Where did the baby name Wrayanne come from in 1948?

Bathing beauty Wrayanne Teeple in 1948.
Wrayanne Teeple

The baby name Wrayanne was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in the late 1940s:

  • 1950: unlisted
  • 1949: unlisted
  • 1948: 5 baby girls named Wrayanne [debut]
  • 1947: unlisted
  • 1946: unlisted

What was the source?

A girl in a bathing suit!

A photo of 17-year-old Wrayanne Teeple ran in newspapers nationwide in September of 1948. The caption revealed that Wrayanne would be one of about 50 girls posing for amateur photographers at the sixth annual Beach Girl-Amateur Photographer Contest in Long Beach, California. (She didn’t end up winning.)

Her name (sometimes misspelled Rayanne) was also mentioned in local California papers later that year, when she was selected as the “princess” of the Long Beach float in the Tournament of Roses Parade, which was held on the first day of 1949.

Wrayanne’s name was likely coined as a combination of her parents’ names, Ray and Georgiana.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Wrayanne?

Sources:

Where did the baby name Rewa come from in 1970?

Pageant winner Rewa Walsh
Rewa Walsh

The interesting name Rewa started appearing in the U.S. baby name data in 1970:

  • 1972: 11 baby girls named Rewa
  • 1971: 57 baby girls named Rewa [peak usage]
  • 1970: 24 baby girls named Rewa [debut]
  • 1969: unlisted
  • 1968: unlisted

What put it on the map?

Rewa Collette Walsh, a long-haired 17-year-old from Los Angeles who was crowned Miss Teenage America in November of 1970. The competition, sponsored by Dr. Pepper, was aired nationally on CBS.

In the talent event, Rewa danced her own modern interpretation of the “Impossible Dream.” While most contest entrants have been singing and pirouetting since childhood, Rewa never had a professional dancing lesson.

During 1971, her name regularly popped up in the newspapers as she made appearances throughout the country.

In one article, she explained that she was born in Sydney, Australia, while her father was in the Merchant Marines. She said her first name, Rewa, meant “good luck” in “the Aboriginal language.” (Australia has hundreds of Aboriginal languages, though, so it’s hard to confirm this.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Rewa?

Sources:

Where did the baby name Jimalee come from in 1956?

Photo of Adlai Stevenson and Jimalee Burton in 1956.
Adlai Stevenson with Jimalee Burton (r)

The name Jimalee has appeared just once in the U.S. baby name data, in 1956:

  • 1958: unlisted
  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: 5 baby girls named Jimalee [debut]
  • 1955: unlisted
  • 1954: unlisted

What put it there?

The answer seems to be an image that ran in newspapers nationwide in September of 1956. The image featured politician Adlai Stevenson — who’d just landed in Tulsa, Oklahoma — receiving “an Indian peace pipe” from a woman named Jimalee Burton.

Jimalee Burton, née Chitwood, was born in Oklahoma in 1891. She was an artist, poet, and musician who claimed to be of Cherokee descent. (I say “claimed” because, in various early records, she and her family members — parents James and Mary, and sister Maude — are all repeatedly classified as “white,” never as “Indian.”)

What are your thoughts on the name Jimalee? Would you use it?

Sources:

  • U.S. Census (1900 & 1910)
  • “Stevenson Presented Peace Pipe.” Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg, VA] 25 Sept. 1956: 1.
  • SSA

What gave the baby name Adlai a boost in the 1950s?

Politician Adlai E. Stevenson II (1900-1965)
Adlai E. Stevenson II

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Adlai saw peak usage in 1952, then a smaller spike four years later:

  • 1959: unlisted
  • 1958: unlisted
  • 1957: 6 baby boys named Adlai
  • 1956: 22 baby boys named Adlai
  • 1955: 12 baby boys named Adlai
  • 1954: 7 baby boys named Adlai
  • 1953: 18 baby boys named Adlai
  • 1952: 39 baby boys named Adlai [peak]
    • 6 born in Illinois
  • 1951: unlisted
  • 1950: unlisted

Why?

Because of politician Adlai Ewing Stevenson II — the namesake of politician Adlai Ewing Stevenson I, his grandfather.

Adlai Stevenson II served as the governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953. He was elected “by a larger majority than any other candidate had received in the history of the state.”

On a national level, though, he’s better remembered for being the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the presidency in both 1952 and 1956.

In spite of his refusal to seek the presidential nomination in 1952, he was drafted by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He waged a vigorous campaign, but the popular appeal of wartime hero Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower proved irresistible. Stevenson was defeated a second time four years later, again by Eisenhower.

One of the other candidates for the Democratic nomination in both ’52 and ’56 was W. Averell Harriman.

Sources: SSA, Adlai Stevenson II – Wikipedia, Adlai E. Stevenson | American Statesman | Britannica