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Named Linda? Join the club.

chairs

A few months ago, while revamping a post about the fastest-rising girl names of all time, I came across the L.I.N.D.A. Club — a club exclusively for people named Linda.

The only requirement for membership, according to the club’s website, is that one’s first name be Linda or a spelling variant thereof (such as Lynda, Linnda, or Lynnda).

Nearly every year since 1987, the Lindas have held a convention — including one this past weekend in Niagara Falls, New York.

They cleverly held their 2015 event in Linda, California.

And they invited Jack Lawrence — the man behind the hit song that popularized their shared first name back in the 1940s — to attend the 1989 event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He said:

[A] group of ladies in the middle west contacted me to explain that they had started an organization called LINDA and were holding annual meetings with many other ladies who had been named Linda as a result of my song. I went as their guest to their third annual meeting […] and it was a most peculiar feeling to address each and every one as LINDA. […] I don’t know of any other songs that have sparked such yearly meetings.

Two other name-clubs I’ve blogged about are the Shirley Club and the Lois Club. Do you know of any others?

Source: Linda – Jack Lawrence, Songwriter

Image: Adapted from Chaises-saint-denis (public domain) by Thierry Caro

What popularized the baby name Keyshawn in the 1990s?

Football player Keyshawn Johnson
Keyshawn Johnson

The baby name Keyshawn jumped into the boys’ top 1,000 for the first time in 1996:

  • 1998: 192 baby boys named Keyshawn [rank: 800th]
  • 1997: 194 baby boys named Keyshawn [rank: 771st]
  • 1996: 187 baby boys named Keyshawn [rank: 783rd]
  • 1995: 37 baby boys named Keyshawn
  • 1994: 8 baby boys named Keyshawn

The same year, several similar names (Keyshaun, Keyshon, and Keysean) made their debuts in the U.S. baby name data.

What was influencing all of these names?

Wide receiver (Joseph) Keyshawn Johnson.

A few months after being named the most valuable player of the 1996 Rose Bowl, he was selected first overall in the 1996 NFL Draft by the New York Jets.

During his 11-season professional football career, Johnson was invited to the Pro Bowl three times — twice while he was playing for the Jets, and once while he was with the Buccaneers. He was also part of the Buccaneers team that secured the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl win in early 2003.

What are your thoughts on the name Keyshawn? (How about KEY names in general?)

P.S. One of Keyshawn Johnson’s namesakes, KeeSean Johnson, born in late 1996, is currently a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills.

Sources: Keyshawn Johnson – Wikipedia, KeeSean Johnson – Wikipedia, SSA

Popular baby names in Paris, 2022

Flag of France
Flag of France

Paris, the capital of France, has an area of 41 square miles and a population of about 2.1 million — making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

Last year, Paris’ most popular baby names were Alma and Gabriel.

Here are the city’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl names

  1. Alma, 211 baby girls
  2. Louise, 210
  3. Emma, 152
  4. Jeanne, 150
  5. Anna, 144
  6. Adèle, 138
  7. Rose, 136
  8. Gabrielle, 133
  9. Chloé, 131
  10. Jade, 128 (tie)
  11. Léa, 128 (tie)
  12. Victoria, 126
  13. Alice, 120 (tie)
  14. Lina, 120 (tie)
  15. Sofia, 117
  16. Iris, 115 (tie)
  17. Olivia, 115 (tie)
  18. Juliette, 114 (tie)
  19. Victoire, 114 (tie)
  20. Romy, 113
  21. Eva, 111
  22. Joséphine, 106
  23. Ava, 104
  24. Fatoumata, 103
  25. Alba, 98
  26. Diane, 96
  27. Ambre, 94 (3-way tie)
  28. Nina, 94 (3-way tie)
  29. Zoé, 94 (3-way tie)
  30. Charlotte, 92
  31. Mia, 90
  32. Alix, 89 (tie)
  33. Julia, 89 (tie)
  34. Léonie, 88
  35. Sarah, 87
  36. Ella, 86
  37. Lou, 83
  38. Suzanne, 82
  39. Charlie, 81
  40. Nour, 78
  41. Héloïse, 75
  42. Mariam, 74
  43. Romane, 72
  44. Inaya, 68
  45. Agathe, 64
  46. Inès, 63 (tie)
  47. Maya, 63 (tie)
  48. Madeleine, 62
  49. Céleste, 59
  50. Aminata, 57 (tie)
  51. Fatima, 57 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Gabriel, 332 baby boys
  2. Adam, 254
  3. Raphaël, 250
  4. Louis, 223
  5. Mohamed, 209
  6. Arthur, 199
  7. Isaac, 190
  8. Noah, 180
  9. Gaspard, 175
  10. Léon, 173
  11. Léo, 158
  12. Joseph, 154
  13. Paul, 150
  14. Lucas, 145
  15. Victor, 139
  16. Hugo, 119
  17. Alexandre, 118
  18. Jules, 116
  19. Sacha, 115
  20. Ibrahim, 109
  21. Noé, 103
  22. Augustin, 101
  23. Liam, 95
  24. Oscar, 94
  25. Samuel, 92
  26. Maël, 91
  27. Marceau, 89 (3-way tie)
  28. Simon, 89 (3-way tie)
  29. Timothée, 89 (3-way tie)
  30. Nathan, 88
  31. Basile, 81
  32. Côme, 80
  33. Aaron, 79
  34. Ethan, 78
  35. Auguste, 77 (4-way tie)
  36. Eliott, 77 (4-way tie)
  37. Moussa, 77 (4-way tie)
  38. Naël, 77 (4-way tie)
  39. Marius, 75
  40. Eden, 74
  41. Mathis, 72 (tie)
  42. Rayan, 72 (tie)
  43. Achille, 71 (3-way tie)
  44. Andrea, 71 (3-way tie)
  45. Valentin, 71 (3-way tie)
  46. Antoine, 70
  47. Charles, 69
  48. Ismaël, 68
  49. Léonard, 66 (tie)
  50. Martin, 66 (tie)

And here’s a selection of names from lower down in the rankings, which includes all names given to at least five Parisian babies (of one gender or the other) per year.

Girl namesBoy names
Aliénor (40 baby girls), Mahaut (26), Louison (17), Mahault (15), Cassandre (10), Kimia (9), Solène (8), Bertille (7), Astrée (6), Bamby (5)Gaston (34 baby boys), Mathéo (27), Ruben (23), Ambroise (21), Célestin (16), Camil (13), Louison (7), Thaddée (7), Barthélémy (5), Ennio (5)

The female names Mahaut and Mahault are Middle French forms of Mathilde, and the gender-neutral name Louison is a diminutive of both Louise and Louis.

Finally, here’s a link to Paris’ 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Prénoms déclarés – Paris Data, Paris – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, Mathilda – dmnes.org

Image: Adapted from Flag of France (public domain)

Where did the baby name Lalena come from in the late 1960s?

Donovan's single "Lalena" (1968)
Donovan single

The name Lalena debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1968. The following year, it saw a sizeable increase in usage.

  • 1971: 48 baby girls named Lalena
  • 1970: 49 baby girls named Lalena
  • 1969: 37 baby girls named Lalena
  • 1968: 5 baby girls named Lalena [debut]
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted

Why?

Because of music!

In October of 1968, Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan released the song “Laléna.” It was about a prostitute whose name was Laléna, pronounced lah-LAY-nya — as if the “n” had a tilde (as in señor).

The song peaked at #33 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in November of 1968.

Here’s what it sounds like:

Donovan said he was inspired to write the song after seeing the 1931 German film The Threepenny Opera, which featured actress/singer Lotte Lenya as a prostitute named Jenny. The character in his song — whose name was based on the actress’ surname — was “a composite character of women who are outcasts on the edge of society.”

The singer was born Donovan Philips Leitch in Glasgow in 1946. Thanks to his influence, usage of the name Donovan also increased in the late 1960s.

P.S. Two other songs with the names of prostitutes in the titles are “Roxanne” by The Police and “Fancy” by Bobbie Gentry (later covered by Reba McEntire).

Sources: Laleña – Donovan Unofficial, Donovan – Billboard, SSA