Where did the baby name Sacario come from in 2002?

Rapper Sacario in the music video for "If I Could Go!" (2002)
Sacario

The name Sacario appeared in the U.S. baby name data for three years straight, then dropped back below the 5-baby threshold:

  • 2005: unlisted
  • 2004: 6 baby boys named Sacario
  • 2003: 14 baby boys named Sacario [peak]
  • 2002: 12 baby boys named Sacario [debut]
  • 2001: unlisted

What put it there?

A rapper named Sacario, who was featured (along with Lil’ Mo) in one of 2002’s catchiest songs: “If I Could Go!” by Angie Martinez.

“If I Could Go!” [vid] was released in May of 2002. In September, it peaked on several different Billboard charts — most notably the Hot 100 chart (at #15), but also the Hot Rap Songs chart (#11) and the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart (#26).

Sacario, whose real name is Jamar Austin, co-wrote the track. His featured part is fairly extensive, and he even name-checked himself in one line:

Sacario, the name awaits the whole issue

His rap name may be based on the Spanish word sicario, meaning “hitman.”

What are your thoughts on the name Sacario?

P.S. Angie Martinez had a second career as a rapper in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but she’s better known as a longtime NYC radio personality. She was recently inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, in fact.

Sources: Angie Martinez – Billboard, If I Could Go! – Wikipedia, Angie Martinez – If I Could Go | Genius Lyrics, SSA

Image: Screenshot of the music video for “If I Could Go!”

Where did the baby name Kecia come from in 1962?

Finnish model Kecia Nyman on the cover of Vogue (Sept. 15, 1965)
Kecia Nyman

The baby name Kecia both debuted and peaked in the U.S. baby name data in the 1960s:

  • 1966: 208 baby girls named Kecia [rank: 672nd]
  • 1965: 560 baby girls named Kecia [rank: 392nd] (peak usage)
  • 1964: 265 baby girls named Kecia [rank: 617th]
  • 1963: 43 baby girls named Kecia
  • 1962: 11 baby girls named Kecia (debut)
  • 1961: unlisted
  • 1960: unlisted

What was making it so trendy?

A Finnish fashion model named Kecia Nyman.

The height of her career was in the mid-to-late ’60s, when she was being featured on magazine covers, in television commercials, and apparently even on boxes of Kotex.

But she’d been appearing on major magazine covers since at least 1962. She was on the cover of the U.S. edition of Vogue that September, for instance.

Right after Kecia debuted in the data, a slew of Kecia-like names followed suit:

1963196419651966
Kisha7*175034
Kesia.17*2912
Keshia.14*1930
Kesha.14*3434
Kechia.12*12.
Keesha.8*1312
Kasha.6*57
Kiesha..16*13
Keica..8*.
Keicha..8*.
Keysha..6*6
Lakecia..6*5
Kicia..6*.
Keisa...5*
*Debut

(Keshia was later popularized by The Cosby Show.)

I don’t know the story behind Kecia Nyman’s name. It could be based on the Biblical name Keziah, or on the Finnish word kesä, meaning “summer.” It also happens to bear a resemblance to Kaisa, a Finnish diminutive of Katherine.

I also couldn’t find a clip of Kecia saying her name, so I can’t offer you an official pronunciation.

But here’s an interesting (if random) fact: Kecia’s older sister Tamara, who was also a successful model, stopped modeling in 1966 when she married into the royal family of Liechtenstein.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Kecia? How would you spell it?

Sources: Girl Name Kecia – BabyNamesHub.com, Kecia Nyman – Wikipedia, SSA

How did Virna Lisi influence baby names in the 1960s?

Italian actress Virna Lisi (1936-2014)
Virna Lisi

When Italian actress Virna Lisi started appearing in American films in the mid-1960s, American audiences took notice.

How do we know? Well, the baby name Lisi appeared in the U.S. baby name data for the first time in 1965, and, the same year, the baby name Virna re-emerged in the data (after a decades-long absence) with its highest-ever usage.

Girls named VirnaGirls named Lisi
196721.
1966115
196538†8*
1964..
1963..
*Debut, †Peak usage

(It should be noted, of course, that Lisa was the #1 baby name in the nation from 1962 to 1969. No doubt this made the similar — but much rarer — name Lisi sound rather stylish during that decade.)

Virna Lisi was born Virna Lisa Pieralisi in Ancona, Italy, in 1936.

Her father had wanted to call her Siria (“Syria”), but that country’s colonial ruler, France, was at loggerheads with Mussolini and the births registrar accordingly refused to accept the name. The exasperated Pieralisi then made up Virna on the spot.

She started acting as a teenager in Italy, and her success in Italian films eventually led to a brief Hollywood career. She appeared in How to Murder Your Wife (1965) with Jack Lemmon, Not With My Wife You Don’t (1966) with Tony Curtis, and Assault on a Queen (1966) with Frank Sinatra.

But Lisi disliked her “sex symbol” image in America. So she decided to leave. She turned down the lead role in Barbarella, terminated her Hollywood contract, and returned to Europe to play a wider range of characters.

What are your thoughts on the names Virna and Lisi? Which one would you be more likely to use on a modern-day baby?

P.S. Italian actress Anna Maria Pierangeli — better known as Pier Angeli — also had a surname that began with “Pier” (the Italian form of Peter).

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of How to Murder Your Wife

Where did the baby name Caramia come from in 1966?

Jay and the Americans performing the song "Cara Mia" on the TV show "Shindig!" in 1965
Jay and the Americans performing “Cara Mia”

The name Caramia first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1966:

  • 1968: unlisted
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: 6 baby girls name Caramia [debut]
  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: unlisted

The names Cara and Mia also saw boosts in usage that year.

So what turned the Italian phrase cara mia, meaning “my beloved,” into a U.S. baby name in the mid-1960s?

The song “Cara Mia” by Jay and the Americans, which peaked at #4 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 in July of 1965. Here are Jay and The Americans performing “Cara Mia” on the musical variety series Shindig! in 1965:

The song was originally recorded in 1954 by British singer David Whitfield. His rather operatic version [vid] sold well in the U.S, but not well enough for the name to emerge in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1950s. (A name needs to be given to at least five U.S. babies per year to be included in the data.) That said, I have come across records for a couple dozen U.S. babies named Caramia/Cara Mia during that time period.

What are your thoughts on the name Caramia?

P.S. The original lead singer of Jay and the Americans was not named “Jay,” but John. His replacement — who is singing “Cara Mia” in the video above — was also not a “Jay,” but a David.

Sources: Cara Mia by Jay & the Americans, SSA