The name Syriana first appeared in the U.S. baby named data in 2005:
- 2007 62 baby girls named Syriana
- 2006 119 baby girls named Syriana [peak usage]
- 2005 16 baby girls named Syriana [debut]
- 2004: unlisted
- 2003: unlisted
A year later, Syriana reach peak usage and the spellings Syrianna and Cyriana both debuted in the data.
What was inspiring parents to name their daughters Syriana in the mid-aughts?
The geopolitical thriller Syriana, which came out in theaters in November of 2005.
The movie’s complicated plot wove together numerous storylines and characters, “from the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf.” Film critic Roger Ebert described Syriana as being “about oil and money, America and China, traders and spies, the Gulf States and Texas, reform and revenge, bribery and betrayal.”
The ensemble cast included actors George Clooney (who played a veteran CIA officer) and Matt Damon (who played an energy analyst based in Switzerland).
How did the movie come to be named Syriana? Here’s how writer and director Stephen Gaghan explained it:
While ‘Syriana’ is a very real term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical reshaping of the Middle East, as our title it is used more abstractly. ‘Syriana,’ the concept – the fallacious dream that you can successfully remake nation-states in your own image – is a mirage. Syriana is a fitting title for a film that could exist at any time and be about any set of circumstances that deal with man’s unchecked ambition, hubris, and the fantasy of empire.
What are your thoughts on Syriana as a baby name?
Sources:
- Syriana – Wikipedia
- Syriana (official website): Synopsis, About the Film
- Ebert, Roger. “‘Syriana’ pours oil on troubled sands.” RogerEbert.com 8 Dec. 2005.
- SSA
Image: Movie poster for Syriana