What popularized the baby name Latoya?

La Toya Jackson's album "Heart Don't Lie" (1984)
La Toya Jackson album

The name Latoya first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in the 1960s. After rising quickly during the ’70s — and seeing upticks in usage in both 1977 and 1981 — the name achieved peak popularity in 1984:

  • 1985: 3,402 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 81st]
  • 1984: 5,051 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 60th] (peak usage)
  • 1983: 3,151 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 90th]
  • 1982: 3,200 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 91st]
  • 1981: 4,267 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 69th]
  • 1980: 2,505 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 123rd]
  • 1979: 1,880 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 148th]
  • 1978: 2,040 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 135th]
  • 1977: 2,321 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 125th]
  • 1976: 2,052 baby girls named Latoya [rank: 135th]

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Latoya in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Latoya

What fueled the rise of Latoya?

The career of singer La Toya Jackson.

(The SSA removes spaces and ignores internal capitalization, which explains why the name is rendered “Latoya” in the dataset.)

Though she wasn’t a member of The Jackson 5 — the pop-soul vocal group featuring her five brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael — La Toya was often mentioned in write-ups about the Jackson family during the early 1970s.

By 1974, La Toya and the remaining Jackson siblings (Rebbie, Randy, and Janet) were participating in the group’s live performances.

Television audiences were introduced to La Toya in the musical variety series The Jacksons (1976-77), which featured all of the siblings except for Jermaine.

In 1980, she launched her solo career. She didn’t become as commercially successful as either Michael or Janet, but her single “Heart Don’t Lie” [vid] — a reggae duet with Howard Hewett of Shalamar — did reach #56 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in June of 1984.

The singer was born La Toya Yvonne Jackson on May 29, 1956 — the sixth birthday of her eldest sibling, Rebbie, coincidentally. In her autobiography, La Toya said that her mother, who had a “fondness for unusual names,” claimed to have coined “La Toya.”

What are your thoughts on the name La Toya?

Sources:

What gave the baby name Tal a boost in 1963?

The character Tal Garrett from the TV series "Empire" (1962-1963).
Tal Garrett from “Empire“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the simple name Tal saw peak usage in 1963:

  • 1965: 28 baby boys named Tal
  • 1964: 48 baby boys named Tal
  • 1963: 87 baby boys named Tal [rank: 817th]
  • 1962: 12 baby boys named Tal
  • 1961: 7 baby boys named Tal

That year, Tal was one of the fastest-rising boy names in the country, and it managed to reach the top 1,000 for the first and only time.

What was influencing it?

The single-season TV western Empire (1962-63), which featured a character named Tal.

Empire was set on a modern-day ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The main character was ranch foreman Jim Redigo (played by Richard Egan), but one of the other important characters was Tal Garrett (played by Ryan O’Neal), the adult son of the owner of the ranch.

I don’t know if Tal’s name was short for something more formal, like Talmadge or Talbot, but it rhymed with similarly spelled names, such as Cal and Hal.

Ryan O’Neal’s recurring role on Empire also gave a nudge to the baby name Ryan in 1963:

  • 1964: 515 baby boys named Ryan
  • 1963: 647 baby boys named Ryan
  • 1962: 397 baby boys named Ryan

What are your thoughts on the name Tal? Would you use it as-is, or only as a nickname?

Sources: Empire (1962 TV series) – Wikipedia, SSA

Image: Screenshot of Empire

What gave the baby name Delilah a boost in 2007?

The Plain White T's song "Hey There Delilah" (2005)
“Hey There Delilah” single

According to the U.S. baby name data, Delilah began rising in popularity around the turn of the century. The name finally broke into the girls’ top 100 in 2018.

Along the way, though, there was a conspicuous jump in usage from 2006 to 2008:

  • 2009: 1,704 baby girls named Delilah [rank: 191st]
  • 2008: 1,739 baby girls named Delilah [rank: 193rd]
  • 2007: 1,136 baby girls named Delilah [rank: 297th]
  • 2006: 539 baby girls named Delilah [rank: 547th]
  • 2005: 487 baby girls named Delilah [rank: 585th]
  • 2004: 473 baby girls named Delilah [rank: 595th]

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Delilah in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Delilah

Several variant forms (including Delila, Dalilah, and Delyla) saw peak usage in 2008 specifically.

What was drawing extra attention to the name around that time?

The catchy love song “Hey There Delilah” by the band Plain White T’s.

The version of the song that became popular was released as a single in May of 2006. It didn’t appear on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart, however, until nearly a year later — April of 2007. The sleeper hit finally climbed to the #1 spot during the summer of 2007.

Here’s what it sounds like:

The band’s vocalist, Tom Higgenson, had written the song back in 2003 after meeting a woman named Delilah DiCrescenzo.

“I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen,” he says. “I told her, ‘I have a song about you already.’ Obviously, there was no song. But I thought it was smooth.”

DiCrescenzo was in a relationship at the time, so she and Tom never dated. But they did attend the Grammy Awards together (as friends) in early 2008 when “Hey There Delilah” was nominated for both Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

The specific variant Dlila, which debuted in 2007, may also have a secondary influence: a celebrity baby. Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs and his longtime girlfriend, Kimberly Porter, welcomed twin girls in December of 2006. The babies were named D’Lila Star and Jessie James after their great-grandmothers Lila Mae Star (Porter’s grandmother) and Jessie Smalls (Combs’ grandmother).

What are your thoughts on the name Delilah?

P.S. The name’s slightly higher usage in 1969 and 1970 could be due to another name-song performed by another Tom: “Delilah” by Tom Jones. The murder ballad was released at the end of 1967 and peaked at #15 on the Hot 100 in June of 1968.

Sources:

Where did the baby name Kayelani come from in 1987?

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, Miss America 1988
Kaye Lani Rae Rafko

The rare name Kayelani debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1987, reached peak usage in 1988, and hung around for three more years before disappearing again.

  • 1992: unlisted
  • 1991: 6 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1990: 13 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1989: 7 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1988: 22 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1987: 7 baby girls named Kayelani [debut]
  • 1986: unlisted

The similar name Kaylani also debuted in 1987.

What put these two names on the map?

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, who was crowned Miss America 1988 in front of “a television audience estimated at 60 million” viewers in September of 1987.

(It’s hard to know how many of the babies above were named “Kaye Lani” specifically, as the SSA data omits/ignores spaces and internal capitalization.)

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, Miss America 1988
Kaye Lani Rae Rafko

Kaye Lani Rafko, who represented the state of Michigan, was the first registered nurse to win the title.

She spent much of her tenure promoting the nursing profession and hospice care, which drew national attention. Her example would spawn official platform requirements for all contestants two years later.

For the talent portion of the competition, she donned a Barbie-pink grass skirt and performed a Tahitian dance that had “a little flavor of Hawaii thrown in,” according to the emcee.

And what motivated her to learn this particular style of dance in the first place?

Her Hawaiian-ish compound first name, which was said to be inspired by one of her mother’s friends. (Perhaps that friend had a more traditional Hawaiian name, like Kailani or Kalani. The second element of all three names, lani, is the Hawaiian word for “sky” or “heaven.”)

Kaye Lani’s three younger siblings were given the less-exotic names Kimberly, Nicholas, and Paul.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Kayelani?

P.S. A street in Kaye Lani Rafko’s hometown of Monroe is now called Kaye Lani Avenue.

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of the TV broadcast of the 61st Miss America pageant