?

P.S. In mid-1915, The Exploits of Elaine was published as a standalone book. The second and third serials were combined into a single volume in 1916.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Moving Picture World (16 Jan. 1915)

What gave the baby name Pauline a boost in 1915?

The character Pauline from the film serial "The Perils of Pauline" (1914)
Pauline from “The Perils of Pauline“

The rise of the baby name Pauline during the early decades of the 20th century accelerated in the mid-1910s. Pauline reached its highest-ever ranking in 1915, in fact:

  • 1917: 6,896 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 33rd]
  • 1916: 6,655 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 33rd]
  • 1915: 6,334 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 32nd]
  • 1914: 4,698 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 34th]
  • 1913: 3,636 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 35th]
  • 1912: 3,163 baby girls named Pauline [rank: 38th]

What was drawing attention to the name around that time?

Fictional character Pauline Marvin, protagonist of the story The Perils of Pauline, which was serialized in print and on film concurrently throughout most of 1914 (from March to December).

The co-serialization came about through a collaboration between newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and motion picture company Pathé.

Hearst had commissioned Charles Goddard to write the story, in which the main character, a young heiress, set out to “have thrills, adventures, see people, [and] do daring things” before settling down with her sweetheart, Harry. Pauline’s escapades kept going awry, though, due to the scheming of a murderous man intent on stealing her fortune.

The serial’s twenty installments were released biweekly — every other Sunday in the newspapers, and every other Monday in the motion picture houses.

Notably, marketing for the serial included a weekly contest in which Hearst newspaper readers could win sizeable cash prizes for correctly guessing upcoming plot twists.

"The Perils of Pauline" advertisement (Mar. 1914)
“The Perils of Pauline” advertisement

The motion picture version of The Perils of Pauline quickly became the most famous of all movie serials. It didn’t utilize cliffhangers to the degree that The Adventures of Kathlyn did, but each episode featured exciting footage such as “the wrecking of a real aeroplane” (in episode 2), a ride in a sabotaged hot air balloon (episode 6), a car crash during a cross-country automobile race (episode 15), and an escape from a sunken submarine (episode 18).

The star of the picture was Missouri-born actress Pearl White, who performed most of her own stunts. The worldwide success of The Perils of Pauline turned White into one of the first international movie stars.

What are your thoughts on the name Pauline? (Do you like it more or less than Pearl?)

P.S. The Perils of Pauline was published as a standalone book in early 1915.

Sources:

Images: Screenshot of The Perils of Pauline (1914), clipping from the New York Times (14 Mar. 1914)

What gave the baby name Marcene a boost in 1920?

The characters Marcene and Darrell from the movie "The Broken Butterfly" (1919)
Marcene and Darrell from “The Broken Butterfly“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Marcene more than quadrupled in usage in 1920. It was the fastest-rising girl name of the year, in fact.

  • 1922: 29 baby girls named Marcene
  • 1921: 22 baby girls named Marcene
  • 1920: 34 baby girls named Marcene
  • 1919: 7 baby girls named Marcene
  • 1918: 11 baby girls named Marcene

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) data for the same window of time shows a similar uptick in usage in 1920:

  • 1922: 18 people with the first name Marcene
  • 1921: 20 people with the first name Marcene
  • 1920: 27 people with the first name Marcene
  • 1919: 6 people with the first name Marcene
  • 1918: 10 people with the first name Marcene

What was behind the increase?

A silent film called The Broken Butterfly, which was released in November of 1919.

In the movie, set in rural Canada, Marcene Elliot (played by actress Pauline Starke) met and fell in love with composer Darrell Thorne (played by actor Lew Cody).

Darrell wrote a symphony named after Marcene, and traveled to New York for its premiere. While he was away, Marcene gave birth to their child.

When Darrell tried to return to Marcene, he was told that she had died, so instead he went overseas. When he finally came back to Canada, he discovered that Marcene was still alive — but “dying of a broken heart.” Marcene got to see Darrell one last time, and Darrell took the child.

The name Marcene derives from the male name Marcus, which was likely based on Mars, the name of the Roman god of war. Other female names with the same origin include Marcella, Marcelina, Marcia, Marciana, and Marcy.

What are your thoughts on the name Marcene?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Photoplay Magazine (Feb. 1920)

Minnesota family with 22 children

kinderfest

In the mid-20th century, Alvin Joseph Miller and Lucille Rose Miller (née Kahnke) of Waseca, Minnesota, had 22 children — 15 girls and 7 boys.

Here are the names of all 22 siblings:

  1. Ramona Mary (born in 1940), who became a Franciscan nun
  2. Alvin Joseph, Jr. (b. 1942)
  3. Rose Ann (b. 1943)
  4. Kathleen Edith (b. 1945)
  5. Robert Vincent (b. 1946)
  6. Patricia Jean (b. 1947)
  7. Mary Lucille (b. 1948), nicknamed “Marylu”
  8. Diane Margaret (b. 1949)
  9. John Charles (b. 1950)
  10. Janet Irene (b. 1951)
  11. Linda Louise (b. 1953)
  12. Virginia Therese (b. 1954)
  13. Helen Rita (b. 1955), who wrote a book about growing up in a large family
  14. Arthur Lawrence (b. 1956)
  15. Dolores Maria (b. 1957)
  16. Martin Peter (b. 1959)
  17. Pauline Carmel (b. 1960)
  18. Alice Callista (b. 1961)
  19. Angela Mary (b. 1962)
  20. Marcia Marie (b. 1963)
  21. Gregory Eugene (b. 1964)
  22. Damien Francis (b. 1966)

Eight of the children had been born by April of 1950, when the Miller family was interviewed for the U.S. Census:

The Miller family on the 1950 U.S. Census
The Miller family (1950 U.S. Census)

Alvin and Lucille raised their children on a 300-acre farm that included a seven-bedroom farmhouse. Here’s how Diane (#8) described her childhood:

I remember a lot of rides in the wheelbarrow from the granary to the barn. I remember a lot of grinding feed, a lot of egg washing and packing, a lot of sitting by the wood stove in the basement, singing songs as we candled eggs.

Which of the names above do you like most?

P.S. Thank you to Destiny for letting me know about the Miller family a few months ago! (Destiny also told me about the Jones family of West Virginia.)

Sources:

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus