How popular is the baby name Tab 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 Tab.

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Popularity of the baby name Tab


Posts that mention the name Tab

What turned Tab into a baby name in 1953?

Actor Tab Hunter (1931-2018)
Tab Hunter

American actor Tab Hunter isn’t really named Tab Hunter. His real name is Arthur Gelien. According to Tab’s autobiography, his unique stage name was coined by Hollywood talent agent Henry Willson.*

Exasperated, Henry finally said, “C’mon, we’ve got to tab him something.” He thought…for about two more seconds. “Hey, that’s not bad,” he announced. “Tab.”

As soon as Tab Hunter’s acting career started taking off in the early 1950s, parents began naming their sons Tab:

  • 1962: 44 boys named Tab
  • 1961: 52 boys named Tab
  • 1960: 66 boys named Tab (rank: 937th)
  • 1959: 89 boys named Tab (rank: 813th)
  • 1958: 82 boys named Tab (rank: 831st)
  • 1957: 120 boys named Tab (rank: 698th)
  • 1956: 68 boys named Tab (rank: 907th)
  • 1955: 43 boys named Tab
  • 1954: 13 boys named Tab
  • 1953: 6 boys named Tab [debut]
  • 1952: unlisted

That spike in ’57 can likely be attributed to a song — Tab’s version of “Young Love,” which hit the #1 spot on several different Billboard charts in 1957.

The soft drink TaB was introduced in 1963, but the drink wasn’t named for the actor, and its introduction didn’t seem to affect the usage of Tab as a baby name.

Dozens of babies continued to be named Tab every year until the early ’70s. The name last appeared on the SSA’s baby name list in the ’90s.

*Henry Willson invented snappy names for many of his clients. He turned Robert Mosely into Guy Madison, Roy Fitzgerald into Rock Hudson (inspired by the Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River), Francis Durgin into Rory Calhoun, Merle Johnson into Troy Donahue, and redhead Marilyn Louis into Rhonda Fleming (“Fleming sounds like flaming, plays up her hair”).

Sources:

  • Hunter, Tab and Eddie Muller. Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2006.
  • Hofler, Robert. The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2006.

Where did the baby name Trace come from in 1956?

The character Trace Jordan from the movie "The Burning Hills" (1956).
Trace Jordan from “The Burning Hills“

The name Trace left its first trace in the U.S. baby name data in 1956:

  • 1958: 20 baby boys named Trace
  • 1957: 17 baby boys named Trace
  • 1956: 17 baby boys named Trace [debut]
  • 1955: unlisted
  • 1954: unlisted

It was the 2nd-highest debut on the boys’ list that year after the comics-inspired Dondi.

So what inspired Trace?

A Western called The Burning Hills (1956) that starred Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood.

Tab Hunter played Trace Jordan, whose name was appropriate given the fact that he was able to track down his brother’s killers based on the traces they left behind:

Evidence found near Johnny’s body reveals that several men were present during his murder: one with a limp, one with elaborate spurs, and one who smoked a certain type of cigarette.

Much of the rest of the movie involves tracking as well, but in the other direction (i.e., the bad guys trying to find Trace).

In the late 1990s, the usage of the name jumped thanks to a different Trace: country singer Trace Adkins (b. 1962), whose birth name was actually Tracy.

What do you think of the name Trace? How do you like it compared to similar-sounding names like Chase, Jace, Case, and Ace?

Source: The Burning Hills – TCM