Babies named for Sterling Price

American soldier Sterling Price (1809-1867)
Sterling Price

Sterling Price was an officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

He was born into a family of slave-owning planters in Virginia, and moved (with his family) to Missouri as a young man. He entered politics in the 1830s, fought in the Mexican-American War in the 1940s, and served a four-year term as governor of Missouri in the mid-1850s.

During the Civil War, he was initially the commander of the Missouri State Guard. He joined the Confederates as a Major-General in early 1862.

In terms of namesakes, I found a smattering born in the 1850s, and hundreds more born during the first half of the 1860s.

Here are some of the Missouri boys who were named after their state’s governor:

And here are more than a dozen of the boys (also mostly from Missouri) who were named in honor of Price during the Civil War era:

So…how could a baby be named “Robert Lee Sterling Price Stephenson” after a pair of famous Civil War generals if he was born more than two years before the conflict started?

He wasn’t named right away — like many of the children born during that time period.

In fact, Sterling Price Robbins — the namesake just below Stephenson on the list — was born in late 1860, but not baptized until mid-1862. And his name proved to be controversial among locals in St. Louis:

In June 1862, [Rev. Samuel McPheeters] baptized a baby with the name the parents selected — Sterling Price Robbins, in honor of the Confederate leader at Wilson’s Creek. After some church members complained, federal officials banished McPheeters.

Similarly, Ohio baby girl Emancipation Proclamation Coggeshall wasn’t named until she was 2 years old.

Sources:

Image: Sterling Price

Where did the baby name Jheri come from in the 1980s?

Michael Jackson's Jheri curl hairstyle on the cover of the 1982 album "Thriller"
Michael Jackson’s Jheri curl

The Jerry-like name Jheri appeared regularly in the U.S. baby name data from 1980 until the mid-1990s:

  • 1996: unlisted
  • 1995: 7 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1994: 11 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1993: 10 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1992: 8 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1991: 12 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1990 9 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1989: 8 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1988 10 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1987 12 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1986: 9 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1985: 13 baby girls named Jheri (peak usage)
  • 1984: 8 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1982: 12 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1981: 8 baby girls named Jheri
  • 1980: 6 baby girls named Jheri (debut)
  • 1979: unlisted

Why?

Because of the Jheri curl, a hairstyle featuring loose, glossy curls that was trendy among African-Americans primarily during the 1980s. Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Rick James, and other famous men and women of the era sported Jheri-curled hair.

Where did the style come from?

The “curl” originated with hairdresser/entrepreneur Jheri Redding, who developed a chemical process to make straight hair curly. Salons started offering the Jheri Kurl (as it was often spelled in advertisements) in the early 1970s.

Then, African-American hairdresser/entrepreneur Willie Lee Morrow adapted the process for African-American hair. His two-step method involved straightening the hair before adding a looser curl. (He also introduced “curl activator” to add moisture to the style.) Salons began offering Morrow’s California Curl in the late 1970s.

Some salons, in fact, offered both perms:

Newspaper advertisement for California Curl and Jheri Kurl (Feb. 1979)
(Feb. 1979)

Finally, African-American entrepreneur Comer Cottrell made Morrow’s perm both less expensive and more widely available by developing the do-it-yourself Curly Kit.

His kits were advertised heavily in Jet magazine throughout 1980:

Magazine advertisement for Curly Kit (Aug. 1980)
(Aug. 1980)

In mid-1981, Forbes magazine declared the Curly Kit “the biggest single product ever to hit the black cosmetics market.” Numerous copycat kits (with names like Classy Curl, S-Curl, and Super Curl) soon followed.

Despite the crucial contributions of Morrow and Cottrell, though, it was Jheri Reddings’s distinctive first name — associated with the curl since the start — that became the generic term for the style.

So, where did “Jheri” come from?

Redding coined it himself.

He was born Robert William Redding on a farm in Illinois in 1907. He became a licensed cosmetologist after noticing, during the Depression, that hairdressers were still being paid well.

Redding was an innovative marketer — he introduced the concept of “pH balanced” shampoos, for instance — and he created the eye-catching name for himself at some point before 1950, because he’s listed as “Jheri R Redding” on the 1950 U.S. Census:

Jheri Redding on 1950 U.S. Census

He launched his first company, Jheri Redding Products, six years later.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Jheri?

Sources:

  • Johnston, David Cay. “Jheri Redding Is Dead at 91; A Hair Products Entrepreneur.” New York Times 21 Mar. 1998: A-13.
  • Folkart, Burt A. “Jheri Redding; Beauty Products Pioneer.” Los Angeles Times 18 Mar. 1998.
  • Mack, Toni. “Caution + Daring = 82% Returns.” Forbes 8 Jun. 1981: 101-103.
  • Byrd, Ayana and Lori Tharps. Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
  • Ford, Tanisha C. Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion. NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2019.
  • Moore, Jennifer Grayer. Fashion Fads Through American History: Fitting Clothes Into Context. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2015.
  • SSA

Images: Clipping from Chula Vista Star-News (25 Feb. 1979); clipping from Jet magazine (14 Aug. 1980); clipping of the 1950 U.S. Census

What popularized the baby name Shelby in the early 1990s?

The character Shelby Eatenton from the movie "Steel Magnolias" (1989)
Shelby from “Steel Magnolias“

According to the U.S. baby name data, usage of the name Shelby increased sharply among baby girls (and moderately among baby boys) from 1989 to 1991:

Girls named ShelbyBoys named Shelby
19929,396 [rank: 34th]453 [rank: 474th]
199110,219† [rank: 33rd]524† [rank: 427th]
19903,517 [rank: 100th]354 [rank: 525th]
19891,203 [rank: 229th]205 [rank: 694th]
1988881 [rank: 284th]184 [rank: 691st]
1987898 [rank: 273rd]176 [rank: 686th]
†Peak usage

That surge of over 6,700 baby girls from 1990 to 1991 was the biggest raw-number increase of the year. (The next-biggest jump was made by Mariah.)

Here’s the popularity graph:

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

Usage was strongest (relatively speaking) in rural western states. In 1991, Shelby ranked 5th among baby girls in Montana, 6th in Oklahoma and Wyoming, 8th in Kansas, 11th in Nebraska, 12th in both of the Dakotas as well as Alaska, and 13th in Utah.

What made the name Shelby so trendy all of a sudden?

I think the answer is a combination of two different influences: a movie character, and a country singer.

The first influence was character Shelby Eatenton from the movie Steel Magnolias, which was released in November of 1989.

Steel Magnolias, set in small-town Louisiana, focused on a group of Southern women — two of whom were Mary Lynn “M’Lynn” Eatenton (played by Sally Field) and her adult daughter Shelby (played by Julia Roberts).

Over the course of the film, Shelby married lawyer Jackson Latcherie and — despite the medical risks posed by her type 1 diabetes — decided to have a child. The baby, a boy, was also named Jackson.

The role earned Roberts her first Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actress).

Steel Magnolias (which also gave boosts to the names Jackson and Mlynn) was adapted from the 1987 stage play of the same name by Robert Harling, who wrote it just months after his sister, Susan, had died of complications from type 1 diabetes.

Harling didn’t want to use real names, so (…) Susan became Shelby, after one of his mother’s cousins. “It’s that Southern thing of using a family name as a first name,” Harling says.

Shelby Lynne album "Sunrise" (1989)
Shelby Lynne album

The second influence was country singer Shelby Lynne, who was born in 1968 (as Shelby Lynn Moorer) and raised in Alabama.

Ten of her singles made Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. The most successful, “Things Are Tough All Over” [vid], peaked at #23 in January of 1991. Several months later, at the 26th Academy of Country Music Awards, she won the title of “Top New Female Vocalist” over fellow nominees Matraca Berg and Carlene Carter.

The names Shelbylynn and Shelbylyn both debuted in 1991, but, curiously, “Shelbylynne” never popped up in the data.

In an interview she gave toward the beginning of her career, Shelby Lynne was asked about the origin of her first name, which she described as “a guy’s name.” She answered,

I don’t know. My Daddy came up with it. Driving through Shelby County, I think, at one time or another, going through Birmingham or somewhere down there. Who knows, I’m just glad I got the name. There’s not many of us.

(Alabama is one of nine U.S. states with a Shelby County. All nine of these counties were named in honor of early American soldier and politician Isaac Shelby.)

What are your thoughts on the name Shelby? Do you like it better as a boy name or as a girl name?

Sources:

Top image: Screenshot of the trailer for Steel Magnolias

[Latest update: May 2025]

Where did the baby name Labradford come from in 1987?

Basketball player LaBradford Smith
LaBradford Smith

The long name Labradford, which first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1987, saw its highest usage in the late ’80s and early ’90s:

  • 1993: unlisted
  • 1992: 7 baby boys named Labradford
  • 1991: 18 baby boys named Labradford
  • 1990: 17 baby boys named Labradford
  • 1989: 13 baby boys named Labradford
  • 1988: 14 baby boys named Labradford
    • 5 born in Kentucky specifically
  • 1987: 5 baby boys named Labradford [debut]
  • 1986: unlisted

Where did it come from?

College basketball player LaBradford Smith.

From 1987 to 1991, the Texas native attended the University of Louisville, where he “would make Louisville history as the only four-year player to start every game.” The 6-foot-3 guard finished his college career as Louisville’s all-time leader in assists, free-throw percentage, and three-pointers. He also ranked fifth on Louisville’s all-time scoring list.

He was selected in the 1st round of the 1991 NBA draft by the Washington Bullets (which was being coached by Wes Unseld at the time). His NBA career only lasted three seasons, though.

What are your thoughts on the name LaBradford?

P.S. Several of LaBradford’s five older siblings also had successful college basketball careers. His sisters Audrey and Annette, for instance, both played at the University of Texas on the 1985-86 national championship team (which was also the first women’s team in NCAA history to record a perfect season).

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of televised NBA game (Mar. 1993)