The baby names below, like hundreds of others, reached the U.S. top 1000 just once.
But these names are special, because they are the highest-charting single-appearance names ever. Impressively, each of the names blow ranked at least 700th (or well above!) during the single year they placed in the top 1,000.
Name | Rank & Year | Explanation |
---|---|---|
Christop | 241st in 1989 | Typo* |
Yulissa | 424th in 1997 | The 1996 telenovela Te Sigo Amando featured a character named Yulissa played by Claudia Ramírez. |
Nira | 463rd in 1933 | The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was authorized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. |
Elizabet | 524th in 1989 | Typo* |
Manilla | 536th in 1898 | The first military action of Spanish-American War was the 1898 battle for Manila, the capital of the Philippines. |
Jemal | 549th in 1969 | The Outcasts (1968-1969), the first TV Western with an African-American co-star, featured a character named Jemal. |
Alexande | 554th in 1989 | Typo* |
Kunta | 572nd in 1977 | The 1977 miniseries Roots (based on the Alex Haley novel) featured a character named Kunta Kinte. |
Shafter | 604th in 1898 | Maj. Gen. William Rufus Shafter’s forces took Santiago (and hence helped end the Spanish-American War) in 1898. |
Destry | 636th in 1964 | The short-lived 1964 show Destry was a spin-off of the 1939 film “Destry Rides Again.” |
Sonji | 638th in 1966 | In 1966, Muhammad Ali and his first wife, Sonji Roi, divorced. |
Sheilah | 665th in 1955 | Sheilah Graham Westbrook (1904-1988) was a gossip columnist during Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” |
Clarisa | 665th in 1994 | The 1993 Mexican telenovela Clarisa featured a main character named Clarisa. (Another possible factor: The popular Nickelodeon sitcom Clarissa Explains it All (1991-1994) won an Emmy in 1994. |
Tatia | 670th in 1966 | A notable 1965 episode of the TV show I Spy (1965-1968) featured a character named Tatia Loring. |
Alexandr | 676th in 1989 | Typo* |
Cinnamon | 700th in 1969 | The first 3 seasons of the Mission: Impossible TV series (1966-1973) featured a character named Cinnamon Carter. (That’s what put Cinnamon on the map.) Early in 1969, “Cinnamon” by Derek (a.k.a. Johnny Cymbal) was an actual one-hit wonder that peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later the same year, “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young was released. |
Beyonce | 700th in 2001 | Destiny’s Child (featuring Beyoncé Knowles) won two Grammy Awards in 2001. |
I didn’t include single-appearance names from the 1880s (like Manerva, Zilpah, Worley, Ambers, Orilla, and Simona), and it’s too early to include names from the 2006 data (Addisyn, Krish, Yandel, Rihanna).
*Here’s more about those typos from 1989.