What popularized the baby name Janay in the 1980s?

Freddie Jackson's album "Just Like the First Time" (1986)
Freddie Jackson album

From 1986 to 1987, usage of the baby name Janay increased by more than a factor of 12:

  • 1989: 315 baby girls named Janay [rank: 651st]
  • 1988: 429 baby girls named Janay [rank: 513th]
  • 1987: 596 baby girls named Janay [rank: 388th]
  • 1986: 47 baby girls named Janay
  • 1985: 37 baby girls named Janay

Janay was one of the fastest-rising baby names of 1987, in fact.

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

Not only that, but many similar names also got a boost in that year…

1985198619871988
Janae216245442432
Janee5881118129
Janai22236967
Janea43315648
Jenay15204942
Janaye12112936
Jenai1882220
Jeanee6.136
Jenaye..1113
Jahnee..9*.
Janei..6.
Jonai..5*.
Jnay..5*.
*Debut

(That last one, Jnay, was also a one-hit wonder in the data.)

When multiple spellings of the same name rise together, the explanation is often audio, and this case is no different.

The influence was the R&B ballad “Janay” (pronounced jeh-nay) by Freddie Jackson.

Notably, the song was never released as a single, so it wouldn’t have gotten much (if any) radio play.

It was simply a track on Jackson’s album Just Like the First Time, which was released in November of 1986. The album ended up reaching #1 on Billboard‘s “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” chart in early December and staying there for 26 weeks straight.

The success of the album gave the unreleased track so much exposure that hundreds of baby girls were named Janay (or some variant thereof) the following year.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Janay?

Sources: Freddie Jackson – Wikipedia, Freddie Jackson – Billboard, SSA

What brought the baby name Jacy back in 1961?

Fashion model Jacy DeSouza on the cover of Ebony (Jan. 1961)
Jacy DeSouza

The first time Jacy popped up in the U.S. baby name data, in 1912, it was a boy name. When it made a return in the early ’60s, it was a girl name:

  • 1963: 13 baby girls named Jacy
  • 1962: 15 baby girls named Jacy
  • 1961: 13 baby girls named Jacy
  • 1960: unlisted
  • 1959: unlisted

The return was prompted by Brazilian fashion model Jacy DeSouza, who was featured in the African-American magazines Jet and Ebony in the late ’50s and early ’60s. She appeared on one Ebony cover and three Jet covers from 1960 to 1963.

Jacy had been modeling professionally in Italy for several years when she met the director of the annual Ebony Fashion Fair. A few years later, she began participating in the traveling fashion show and appearing in the two magazines (both of which were owned by same company).

She’s last mentioned/pictured in the magazines in late 1963. I’m not sure what became of her after that.

Source: “New Face in Ebony Fashion Fair.” Jet 5 Oct. 1961: 42-43.

What turned Valiant into a baby name in the 1940s?

The characters Prince Valiant and Aleta (in 1945) from the comic strip "Prince Valiant" (1937-)
Prince Valiant and Aleta (in 1945)

Names like Brave and Warrior have surfaced in the U.S. baby name data over the last couple of decades, but Valiant first appeared way back in the 1940s:

  • 1949: 7 baby boys named Valiant
  • 1948: 5 baby boys named Valiant
  • 1947: 6 baby boys named Valiant [debut]
  • 1946: unlisted
  • 1945: unlisted

Why?

My best guess is comic strip character Prince Valiant, who’d been familiar to newspaper readers for a decade by 1947.

Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur by Nova Scotian artist Harold “Hal” Foster is an action-adventure comic strip set in sixth-century England.

It is difficult to imagine the impact Foster’s “Prince Valiant” had on 1930s and 1940s popular culture. When “Prince Valiant” began, Superman’s debut in “Action Comics No. 1” was still over a year away. […] “Swipes” of Foster’s art can be found in the origin of Batman and in comics drawn by Jack Kirby, the co-creator of many of today’s movie heroes, including Captain America, the Avengers, the X-Men and Thor.

Other characters from the strip also influenced U.S. baby names.

The earliest example I’ve found is that of the maid Ilene, Prince Valiant’s first love. During 1938, Val fought rival suitor Prince Arn of Ord for her. The same year, the baby name Ilene saw a spike in usage:

  • 1940: 227 baby girls named Ilene [rank: 451st]
  • 1939: 283 baby girls named Ilene [rank: 397th]
  • 1938: 343 baby girls named Ilene [rank: 347th]
  • 1937: 248 baby girls named Ilene [rank: 412th]
  • 1936: 263 baby girls named Ilene [rank: 392nd]

Turns out neither suitor won — Ilene died in a shipwreck — but Arn and Val did end up becoming good friends.

Several years later, Valiant met Aleta, the grey-eyed queen of the Misty Isles. She became a central part of the storyline in the mid-1940s, and the characters finally got married in October of 1946.

As a result, the baby name Aleta saw a steep rise in usage from 1945 to 1947:

  • 1948: 227 baby girls named Aleta [rank: 551st]
  • 1947: 262 baby girls named Aleta [rank: 511th] – peak usage
  • 1946: 171 baby girls named Aleta [rank: 606th]
  • 1945: 102 baby girls named Aleta [rank: 737th]
  • 1944: 38 baby girls named Aleta
Graph of the usage of the baby name Aleta in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Aleta

Val and Aleta went on to welcome five children, 3 boys and 2 girls:

  1. Arn (who was named after Prince Arn of Ord) in 1947
  2. Karen (twin) in 1951
  3. Valeta (twin) in 1951
  4. Galan in 1962
  5. Nathan in 1982

The name Arn debuted in the data in 1949, and the name Valeta saw peak usage in 1952.

Interestingly, the three middle children were all named via contest:

After Val and Aleta’s twin girls were born, King Features held a contest to name them, but Foster reserved the right to select the winning entry. A young girl, Cindy Lou Hermann, sent in the winning names “Karen” and “Valeta” and visited Hal in Connecticut. For Val and Aleta’s fourth child, a boy who would become the king of the Misty Isles, John Hall won the competition with “Galen” after the Greek physician, Claudius Galen.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Valiant? (Would you use it?)

Sources:

Where did the baby name Quayshaun come from in 1991?

Quayshaun's single "Party Slammin'" (1991).
Quayshaun single

The name Quayshaun debuted very impressively in the U.S. baby name data in 1991:

  • 1993: 11 baby boys named Quayshaun
  • 1992: 19 baby boys named Quayshaun
  • 1991: 93 baby boys named Quayshaun [debut]
  • 1990: unlisted
  • 1989: unlisted

Not only was it the top debut name of the year, but it currently ranks 12th (between Jkwon and Taurean) on the list of the top boy-name debuts of all time.

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

Other versions of the name also saw higher usage around that time:

1990199119921993
Quashawn16364335
Quashon871311
Quayshawn.45*209
Quashaun.17*1310
Quaysean.11*..
Quayshun.9*5.
Quashan.5*..
Quasean..7*7
Quashun..6*5
Queshawn..6*.
Quayshon...5*
*Debut

(The spelling Quayshawn had such a strong debut that it was also one of the top debuts of all time — ranked 35th.)

So…what was influencing these names?

Hip hop artist William “Quayshaun” Carter, who put out several singles in the early ’90s. None were more successful than the minor hit “Party Slammin'” (1991), which never reached the Billboard Hot 100, but did get reviewed in the magazine itself:

Bass-heavy jam showcases Quayshaun’s rapid-fire rhyme style as well as a hip-hop groove that would make Teddy Riley proud. Could happen at urban radio with the right push.

(Music producer Teddy Riley invented the “new jack swing” sound.)

Here’s the song:

What are your thoughts on the name Quayshaun? (How would you spell it?)

Sources: