How popular is the baby name Tanya 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 Tanya.
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The interesting name Lacosta first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1974, and it reached peak usage several years later in 1977:
1978: 17 baby girls named Lacosta 1977: 40 baby girls named Lacosta [peak] 1976: 33 baby girls named Lacosta 1975: 27 baby girls named Lacosta 1974: 6 baby girls named Lacosta [debut] 1973: unlisted
Where did it come from?
Country singer LaCosta Tucker — older sister of Tanya Tucker. LaCosta recorded under the name “La Costa” from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.
LaCosta’s parents, “oilfield nomads” Beau and Juanita, moved the family around the South while the children were growing up in the 1950s and ’60s.
Their first kid they very conventionally called Don, but after that they named them exotically, to relieve the drab hardness of their existence. They called their first girl LaCosta. “In Spanish, it means ‘the coast’,” she says.
“When we were living In Seminole, Texas, where I was born, our parents had a real good friend who lived In Denver City, about 15 miles away. Her name was LaCosta Ivey, and they named me after her because they liked her and they were looking for a name that was different.”
In 1999 — more than two decades after “Lacosta” debuted in the data — Tanya herself used it as a middle name for her third child, daughter Layla LaCosta Laseter.
What are your thoughts on the baby name Lacosta?
Source: “LaCosta, Tanya Tucker’s Big Sister, Gets A Break, Too.” Cincinnati Enquirer 25 Jun. 1974: 34.
P.S. Natalie Cole included a song called “La Costa” on her 1977 album Thankful. But the song wasn’t a single, and the album was released late in the year (November), so I doubt the song had much influence on baby names.
The word Sway popped up for the first time in the U.S. baby name data in 2001:
2003: 14 baby girls and 5 baby boys named Sway
2002: 12 baby girls named Sway
2001: 8 baby girls named Sway [debut]
2000: unlisted
1999: unlisted
For a long time I assumed the main influence was MTV personality Sway Calloway. But, while I still think Sway had an influence on male usage, I’ve since discovered a much better explanation for the 2001 debut as a female name.
One of the main characters in the 2000 car heist film Gone in 60 Seconds was mechanic-slash-bartender Sara “Sway” Wayland (played by Angelina Jolie). She was the love interest of protagonist Randall “Memphis” Raines (played by Nicolas Cage), who was tasked with stealing 50 specific, expensive cars inside of 72 hours.
The film didn’t get great reviews, but I do remember appreciating the fact that each of the 50 cars was assigned a feminine code-name:
So, how do you feel about the name Sway? If you were having a baby girl, would you be more likely to name her something modern, like Sway, or something traditional, like Sara or Susan?
The intriguing name Tonga debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1953:
1955: unlisted
1954: unlisted
1953: 7 baby girls named Tonga [debut]
1952: unlisted
1951: unlisted
I don’t think the Polynesian country had anything to do with it. Instead, I’m thinking that it may have come from the the early science-fiction TV series Space Patrol. It began as a Los Angeles-only show in early 1950, but by early 1951 it was being syndicated nationally both on TV and on radio (thanks to being picked up by the ABC network).
Set a thousand years in the future, the show featured members of the Space Patrol crew endeavoring to fight against the bad guys of the solar system. The two female crew members were named Tonga (played by Nina Bara) and Carol (Virginia Hewitt). Tonga’s character began as a criminal, but by the time the show had a national audience, she had undergone a “Brainograph” treatment and joined up with the good guys.
The name Tonga may have been given a boost in 1953 specifically thanks to LIFE magazine drawing attention to the show in a 1952 feature article (“Space Patrol Conquers Kids,” Sept. 1952)…or maybe it simply showed up because Space Patrol‘s audience was still growing at that time.
But the name dropped out of the data the very next year — possibly because actress Nina Bara was released from the show in late 1953, so the character Tonga didn’t appear in the show very frequently after that.
All this said…I should also mention that the name Tanya and its variants were on the rise during the 1950s, and that “Tonga” ended up being used as a variant of Tanya on occasion (likely by way of Tanja). So that’s another possible reason for the debut.
Do you like Tonga as a baby name? If so, how would you pronounce it?
Sources:
Dixon, Wheeler Winston. “Tomorrowland TV: The Space Opera and Early Science Fiction Television,” The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader, edited by J. P. Telotte, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008, pp. 93-110.
If you’re on the hunt for baby names with a numerological value of 7, you’re in luck! Because today’s post features hundreds of 7-names.
Before we get to the names, though — how do we know that they’re “sevens” in numerology?
Turning names into numbers
Here’s how to calculate the numerological value of a name.
First, for each letter, come up with a number to represent that letter’s position in the alphabet. (Letter A would be number 1, letter B would be number 2, and so forth.) Then, add all the numbers together. If the sum has two or more digits, add the digits together recursively until the result is a single digit. That single digit is the name’s numerological value.
For instance, the letters in the name Victoria correspond to the numbers 22, 9, 3, 20, 15, 18, 9, and 1. The sum of these numbers is 97. The digits of 97 added together equal 16, and the digits of 16 added together equal 7 — the numerological value of Victoria.
Baby names with a value of 7
Below you’ll find the most popular 7-names per gender, according to the latest U.S. baby name data. I’ve further sub-categorized them by total sums — just in case any of those larger numbers are significant to anyone.
7 via 16
The letters in the following baby names add up to 16, which reduces to seven (1+6=7).
Girl names (7 via 16)
Boy names (7 via 16)
Ana, Jada, Alba, Adaia, Fia
Cal, Chad, Jae, Dak, Efe
7 via 25
The letters in the following baby names add up to 25, which reduces to seven (2+5=7).
There’s no definitive answer, unfortunately, because various numerological systems exist, and each one has its own interpretation of the number seven. That said, if we look at a couple of modern numerology/astrology websites, we see 7 being described as “truth-seeking,” “introspective,” “intellectual,” “reserved,” and “unusual.”
We can also look at associations, which are a bit more concrete. Here are some things that are associated with the number 7:
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