How popular is the baby name Qiana 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 Qiana.

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Popularity of the baby name Qiana


Posts that mention the name Qiana

Where did the baby name Antron come from in the 1960s?

antron, advertisement, baby name, 1960s
Advertisement in a Georgia newspaper from late 1961

The name Antron began appearing in the U.S. baby name data in 1962:

  • 1969: 11 baby boys named Antron
  • 1968: 6 baby boys named Antron
  • 1967: 7 baby boys named Antron
  • 1966: 5 baby boys named Antron
  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: unlisted
  • 1963: unlisted
  • 1962: 6 baby boys named Antron [debut]
  • 1961: unlisted

This one, like Qiana and Trevira, can be traced back to a rather unusual source: synthetic fiber.

In 1960, DuPont trademarked the brand name “Antron” for a new nylon fiber. In DuPont’s Annual Report from 1960, the company explained that, “because of its unusual clover cross-section, [Antron] improves the luster and coverage of many types of apparel and home furnishing fabrics.”

Later the same year, the word Antron started showing up in newspaper and magazine advertisements.

By the second half of the ’60s, the name was regularly appearing in the baby name data — not surprising, as more and more ads were mentioning Antron. An issue of the New York Times from August of 1965, for instance, included a 20-plus-page DuPont advertising supplement called “The Great American Knits” that showcased Antron along with two other DuPont-created synthetic fibers, Orlon and Dacron.

Expectant parents may have found “Antron” more enticing than options like “Orlon” and “Dacron” because it was similar to traditional boy names like Antoine and Anton.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Antron?

Sources: Antron (fabric) – Vintage Fashion Guild, Orlon! Dacron! Antron! The Great American Knits of Fall 1965
Image: Al Dixon advertisement. Thomasville Times-Enterprise 23 Oct. 1961: 6.

Where did the baby name Trevira come from in 1973?

trevira, fabric, baby name, 1960s, 1970s
Trevira/Oleg Cassini ad, circa 1968

The name Trevira — not to be confused with the name Tareva — has appeared in the U.S. baby name data only once so far, in 1973:

  • 1975: unlisted
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: 5 baby girls named Trevira [debut]
  • 1972: unlisted
  • 1971: unlisted

What inspired it?

Fabric!

Trevira polyester, like Qiana nylon, was one of the branded synthetic fabrics that became trendy during the 1970s.

Trevira was created in Germany in the late ’50s, and by the end of the ’60s could be seen in American retail advertisements that touted the arrival of “The Trevira Era.”

It seems that Trevira hit peak usage among consumers in the early-to-mid ’70s, when it was used to make 1970s fashion staples like flared-leg trousers.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Trevira?

Source: 1970s Disco Fashion – Fashion-Era.com

Where did the baby name Qiana come from in the 1970s?

Qiana television commercial

The baby name Qiana, which was very trendy during the late 1970s, can be traced back to a silk-like nylon fabric called Qiana (pronounced kee-ah-nah).

DuPont developed the fabric over a period of “20 years at a cost of $75 million,” and, during that time, referred to it simply as “fiber Y.”

In 1968, DuPont finally put the fabric on the market under the name “Qiana.” The company told Time that Qiana’s exotic-sounding name was just “a computerized combination of random letters.” (In fact, DuPont had started with a computer-generated list of 6,500 five-letter non-words and, after a full year of research and testing, finally settled on “Qiana.”)

Qiana first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1970:

  • 1972: 9 baby girls named Qiana
  • 1971: 16 baby girls named Qiana
  • 1970: 6 baby girls named Qiana [debut]
  • 1969: unlisted
  • 1968: unlisted

It didn’t become trendy until the second half of the decade, though.

Why?

Disco!

Qiana was a popular fabric for disco clothing, especially faux-silk men’s shirts. According to one writer, “Qiana materialized disco…as flannel materialized grunge.”

Remember John Travolta as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977)? The black shirt he wore beneath that iconic 3-piece white suit was made of Qiana.

So, as disco peaked, so did the usage of the fabric — along with the number of advertisements that mentioned the fabric, which is important. And as the usage of the fabric peaked, so did the usage of the name. In fact, “Qiana” was boosted into the girls’ top 1,000 in 1977 and stayed there for five consecutive years:

  • 1982: 96 baby girls named Qiana
  • 1981: 159 baby girls named Qiana [ranked 939th]
  • 1980: 209 baby girls named Qiana [ranked 789th]
  • 1979: 331 baby girls named Qiana [ranked 556th]
  • 1978: 370 baby girls named Qiana [ranked 509th]
  • 1977: 251 baby girls named Qiana [ranked 649th]
  • 1976: 115 baby girls named Qiana
  • 1975: 88 baby girls named Qiana
  • 1974: 50 baby girls named Qiana
  • 1973: 25 baby girls named Qiana

A number of spelling variants (including Quiana, Quianna, Qianna, Quiona, Quionna, Queana, Quiyana, and the one-hit wonders Qiuana and Qiona) also appeared in the data in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Qiana? (Do you like it more or less than the homophone Kiana?)

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of TV commercial for Qiana