How popular is the baby name Tondalaya 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 Tondalaya.

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Popularity of the baby name Tondalaya


Posts that mention the name Tondalaya

Where did the baby name Anansa come from in 1979?

The character Dr. Anansa Linderby (played by Beverly Johnson) from the movie "Ashanti" (1979)
Dr. Anansa Linderby from “Ashanti“

The rare name Anansa first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1979:

  • 1981: unlisted
  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: 5 baby girls named Anansa [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

Why?

Because of a celebrity baby, or a movie character, or both.

Fashion model Beverly Johnson made her acting debut in the late ’70s adventure film Ashanti, in which she and Michael Caine portrayed married medical doctors named Anansa and David Linderby. Ashanti was shot largely in Africa during 1978.

The same year, in late December, Johnson gave birth to a baby girl — her first and only child.

In January of 1979, Jet magazine published a photo of Johnson and her newborn daughter, who’d been named Anansa.

“I loved the name,” she beamed, “and I was pregnant with her during [filming]. I even told the producers that if I had a girl I would name her Anansa.”

Model Beverly Johnson with baby Anansa
Beverly Johnson holding baby Anansa

Several months later, in April, Ashanti finally came out in theaters.

The movie clearly gave the baby name Ashanti a boost in 1979:

  • 1981: 89 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1980: 191 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1979: 175 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1978: 53 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1977: 44 baby girls named Ashanti

But I’m not sure if it was the primary reason for the debut of Anansa, considering that Jet magazine has a long history of influencing U.S. baby names (e.g., Nasiya, Kushana, Nkenge, Charlayne, Tondalaya).

Ashanti was based on the Spanish-language novel Ébano (1974) by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa. In the book, the protagonists were named David and Nadia Alexander (and neither one was a doctor).

I don’t know how the screenwriters came up with the name Anansa, but it does remind me of Anansi — the name of a spider character in the folktales of the Ashanti (and other Akan peoples).

What are your thoughts on the name Anansa?

P.S. Beverly Johnson became the first African-American model featured on the cover of American Vogue in 1974 — eight years after Donyale Luna appeared on the cover of British Vogue, in 1966.

Sources:

Images: Screenshot of Ashanti; clipping from Jet magazine (18 Jan. 1979).

Where did the baby name Tondalaya come from in 1955?

Leon Gilbert, with children Leon and Tondalaya (1955)
Leon Gilbert, with children Leon and Tondalaya

The sudden appearance of Tondalaya in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1950s had me stumped for a long time.

  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: unlisted
  • 1955: 11 baby girls named Tondalaya [debut]
  • 1954: unlisted
  • 1953: unlisted

Why? Because “Tondalaya” was so suspiciously close to “Tondelayo,” the name of a character from the 1942 movie White Cargo. The character was a mixed-race African character played by Hedy Lamarr.

Tondelayo

But the spelling didn’t match, and the timing was way off.

Finally, years later, I happened to find the link between these two things: a photo in a 1955 issue of Jet magazine that featured an 11-year-old girl named Tondalaya. Here’s what the caption said:

Paroled after five years imprisonment for disobeying Army orders while a lieutenant in Korea, Leon A. Gilbert is reunited with his wife, Kay, son Leon, and daughter Tondalaya at Los Angeles’ International Airport.

(Further research revealed that her name was actually spelled “Tondalayo.”)

So that solved the mystery of the name, but…who was Leon Gilbert?

Up until mid-1950, he was a decorated WWII veteran serving with the 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea.

But on July 31, he refused an order and was arrested on the spot.

Seems like an appropriate outcome for a disobedient soldier during wartime…until you consider that the 24th was an all-black unit, that the 24th’s commanders were all white, and that this particular order amounted to a multi-man suicide mission. (The order would have had Gilbert leading about a dozen men back to a location that had been abandoned due to heavy enemy fire.)

Leon Gilbert was court-martialed. At the trial, which lasted about four hours, no witnesses were called on Gilbert’s behalf, medical reports indicating that he suffered from acute stress reaction were ignored, and the defense attorney didn’t bother to make a closing statement. Leon Gilbert was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad.

Back home, the case was being followed closely by the press — particularly by the black press. The sentence angered many Americans, and “petitions calling for [Gilbert’s] freedom were sent to Washington from around the country.”

An investigation carried out by NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall found that Gilbert was one of “many blacks and no white troops who had been charged with misconduct in the presence of the enemy.” He also said that “[i]t seems apparent that some of [the black soldiers] are being made scapegoats for the failures of higher personnel.”

In late November, President Harry Truman commuted the death sentence to 20 years in prison.

Ultimately — as mentioned in the photo caption — Leon Gilbert served five years in a military prison before he was released on parole in 1955.

P.S. White Cargo was based on play of the same name from the 1920s. In the play, the character’s name was spelled “Tondeleyo.” The play was based on the novel Hell’s Playground (1912) by Ida Vera Simonton, but Tondeleyo did not appear in the novel. Playwright Leon Gordon created (and named) Tondeleyo by combining the attributes/histories of two of the book’s female characters, Ndio and Elinda.

Sources:

Images: Clipping from Jet magazine (5 May 1955), screenshot of the trailer for White Cargo