How popular is the baby name Topper 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 Topper.

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Popularity of the baby name Topper


Posts that mention the name Topper

Interesting one-hit wonder names in the U.S. baby name data

single flower

They came, they went, and they never came back!

These baby names are one-hit wonders in the U.S. baby name data. That is, they’ve only popped up once, ever, in the entire dataset of U.S. baby names (which accounts for all names given to at least 5 U.S. babies per year since 1880).

There are thousands of one-hit wonders in the dataset, but the names below have interesting stories behind their single appearance, so these are the one-hits I’m writing specific posts about. Just click on a name to read more.

2020s

  • (none yet)

2010s

2000s

1990s

1980s

1970s

1960s

1950s

1940s

1930s

1920s

1910s

1900s

  • (none yet)

1890s

As I discover (and write about) more one-hit wonders in the data, I’ll add the names/links to this page. In the meanwhile, do you have any favorite one-hit wonder baby names?

Image: Adapted from Solitary Poppy by Andy Beecroft under CC BY-SA 2.0.

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]

Babies named for Hopalong Cassidy

hopalong cassidy, cover of Life magazine, 1950
Hopalong on cover of Life, June 1950

Here’s a baby name I did not expect to find.

I got curious about “Hopalong” after writing the Topper post, which mentions famous fictional cowboy Hopalong Cassidy.

Hopalong Cassidy, always portrayed by actor William Boyd, appeared in 66 low-budget movies in the ’30s and ’40s. (In fact, Boyd is in The Guinness Book of World Records for making the most film performances in the same role.)

But the character was most popular during the 1950s, after Boyd bought the television rights to Hopalong and the movies began airing on TV (the first in mid-1949). This made Hopalong Cassidy the very first TV cowboy. In 1950, Life magazine detailed the financial success of the character/brand: “Hopalong has become an economic colossus, born of television’s desperate need for ready-made programs.”

So far, I’ve tracked down three real people with the name Hopalong. The earliest was born in Texas in 1943. The next was born in Micronesia in 1959. And the most recent, for whom “Hopalong” was a middle name, was born in Texas in 1979. (The name was also used for the puppet “Hop Along Wong” in the 1950s kid’s TV show Time for Beany.)

The character William “Hopalong” Cassidy originated in stories written in the early 1900s by Clarence E. Mulford. Originally Hopalong was a much rougher man, and he had limp — hence the nickname.

Sources:

Where did the baby name Topper come from in 1954?

The character Cosmo Topper from the TV series "Topper" (1953-1955).
Cosmo Topper (right) w/ his ghost friends

The baby name Topper popped up in the U.S. data for the first and only time in 1954:

  • 1956: unlisted
  • 1955: unlisted
  • 1954: 5 baby boys named Topper [debut]
  • 1953: unlisted
  • 1952: unlisted

Where did it come from?

The two-season TV show Topper, which aired on CBS from October of 1953 to mid-1955. Though it isn’t well remembered today, Topper was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1954 (it lost to I Love Lucy) and ranked the 24th in the Nielsen ratings during the 1954-55 season.

But the tale of Topper actually began three decades earlier, in the form of a book. The comic fantasy Topper (1926) was written by Thorne Smith, who the New York Times called “one of America’s most significant humor writers.”

The title character, Cosmo Topper, is a “law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager [who] decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners–the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree.” The mischievous ghosts, named George and Marion, proceed to take Topper on series of adventures.

Smith followed the first book with a sequel, Topper Takes a Trip (1932).

His two books were eventually turned into three films: Topper (1937), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), and Topper Returns (1941). The first movie starred Cary Grant (as a ghost, not as Topper) and it later became the very first black-and-white motion picture to be digitally colorized (by Hal Roach Studios, in 1985).

There was also short-lived radio sitcom called The Adventures of Topper that aired in 1945, from June to September. In the radio show, Topper’s wife is named Malvena — I’ll bet this is what accounts for Malvena jumping back onto the charts one final time in 1946.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Topper? (Do you like it more or less than Tinker?)

P.S. Hopalong Cassidy (played by actor William Boyd from the 1930s to the 1950s) rode a horse called Topper, likely named after the book character.

Sources: Thorne Smith Profile – TCM, Topper by Thorne Smith — Goodreads, Hopalong Cassidy – The Old Corral