If you’re familiar with NYC, you know that TriBeCa (short for “triangle below Canal”) refers to a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. But did you know that, in 1993, Tribeca surfaced in the U.S. baby name data?
- 1995: unlisted
- 1994: unlisted
- 1993: 6 baby girls named Tribeca [debut]
- 1992: unlisted
- 1991: unlisted
It was the name’s single appearance in the data.
What put it there?
A short-lived TV series called TriBeCa (1993), which was produced in part by native New Yorker Robert De Niro. Each episode was an hour-long drama with a new set of characters; the one thing that connected all the stories was that they were set in TriBeCa.
Despite critical acclaim — and the fact that Laurence Fishburne’s performance as a police officer in the first episode earned him an Emmy Award — the show was cancelled after just seven episodes.
What are your thoughts on “Tribeca” as a personal name?
Sources: Tribeca (TV Series 1993) – IMDb, TriBeCa (TV Series) – Wikipedia
P.S. The spelling variant Tribecca — probably influenced by the name Rebecca — was a one-hit wonder in 1993 as well.