What gave the baby name Brenton a boost in 1984?

The character Philadelphia Gordon from the TV miniseries "All the Rivers Run" (1983)
Philadelphia Gordon from “All the Rivers Run“

In October of 1983, the miniseries All the Rivers Run premiered on Australian television.

The program’s main character, a free-spirited young Englishwoman named Philadelphia “Delie” Gordon (played by Sigrid Thornton), was orphaned in a shipwreck off the coast of Victoria in 1892. She was taken in by extended family living near Echuca, a port town on the Murray River, and eventually began a relationship with a paddle-steamer captain named Brenton Edwards (played by John Waters).

All the Rivers Run proved very popular and, as a result, many expectant parents in Australia decided to name their baby boys Brenton in the mid-1980s. The name reached peak usage in both in New South Wales and Queensland, for instance, in 1984.

Rank of Brenton in NSWRank of Breton in Qld.
1986.71st (56 boys)
198599th (71 boys)70th (60 boys)
198466th*† (122 boys)54th*† (86 boys)
1983..
1982..
*Debut in boys’ top 100, †Peak usage

Actor John Waters remembers meeting young boys named Brenton. He said,

The fact that [Brenton Edwards] was a popular character and the name was also new to people was probably one of those deciding factors — “I’ll call my kid Brenton, he’ll be the only one in his class.” Little did they know there’d be five of them.

The character Brenton Edwards from the TV miniseries "All the Rivers Run" (1983)
Brenton Edwards from “All the Rivers Run“

In January of 1984, several months after its initial broadcast, All the Rivers Run aired in the United States.

The miniseries had a similar effect upon expectant parents in America; the name Brenton more than tripled in usage nationally in 1984, and the name Philadelphia appeared for the first time in the U.S. baby name data the same year.

Boys named BrentonGirls named Philadelphia
1986601 (rank: 330th)5
1985603 (rank: 328th)5
1984799 (rank: 260th)†8*
1983250 (rank: 527th).
1982255 (rank: 534th).
*Debut, †Peak usage

Brenton, a Cornish surname, can be traced back to any of various place names, all of which derive from Bryningtun, meaning “settlement associated with Bryni” in Old English. Byrni, a personal name, is based on the word bryne, meaning “burning, fire.”

(Interestingly, while Brenton became a top-100 name for the first time in several regions of Australia in the mid-1980s, it had long been been a top-100 name in South Australia specifically. Why? Likely because of the relatively high number of Cornish Australians in South Australia.)

Philadelphia Gordon’s first name was inspired by the U.S. city of Philadelphia. In the 1958 novel upon which the TV miniseries was based, Delie explained: “Father was always planning to go to the States, before he ever thought of Australia.”

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Images: Screenshots of All the Rivers Run

What gave the baby name Luci a boost in the mid-1960s?

Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of Lyndon Baines Johnson
Luci Baines Johnson

The name Lucy had been on the decline for about a decade when, in 1964, the uncommon spelling Luci nearly quadrupled in usage:

  • 1966: 78 baby girls named Luci
  • 1965: 81 baby girls named Luci
  • 1964: 42 baby girls named Luci
  • 1963: 11 baby girls named Luci
  • 1962: 8 baby girls named Luci

(Lucy itself also saw an uptick in usage that year.)

What was influencing the name Luci in the mid-1960s?

Luci Baines Johnson, the younger daughter of president Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson.

Luci was regularly in the headlines while she was campaigning for her father in 1964. She was, for instance, the queen of an Apple Blossom Festival in Virginia in April, the narrator of a Peter and the Wolf concert in Michigan in July, and the guest of honor at a barbecue in Beverly Hills (attended by the likes of Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen) in August.

She was featured on the cover of Life in mid-May. In the accompanying article, the magazine noted that Luci was “the first teen-aged daughter in the White House since William Howard Taft’s 17-year-old, Helen, lived there a half-century ago.”

Lucy Baines Johnson, who was born in July of 1947, began going by “Luci” soon after moving into the White House (in late 1963). Decades later, she explained:

It was a small way to establish my independence. I didn’t have a name like Elizabeth that I could shorten, so I just changed the spelling.

What are your thoughts on the name Luci? (Which spelling do you prefer?)

P.S. Bader Howar, the flower girl at Luci’s 1966 wedding, also ended up influencing U.S. baby names…

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Image: Clipping from the cover of Life magazine (15 May 1964)

What gave the baby name Sharona a boost in 1979?

The Knack single "My Sharona" (1979)
The Knack single

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Sharona saw its highest usage in the early 1980s:

  • 1981: 60 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1980: 68 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1979: 40 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1978: 12 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1977: 16 baby girls named Sharona

Why?

Because of the song “My Sharona” by Los Angeles-based power pop band The Knack.

“My Sharona,” the band’s debut single, climbed to the #1 spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in August of 1979 and stayed there for six weeks straight.

Here’s what it sounds like:

The song was co-written by The Knack’s lead guitarist, Berton Averre, and vocalist, Doug Fieger.

Fieger’s lyrics were inspired by Sharona Alperin — a teenage girl with whom he’d become infatuated.

Fieder and Alperin eventually began a relationship that lasted nearly four years. In fact, a photo of Alperin (“posing in a revealing tank top and tight jeans”) graces the cover of the single that popularized her name.

Decades later, Alperin was asked if she’d ever disliked her name. She replied,

When I was younger, I remember hating it because no one could pronounce it. Once the song came out, I remember feeling so excited.

What are your thoughts on the name Sharona?

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How did Lyndon B. Johnson influence baby names?

American politician Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973)
Lyndon B. Johnson

Texas-born politician Lyndon B. Johnson, who served as president of the United States from late 1963 to early 1969, influenced the popularity of the baby name Lyndon several times over the course of his life.

In 1941, the year he narrowly lost a U.S. Senate special election in Texas, the name Lyndon nearly doubled in usage:

Boys named Lyndon (U.S.)Boys named Lyndon (TX)
1943102 (rank: 632nd)21
194278 (rank: 729th)22
194190 (rank: 645th)43
194046 (rank: 947th)8
193941 (rank: 1,000th)6

As you’d expect, most of that extra usage happened in the state of Texas.

In 1948, on his second try, Johnson narrowly won a seat in the U.S. Senate. (The unique first name of his opponent, Coke R. Stevenson, made its last appearance in the U.S. baby name data the same year.)

More than a decade later, when Senator Johnson was elected vice president as John F. Kennedy‘s running mate, the name saw another uptick:

  • 1962: 148 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 635th)
  • 1961: 207 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 548th)
  • 1960: 246 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 506th)
  • 1959: 193 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 559th)
  • 1958: 161 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 606th)

Finally, in 1964, the name shot to peak popularity:

  • 1966: 161 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 592nd)
  • 1965: 306 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 444th)
  • 1964: 514 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 347th)
  • 1963: 176 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 594th)
  • 1962: 148 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 635th)

Here’s a visual:

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

This considerable increase in usage can be attributed to a pair of related events: Johnson assuming the presidency upon the assassination of Kennedy in November of 1963, and Johnson’s landslide victory in the presidential election of 1964.

Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office following the assassination of President Kennedy (Nov. 1963)
Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born to Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Johnson (née Baines) in 1908. Where did his first name come from? Here’s how he told the story:

I was three months old when I was named. My mother and father couldn’t agree on a name. The people my father liked were heavy drinkers — pretty rough for a city girl. She didn’t want me named after any of them.

Finally, there was a criminal lawyer — a county lawyer — named W. C. Linden. He would go on a drunk for a week after every case. My father liked him, and he wanted to name me after him. My mother didn’t care for the idea, but she said finally that it was all right; she would go along with it if she could spell the name the way she wanted to. So that was what happened.

Johnson’s two daughters, Lynda and Luci, were both married during their father’s presidency. The younger one, Luci, married in August of 1966 and the older one, Lynda, married in December of 1967. (Luci had a flower girl named Bader; Lynda had a bridesmaid called Trenny.)

What are your thoughts on the name Lyndon? (What spelling do you prefer?)

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Images: Adapted from Lyndon B. Johnson, photo portrait, leaning on chair, color and Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office (both public domain)