In the mid-1970s, the name Tavares suddenly popped up in the U.S. baby name data:
- 1978: 163 baby boys named Tavares
- 1977: 169 baby boys (peak) named Tavares
- 1976: 169 baby boys (peak) / 5 baby girls named Tavares
- 1975: 162 baby boys / 10 baby girls named Tavares
- 1974: 60 baby boys / 8 baby girls named Tavares [dual-debut]
- 1973: unlisted
- 1972: unlisted
What was behind the debut?
Tavares, a soul/R&B music group consisting of the five Tavares brothers: Ralph, Arthur (called “Pooch”), Antone (“Chubby”), Feliciano (“Butch”), and Perry (“Tiny”).
They scored their first hit in 1974 with a cover of the Hall & Oates song “She’s Gone.” The cover reached #1 on Billboard‘s R&B chart and peaked at #50 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. Over the next few years, the brothers put out a string of successful songs, including “It Only Takes a Minute” (1975) and “Whodunit” (1977).
The Tavares brothers were born and raised in New England, but were of Cape Verdean ancestry. Their Portuguese surname was originally a “habitational name from any of at least seven minor places” in Portugal called Tavares.
Variants of the name that also emerged in the data during the ’70s include Tavare, Travares, Tarvares, Tavaris, Tavaras, Tavarus, Taveres, Tavoris, and Tavores.
What are your thoughts on the baby name Tavares?
Sources:
- Tavares (group) – Wikipedia
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
P.S. Butch was married to Lola Falana from 1971 to 1975.
