What popularized the baby name Tierra in 1981?

Tierra's album "City Nights" (1980)
Tierra album

In 1981, the baby name Tierra suddenly jumped into the girls’ top 1,000:

  • 1983: 289 baby girls named Tierra [rank: 609th]
  • 1982: 260 baby girls named Tierra [rank: 678th]
  • 1981: 344 baby girls named Tierra [rank: 542nd]
  • 1980: 41 baby girls named Tierra
  • 1979: 34 baby girls named Tierra
  • 1978: 33 baby girls named Tierra

Similar names such as Tiera and Tiarra also got a boost that year, and others (like Teairra, Tieara, and Teirra) appeared for the very first time in the U.S. baby name data.

What was drawing attention to the name Tierra in the early 1980s?

The eight-member Latin R&B band Tierra.

Tierra’s three most successful songs all appeared on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart during 1981:

  • “Together” peaked at #18 in February
  • “Memories” peaked at #62 in April
  • “La La Means I Love You” peaked at #72 in November

The band’s name comes from the Spanish word tierra (pronounced tee-EH-rrah, with a rolled r), which means “land” or “earth.”

Tierra was co-founded by brothers Rudy and Steve Salas of East Los Angeles in the early 1970s. During a recent interview, Rudy said he chose “Tierra” as the band’s name for two reasons: because it reflected his involvement in the Chicano movement at the time, and because the band had a “real earthy sound.”

What are your thoughts on the baby name Tierra?

Sources:

What gave the baby name Shawntel a boost in 1995?

Shawntel Smith, Miss America 1996
Shawntel Smith

The modern name Shawntel, which emerged in the U.S. baby name data during the 1960s, saw a spike in usage in the mid-1990s:

  • 1997: 33 baby girls named Shawntel
  • 1996: 54 baby girls named Shawntel
  • 1995: 63 baby girls named Shawntel (peak usage)
  • 1994: 29 baby girls named Shawntel
  • 1993: 35 baby girls named Shawntel

Why?

Because of beauty queen Shawntel Smith, who was crowned Miss America 1996 on her 24th birthday — September 16, 1995.

Shawntel Smith, Miss America 1996
Shawntel Smith

Shawntel represented the state of Oklahoma, and her pageant platform was “school-to-work education,” which had to do with preparing students to enter the job market.

For the talent portion of the competition, she sang Barbra Streisand’s “The Woman in the Moon” from the 1976 version of the movie A Star is Born.

Shawntel, whose birth name was LaCricia Shawntel Smith, was the second-ever red-headed Miss America. (The first was Venus Ramey, Miss America 1944.)

What are your thoughts on the name Shawntel? (Do you like this spelling, or do you prefer Chantel?)

P.S. The section of US-64 that runs through Shawntel’s hometown of Muldrow is now called Shawntel Smith Boulveard.

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of the TV broadcast of the 69th Miss America pageant

How did Erling Haaland influence U.S. baby names in the early 2020s?

Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland

Soccer superstar Erling Haaland began his professional career in 2016, when he was just 15 years old.

In 2019, while playing for his home country of Norway at the FIFA U20 World Cup, he made headlines for scoring a record nine (!) goals in a single match.

In 2020, while playing on the German team Borussia Dortmund, he received the Golden Boy award as the best under-21 player in all of Europe.

In both 2023 and 2024, while playing on the English team Manchester City, he was the top goalscorer in the entire Premier League. (His 36 goals during the 2022-23 season is the league’s all-time record, in fact.)

We can see evidence of Haaland’s success in the U.S. baby name data. The name Haaland debuted in the data in 2021, and the name Erling reached its highest-ever usage (so far) last year:

Boys named ErlingBoys named Haaland
20235415
2022237
2021175*
20205.
2019..
*Debut

(Those 2023 numbers might have been even higher if Haaland had made an appearance at the 2022 World Cup, for which Norway failed to qualify.)

Erling Haaland — despite being raised in Norway by Norwegian parents — was born in Leeds because his father, former professional footballer Alf-Inge Haaland, was playing for Leeds United at the time. During their athletic careers, both father and son chose to go by “Haaland,” an Anglicized form of the actual family surname, Håland.

The locative surname Håland can refer to any of a number of places in Norway called Håland. The place name derives from the Old Norse word Hávaland, which is made up of elements meaning “high” and “farm.”

The personal name Erling was used regularly in the U.S. during the early 20th century, thanks to families that had emigrated from Scandinavia. It means “descendant of [the] jarl.” (A jarl was a type of nobleman during the Viking Age.)

What are your thoughts on the names Erling and Haaland?

P.S. A previous recipient of the Golden Boy award was Kylian Mbappé.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Erling Haaland 2023 by Jacek Stanislawek under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where did the baby name Tinashe come from in 2008?

Actress Tinashe Kachingwe on the TV series "Two and a Half Men" (2003-2015)
Tinashe on “Two and a Half Men“

The uncommon name Tinashe first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 2008:

  • 2010: unlisted
  • 2009: 5 baby boys named Tinashe
  • 2008: 5 baby girls named Tinashe [debut]
  • 2007: unlisted
  • 2006: unlisted

Why?

Likely because of actress and singer Tinashe (pronounced tee-NAH-shay) Kachingwe — often referred to simply as Tinashe — who was born in Kentucky in 1993.

As a child and teen, Tinashe appeared in several movies and TV shows. She was also part of a girl group called The Stunners.

But I think the debut of her name was triggered specifically by her recurring role on the sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003-2015), which was the most-watched comedy in the U.S. for six years straight. During that time, Tinashe guest-starred on three episodes — one in 2008, and two more in 2009 — as the character Celeste, a love interest of the show’s “half man,” Jake Harper.

The name’s reappearance in the data in the mid-2010s corresponds to Tinashe’s later success as a solo artist. Her song “2 On” [vid] was released in early 2014 and reached #24 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart that August.

Tinashe Kachingwe is of Shona descent (via her father), and her unisex first name means “we are with God” in the Shona language.

What are your thoughts on the name Tinashe?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Tinashe on Two and a Half Men