How did the movie “Ladyhawke” influence baby names?

The characters Etienne of Navarre and Isabeau of Anjou from the movie "Ladyhawke" (1985)
Navarre and Isabeau from “Ladyhawke“

The main character in the medieval fantasy film Ladyhawke (1985) is a young, talkative thief played by Matthew Broderick.

But at the heart of the film is a cursed romance between a knight and a lady who are “always together, eternally apart.”

Etienne Navarre (played by Dutch actor Rutger Hauer) is human by day, but transforms into a black wolf at night. His lover Isabeau (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), in contrast, is human at night, but transforms into a hawk during the day. Only at the moment of sunrise and sunset are Navarre and Isabeau in human form at the same time.

(Broderick’s character is recruited by Navarre to help him seek revenge upon the Bishop of Aquila, who put the curse on the couple after Isabeau refused his advances.)

Ladyhawke wasn’t a hit at the box office, but it did have an effect on the baby name charts. Navarre, Rutger, and Isabeau all debuted in the U.S. baby name data after the movie came out:

Boys named NavarreBoys named RutgerGirls named Isabeau
1989.65
1988..5
1987810*6*
19868*..
1985...
*Debut

Navarre refers to the historical Kingdom of Navarre (which was located in the western Pyrenees), Rutger is the Dutch form of Roger, and Isabeau (like Isabel) is a form of the name Elizabeth that emerged during the Middle Ages.

The name Isabeau may get another boost in a couple of years if U.S. figure skater Isabeau Levito — who was born in 2007 and named after the Ladyhawke character — participates in the 2026 Winter Olympics.

What are your thought on these names?

P.S. Rutger Hauer also had a starring role in the 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner…

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Ladyhawke

Where did the baby name Amadeus come from in 1985?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the movie "Amadeus" (1984)
Mozart from “Amadeus”

The name Amadeus — created from the Latin words amare, meaning “to love,” and deus, meaning “god” — can be interpreted as meaning either “lover of god” or “loved by god.”

It first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1985:

  • 1987: 17 baby boys named Amadeus
  • 1986: 15 baby boys named Amadeus
  • 1985: 11 baby boys named Amadeus [debut]
  • 1984: unlisted
  • 1983: unlisted

What caused the debut?

Well, it all starts with famed Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) — specifically, with an unfounded rumor regarding the mysterious circumstances of his premature death at age 35.

According to the rumor, Mozart was poisoned by one of his professional rivals, Italian-born composer Antonio Salieri. In reality, the two men were cordial with one another. (Also, the symptoms of Mozart’s final illness do not line up with a case of poisoning.) Regardless, the rumor persisted.

In 1830, Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was inspired by the rumor to write a short (two-scene) play called Mozart and Salieri.

A century and a half later, English playwright Peter Shaffer — inspired by Pushkin’s play — created a longer (two-act) play called Amadeus (1979).

In Shaffer’s highly fictionalized play, Salieri has lived a virtuous life, and enjoyed professional success, but remains a mediocre composer. Mozart, on the other hand, is a brilliant composer despite being a “foul-mouthed, gleeful young lout.” Upon realizing that he’s been denied the gift of musical genius — that the one “loved by god” is undeserving Mozart (with the symbolic middle name) — Salieri decides to take revenge upon god by sabotaging Mozart’s career.

The Broadway production of Amadeus, which starred Ian McKellen as Salieri and Tim Curry as Mozart, ran from December of 1980 to October of 1983. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Play.

The successful play was then made into an equally successful movie, also entitled Amadeus, which was released in September of 1984. The movie starred F. Murray Abraham as Salieri and Tom Hulce as “goofy, immature” Mozart. It won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

And the movie is what accounts for nearly a dozen U.S. baby boys being named Amadeus in 1985.

Falco's single "Rock me Amadeus" (1985)
Falco single

Then, in an unexpected twist, Austrian musician Falco (birth name: Johann Hölzel) — inspired by the movie Amadeus — created the German-language synth-pop song “Rock Me Amadeus” [vid], which was released in Europe in early 1985. A year later, in the spring of 1986, it reached the #1 spot on Billboard‘s U.S. Hot 100 chart and stayed there for three weeks straight.

The song — in which Falco repeats the name Amadeus dozens of times — likely accounts for the name’s rising usage on birth certificates in both 1986 and 1987.

…But now let’s circle back to the original Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose middle name, as it turns out, wasn’t actually “Amadeus.”

Mozart was baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. His first two given names (which were rarely used) honored St. John Chrysostom, his third given name came from his maternal grandfather, and his fourth given name came from his godfather.

During his life, multilingual Mozart translated his Greek middle name Theophilus into various other languages. He sometimes used the German form Gottlieb, or the French form Amadè, or the Italian form Amadeo. But he never used the Latin form, Amadeus.

What are your thoughts on the name Amadeus? Would you use it? (Do you prefer one of the other forms?)

P.S. Mozart’s older sister, Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart, also has at least one U.S. namesake…

Sources:

Top image: Screenshot of Amadeus

Where did the baby name Anfernee come from in 1992?

Basketball player Anfernee Hardaway
Anfernee Hardaway

The curious name Anfernee debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1992 and reached peak usage in 1996:

  • 1998: 102 baby boys named Anfernee
  • 1997: 171 baby boys named Anfernee [rank: 838th]
  • 1996: 300 baby boys named Anfernee [rank: 597th]
  • 1995: 246 baby boys named Anfernee [rank: 669th]
  • 1994: 84 baby boys named Anfernee
  • 1993: 42 baby boys named Anfernee
  • 1992: 21 baby boys named Anfernee [debut]
  • 1991: unlisted

This corresponds to the rise of Tennessee-born basketball player Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

He played for two seasons at Memphis State before being selected third overall in the 1993 NBA draft.

As a professional, Anfernee spent his first six seasons with the Orlando Magic. During that time, he was voted an NBA All-Star four times in a row, from 1995 to 1998.

So how did he come to be called “Anfernee”? Here’s how his mother, Fae, explained it:

When I was in school at Lester High, there had been a boy named Anfernee. I always thought it was such a beautiful name. People think I don’t know how to spell Anthony. His nickname, Penny? That came from Mama. She called him Pretty, but in the country, that comes out ‘Pweddy.’ People just took it from there.

(Anfernee was raised largely by Fae’s mother, Louise, a former sharecropper.)

Among Anfernee Hardaway’s namesakes are baseball player Anfernee Grier (born in 1995), basketball player Anfernee Simons (b. 1999), and football players Anfernee Jennings (b. 1996) and Anfernee Orji (b. 2000).

What are your thoughts on the name Anfernee?

Sources:

Image: Anfernee Hardaway trading card

What gave the baby name Gordon a boost in 1963?

The Cooper family -- Camala, Janita, Trudy, and Gordon -- with Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy (May, 1963)
The Coopers and the Kennedys

The name Gordon, after ranking as one of the top 100 boy names in the nation from the early 1910s to the early 1940s, began to decline in usage. Amid that decline, Gordon saw a conspicuous uptick in 1963:

  • 1965: 1,445 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 178th]
  • 1964: 1,770 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 167th]
  • 1963: 2,084 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 158th]
  • 1962: 1,783 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 173rd]
  • 1961: 1,990 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 165th]

What caused it?

Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper (who went by Gordon, or “Gordo”).

Cooper learned to fly planes during his childhood in Oklahoma. After joining the Air Force in 1949, he worked first as a fighter pilot, then as a test pilot.

In 1959, he was selected by NASA to fly spacecraft for the country’s first human spaceflight program, Project Mercury.

In May of 1963, he piloted Mercury’s final crewed mission — which nearly ended in disaster when the spacecraft’s autopilot system failed while Cooper was preparing to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere:

After being strapped in the 6-ft.-wide Faith 7 for nearly a day and a half, he had to take over when the best equipment that the best of science could provide failed. He had to respond with incredible precision to directions from earth; he had to show a kind of skill and nerve and calm that no man has ever had to demonstrate.

Cooper performed a risky manual re-entry and returned to Earth unharmed.

Speaking of Earth, he’d orbited the planet 22 times during the 34 hours and 20 minutes he’d spent in space. (Cooper logged “more spaceflight time than the other five Mercury flights combined.”)

The success of the mission made Gordon Cooper a celebrity. He was honored with several parades (including a ticker-tape parade in New York City), featured on the cover of both Life and Time magazines, and given a number of awards (such as the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, presented by President John F. Kennedy).

The surname Cooper also got a slight boost (as a baby name) in the early ’60s, reaching then-peak usage in 1964:

  • 1966: 15 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1965: 26 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1964: 30 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1963: 18 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1962: 8 baby boys named Cooper

Even Gordon Cooper’s family — his wife Gertrude (“Trudy”) and teenage daughters Camala Keoki (“Cam”) and Janita Lee (“Jan”) — influenced the baby name charts.

Gertrude, Janita, and Camala Cooper on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine (Sept. 1963)
Trudy, Jan, and Cam Gordon

The baby name Trudy saw its last prominent spike in usage in 1963, and the uncommon names Camala (pronounced CAM-uh-luh) and Janita (pronounced jah-NEE-tuh) both peaked that year as well:

Girls named TrudyGirls named CamalaGirls named Janita
1965584 [377th]2238
1964672 [365th]936
1963851 [325th]37†57†
1962717 [355th]6*26
1961682 [367th].32
*Debut, †Peak usage

(The name Kamala peaked around the same time, but for a different reason.)

Gordo and Trudy met while attending the University of Hawaii. According to one source, they named their daughters “with a Hawaiian nostalgia.”

Ironically, the couple had long been estranged by 1963. They presented themselves as happily married to NASA — and to the public — because the space agency would only work with pilots who had stable home lives.

What are your thoughts on the names of Gordon Cooper’s daughters, Camala and Janita? Which name do you prefer?

P.S. A month after Cooper’s flight, the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman (and first civilian) in space.

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