What brought the baby name Karamo back in 2018?

Karamo Brown of the TV series "Queer Eye" (2018-)
Karamo Brown

The rare name Karamo re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 2018:

  • 2020: unlisted
  • 2019: unlisted
  • 2018: 6 baby boys named Karamo
  • 2017: unlisted
  • 2016: unlisted

Why?

Because of Karamo (pronounced kah-RAH-moh) Brown, the culture expert on Netflix’s reboot of the TV series Queer Eye, which began airing in February of 2018.

Brown, a trained social worker, was born in Texas in 1980. He began appearing on reality TV in the early 2000s. (One of his first appearances was on The Real World in 2004.)

In his memoir, Brown described how his parents (both originally from Jamaica) fought over his name. His father wanted him to have an African name, while his mother wanted him to have a more conventional name. They eventually settled on “Karamo Karega.”

The name Karamo Karega is Swahili in origin. Karamo means “educated,” and Karega means “rebel.” My father thought there needed to be a complementing contrast to the meaning of my name.

I was able to confirm the definitions of the names, but neither one seems to be Swahili in origin. Karamo means “teacher” or “scholar” in Mandinka, while Karega means “rebel” in Gikuyu.

What are your thoughts on the name Karamo?

P.S. Brown also noted in his memoir that he’d encouraged fellow Queer Eye co-host Tanveer “Tan” France — who goes by a nickname “[b]ecause when you google ‘Tanveer,’ only terrorists come up” — to use his full first name, in order to help change the public’s perception of the name via the TV show.

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Image: Screenshot of Queer Eye

What gave the baby name Davy a boost in 1967?

Davy Jones from the TV series "The Monkees" (1966-1968)
Davy Jones

The baby name Davy went into decline after reaching peak usage in 1955 (thanks to Davy Crockett).

During the second half the ’60s, though, the name did see a two-year uptick. It even re-entered the boys’ top 1,000 one last time.

  • 1969: 48 baby boys named Davy
  • 1968: 57 baby boys named Davy [rank: 974th]
  • 1967: 43 baby boys named Davy
  • 1966: 22 baby boys named Davy
  • 1965: 26 baby boys named Davy

What accounts for this brief rise?

British actor and singer Davy Jones.

Jones was one of the stars of the musical sitcom The Monkees, which aired on NBC for two seasons (from September of 1966 to March of 1968).

The series followed a struggling rock ‘n’ roll quartet called The Monkees (which was patterned after The Beatles). The four Monkees — Davy, Micky, Michael, and Peter — “romp[ed] through miscellaneous comic misadventures,” taking breaks to sing original songs penned by professional songwriters (including Carole King and Neil Diamond).

The Monkees was a hit — winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in mid-1967, and turning diminutive Davy Jones into a teen idol.

The show’s fictional rock band also achieved impressive real-life success. Six of the Monkees’ singles reached the top five on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. Jones sang lead vocals on three of these singles:

  • “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You,” which peaked at #2 in April of 1967,
  • “Daydream Believer” [vid], the #1 song in the nation for four weeks straight in December of 1967, and
  • “Valleri,” which peaked at #3 in March of 1968.

David “Davy” Jones was born in Manchester in 1945. Prior to becoming a Monkee, he’d acted in West End and Broadway productions of Oliver! and released a solo single [vid]. He was well-known enough that another British David “Davy” Jones — an aspiring singer-songwriter — decided to differentiate himself by adopting the stage name David Bowie in early 1966.

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Image: Screenshot of The Monkees

What brought the baby name Valleri back in 1968?

The Monkees performing the song "Valleri" on their TV series (1966-1968)
The Monkees performing “Valleri”

The name Valleri both re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data and reached peaked usage in 1968:

  • 1970: 5 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1969: 6 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1968: 17 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted

Why?

Because of the song “Valleri” by The Monkees.

It was introduced to TV audiences in February of 1967, during an episode of the band’s self-titled NBC sitcom. In the closing credits, the song’s title was spelled “Valerie”:

Song title spelled "Valerie" (Feb. 1967)

Two months later, the song was featured in another episode. This time around, the title was spelled “Valleri”:

Song title spelled "Valleri" (Apr. 1967)

I don’t know why the name’s spelling was changed, but I do know that it referred to a real person: a girl who the song’s co-writer, Bobby Hart, had been enamored with as a teenager.

The Monkees’ record label hadn’t planned to include “Valleri” on an album (due in part to contractual issues), but several disc jockeys began playing bootleg recordings on the radio, and the song became popular with listeners. This prompted the label to re-record “Valleri” for the 1968 album The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees.

In February of 1968 — a year after debuting on television — “Valleri” [vid] finally came out as a single. It peaked at #3 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart the following month.

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

P.S. The other song introduced in that February 1967 episode of The Monkees was “Your Auntie Grizelda.”

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Images: Screenshots of The Monkees (episodes from Feb. and Apr. 1967)

What popularized the baby name Colton in the late 1980s?

The character Colton Shore from the TV series "General Hospital" (1963-)
Colton Shore from “General Hospital“

According to the U.S. baby name data, usage of the name Colton rose significantly in the late 1980s:

  • 1990: 2,235 baby boys named Colton [rank: 139th]
  • 1989: 1,925 baby boys named Colton [rank: 157th]
  • 1988: 880 baby boys named Colton [rank: 268th]
  • 1987: 324 baby boys named Colton [rank: 494th]
  • 1986: 236 baby boys named Colton [rank: 577th]

Why?

My guess is a character from the soap opera General Hospital (which has been airing on ABC since the 1960s, impressively).

Colton Shore — a “tall, blond, All-American ex-Marine with an air of spirituality” — first appeared on the series in February of 1988. The character was played by actor Scott Thompson Baker, who won Soap Opera Digest‘s award for “Outstanding Male Newcomer” in early 1989.

During the three years he was on General Hospital, Colton held several different jobs. Initially, he hosted an inspirational TV program called The Colton Connection. After that, he worked at a marine repair shop, then as a helicopter pilot. Eventually he purchased the local health club, which he renamed Body Heat.

He also had several romantic partners, starting with widow Felicia Jones. (Colton and Felicia got married, but the relationship didn’t last long after the return of Felicia’s not-dead-after-all husband Frisco.) He was later linked to Arielle Ashton and Olivia Jerome before settling on Carla Greco, with whom he left town in February of 1991.

What are your thoughts on the name Colton?

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Image: Screenshot of General Hospital