What gave the baby name Gilda a boost in the mid-1940s?

The title character from the movie "Gilda" (1946)
Gilda from “Gilda“

The baby name Gilda achieved its highest ranking in 1927, thanks to shimmying Gilda Gray. But it didn’t reach peak numerical usage until two decades later:

  • 1948: 281 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 479th]
  • 1947: 346 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 441st]
  • 1946: 305 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 442nd]
  • 1945: 68 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 920th]
  • 1944: 61 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 994th]

Why did the usage of Gilda more than quadruple in 1946 (which, admittedly, was the first year of the baby boom)?

Because of the hit movie Gilda, which was released in April of that year.

The movie was a “dark and twisted love story” set in Buenos Aires. It involved gambler Johnny Farrell (played by Glenn Ford), who worked for casino owner Ballin Mundson (played by George Macready), whose new wife just so happened to be Johnny’s ex-lover Gilda (played by Rita Hayworth).

A classic of film noir, Gilda featured Hayworth as the quintessential “noir woman,” a duplicitous temptress and an abused victim in equal measure.

Hayworth’s portrayal of the seductive Gilda turned the actress “into one of the cinema’s most unforgettable and enduring sex goddesses.”

Several months after the release of Gilda, the world’s fourth atomic bomb detonation (the first during peacetime) occurred above Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Servicemen had nicknamed the bomb Gilda — a nod to Hayworth’s status as a bombshell — and stenciled “Gilda” on the side of the explosive. They even affixed an image of Rita Hayworth (cut out of Esquire magazine) below the stenciled name.

This spontaneous tribute earned Miss Hayworth nearly as much international publicity as the fearsome “Gilda” got for itself by exploding on schedule. To Miss Hayworth’s studio it amounted to the most literally earth-shaking free plug in the history of the world.

Which name do you like more, Gilda or Rita?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Gilda

What gave the baby name Keysi a boost in 2018?

Keysi Sayago, top 5 at Miss Universe 2017
Keysi Sayago

The rare name Keysi saw peak usage in 2018, according to the U.S. baby name data:

  • 2020: 17 baby girls named Keysi
  • 2019: 10 baby girls named Keysi
  • 2018: 29 baby girls named Keysi
  • 2017: 5 baby girls named Keysi
  • 2016: 18 baby girls named Keysi

Why?

Because of Venezuelan beauty queen Keysi (pronounced kay-see) Sayago.

She placed in the top 5 at Miss Universe 2017, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in November of that year.

The Miss Universe pageant doesn’t include a talent competition, but it does feature a national costume competition. Keysi’s costume consisted of a metallic silver jumpsuit with metallic wings in the colors of Venezuela’s flag (yellow, blue, and red).

What are your thoughts on the name Keysi?

Sources: Keysi Sayago – Wikipedia, Miss Universe 2017 – Wikipedia, SSA

Image: Screenshot of the TV broadcast of the 66th Miss Universe pageant

What brought the baby name Dearra back in 2017?

YouTube creator De'arra Taylor
De’arra Taylor

After an absence of more than a decade, the name Dearra re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 2017:

  • 2019: 37 baby girls named Dearra
  • 2018: 40 baby girls named Dearra
  • 2017: 40 baby girls named Dearra
  • 2016: unlisted
  • 2015: unlisted

What was influencing this name in the late 2010s?

Influencer De’arra (pronounced dee-AYR-uh) Taylor, who made YouTube videos with her boyfriend Ken Walker.

The Atlanta-based couple began both dating and posting photos to Instagram in mid-2014. Their content quickly found an audience, and “[w]hen they hit 600,000 Instagram followers, someone told them to get a YouTube account.”

They launched their primary YouTube channel, De’arra & Ken 4 Life (“DK4L”), in December of 2014.

In August of 2016 — when their channel had 1.3 million subscribers — they posted a video in which they attempted to put on 100 layers of clothing. (They made it to 50 before giving up.) Articles about the video ran in media outlets like Today, US Weekly, and Teen Vogue.

The following year, De’arra and Ken were profiled in New York Magazine in August (when they had 3.6 million subscribers) and appeared in the Tyler Perry movie Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, which was released in October (when they had 3.8 million subscribers).

In September of 2019 — when their channel had 5.7 million subscribers — they posted a video of Ken proposing to De’arra while the couple was vacationing on the Greek island of Santorini. A detailed description of the video was published by Essence a day later.

But in August of 2021, the pair announced — to their 6.17 million subscribers — that they were separating and would stop making videos together. News of their breakup was covered by outlets like Bossip and BET. (I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the baby name De’arra saw its highest-ever usage this particular year.)

What are your thoughts on the name De’arra?

P.S. The girl name that re-emerged most impressively in the data in 2017 was Brennley.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of a DK4L YouTube video

What revived the baby name Rita in the early 1940s?

Actress Rita Hayworth in the movie "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939)
Rita Hayworth in “Only Angels Have Wings“

The baby name Rita became a top-100 girl name in the U.S. in the mid-1910s.

Rita remained popular during the 1920s, but usage declined in the 1930s. The name probably would have slipped out of the top 100 if usage hadn’t started increasing again in 1940:

  • 1942: 4,706 baby girls named Rita [rank: 55th]
  • 1941: 3,879 baby girls named Rita [rank: 63rd]
  • 1940: 3,442 baby girls named Rita [rank: 70th]
  • 1939: 3,188 baby girls named Rita [rank: 78th]
  • 1938: 3,357 baby girls named Rita [rank: 74th]

Here’s a visual:

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

What revived expectant parents’ interest in the baby name Rita around 1940?

My guess is glamorous film star Rita Hayworth.

Hayworth, whose birth name was Margarita Carmen Cansino, was born into a family of dancers (the “Dancing Cansinos”) and performed professionally as a child.

She began acting in films in the mid-1930s, and found fame upon the success of Only Angels Have Wings (1939) — the first movie in which she played a prominent role (“as an unfaithful wife who tries to seduce Cary Grant”).

She went on to portray femmes fatale in melodramas like The Lady in Question (1940), Blood and Sand (1941), and The Strawberry Blonde (1941), and she exhibited her dancing skills in musicals like You’ll Never Get Rich (1941), You Were Never Lovelier (1942), and Cover Girl (1944).

Rita Hayworth in Life magazine (Aug. 1941)
Rita Hayworth in Life magazine

In August of 1941 — four months before the attack on Pearl Harbor — Life magazine published a photo of Hayworth wearing a “black-and-white nightgown,” kneeling “on her own bed in her own home.” That photo went on to become one of the most popular pin-up images of World War II.

How do you feel about the name Rita? Would you use it as-is, or do you prefer it as a nickname for Margarita?

P.S. The name Rita reached its highest-ever ranking (42nd) in 1930, no doubt thanks to the musical comedy Rio Rita (1929), which starred actress Bebe Daniels.

Sources:

Images: Screenshot of Only Angels Have Wings; clipping from Life magazine (11 Aug. 1941)