How popular is the baby name Venus 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 Venus.

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Popularity of the baby name Venus


Posts that mention the name Venus

What gave the baby name Venus a boost in 1959?

Frankie Avalon single "Venus" (1959)
Frankie Avalon single

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Venus nearly tripled in usage in 1959:

  • 1961: 203 baby girls named Venus [rank: 733rd]
  • 1960: 180 baby girls named Venus [rank: 760th]
  • 1959: 295 baby girls named Venus [rank: 570th]
  • 1958: 106 baby girls named Venus
  • 1957: 103 baby girls named Venus

What pushed the name to peak popularity that year?

“Venus” by teen idol Frankie Avalon. The song was released in January of 1959 and held the top spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for five weeks straight (from early March to early April).

The narrator of the song pleads with the goddess Venus to “send a little girl for me to thrill.”

Here’s what the song sounds like:

Frankie Avalon (born Francis Thomas Avallone) put out more than two dozen of singles in the late ’50s and early ’60s, but five of his seven top-ten hits — including “Venus” and his only other #1 song, “Why” — were released in 1959 specifically. So it’s not surprising that we see an uptick in the usage of Frankie (as a male name) the same year:

  • 1961: 806 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 276th]
  • 1960: 815 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 280th]
  • 1959: 872 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 268th]
  • 1958: 751 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 281st]
  • 1957: 746 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 277th]

Avalon went on to star in a series of successful “Beach Party” movies with Annette Funicello in the 1960s.

What are your thoughts on the name Venus?

Sources: Frankie Avalon – Wikipedia, SSA

Baby name story: Alexis Olympia

Tennis player Serena Williams
Serena Williams

In September of 2017, tennis player Serena Williams — winner of 23 Grand Slam women’s singles titles and four Olympic gold medals — and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, welcomed a baby girl.

Her name?

Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr.

“Alexis” was passed down from her father, “Olympia” is a nod to her mother, and the initials “A.O.” are a reference to the 2017 Australian Open, which Serena won (by defeating her older sister, Venus, in the women’s singles final) when she was approximately 2 months pregnant.

The couple’s second child, another baby girl, was born in August of 2023 and named Adira River.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Williams S. RG18 (17) by si.robi under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Money for V-names in South Africa

springboks

Do you live in South Africa? Do you have a baby with a v-name who was (or will be) born between December 25, 2024, and January 1, 2025 (inclusive)?

If so, you may want to get in touch with Vodacom. For a limited time, the South African mobile communications company is giving away thousands of rand to parents whose newborns have v-names.

Just send your information — full name, province, baby’s birth date, and baby’s v-name — to the company via WhatsApp by January 1.

All who qualify will receive at least R15,000 (about $814 U.S.); parents who happen to be Vodacom customers will receive R25,000 (about $1,357 U.S.).

Though any v-name is acceptable, Vodacom did offer the following list of suggestions:

  • Vuyisile
  • Vuyani
  • Vumani
  • Vuyelwa
  • Vaughn
  • Vincent
  • Virgil
  • Veronica
  • Valeria
  • Venus
  • Virginia
  • Violet
  • Vivienne
  • Valentina
  • Vanessa
  • Vuyo
  • Vusumuzi
  • Vihaan
  • Vaishnavi
  • Vikram

Which of the above do you like most?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Springbok, Madikwe (52635759990) by flowcomm under CC BY 2.0.

What gave the baby name Shawntel a boost in 1995?

Shawntel Smith, Miss America 1996
Shawntel Smith

The modern name Shawntel, which emerged in the U.S. baby name data during the 1960s, saw a spike in usage in the mid-1990s:

  • 1997: 33 baby girls named Shawntel
  • 1996: 54 baby girls named Shawntel
  • 1995: 63 baby girls named Shawntel (peak usage)
  • 1994: 29 baby girls named Shawntel
  • 1993: 35 baby girls named Shawntel

Why?

Because of beauty queen Shawntel Smith, who was crowned Miss America 1996 on her 24th birthday — September 16, 1995.

Shawntel Smith, Miss America 1996
Shawntel Smith

Shawntel represented the state of Oklahoma, and her pageant platform was “school-to-work education,” which had to do with preparing students to enter the job market.

For the talent portion of the competition, she sang Barbra Streisand’s “The Woman in the Moon” from the 1976 version of the movie A Star is Born.

Shawntel, whose birth name was LaCricia Shawntel Smith, was the second-ever red-headed Miss America. (The first was Venus Ramey, Miss America 1944.)

What are your thoughts on the name Shawntel? (Do you like this spelling, or do you prefer Chantel?)

P.S. The section of US-64 that runs through Shawntel’s hometown of Muldrow is now called Shawntel Smith Boulveard.

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of the TV broadcast of the 69th Miss America pageant