What gave the baby name Seth a boost in 1999?

The character Seth from the movie "City of Angels" (1998)
Seth from “City of Angels“

The paranormal romance City of Angels was released in movie theaters in April of 1998.

The film’s main character, Seth (played by Nicolas Cage), was an angel who helped dying humans transition to the next life.

While doing his work in a Los Angeles hospital, Seth took an interest in heart surgeon Maggie Rice (played by Meg Ryan). He made himself visible (and audible) to her, so that they could communicate with one another, and the pair soon fell in love. Seth ultimately decided to give up his immortality in order to live as a human with Maggie.

City of Angels was a success at the box office and, in 1999, the name Seth was the fastest-rising boy name in the country:

  • 2001: 6,223 baby boys named Seth (rank: 68th)
  • 2000: 6,717 baby boys named Seth (rank: 63rd)
  • 1999: 6,304 baby boys named Seth (rank: 65th)
  • 1998: 4,587 baby boys named Seth (rank: 86th)
  • 1997: 4,043 baby boys named Seth (rank: 97th)

The name reached peak usage one year later.

Here’s a visual:

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

The brief-but-steady rise of the name Maggie that began in the late ’90s may have been kicked off by the movie as well:

  • 2000: 1,614 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1999: 1,423 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1998: 1,238 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1997: 1,054 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1996: 1,103 baby girls named Maggie

And one of Seth’s angelic friends, Cassiel (played by Andre Braugher), also had an impact on names. Despite the fact that the character was male, Cassiel debuted in as a girl name in the U.S. baby name data in 1999.

What are your thoughts on the name Seth? (Do you like it more or less than Cassiel?)

P.S. Coincidentally, the movie Universal Soldier: The Return, which came out in mid-1999, also featured characters named Seth and Maggie.

P.P.S. The Goo Goo Dolls’ power ballad “Iris” [vid], which was written for the City of Angels soundtrack, reached #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in December of 1998. Though the name Iris was not mentioned in either the song or the film — vocalist Johnny Rzeznik randomly chose the song’s title after spotting Iris DeMent‘s name in a magazine — the usage of baby name Iris did see an uptick in usage in the late ’90s.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of City of Angels

Where did the baby name Dwanna come from in 1936?

Illustration of Dwanna Lee Newman
Dwanna Lee Newman

The name Dwanna first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1936:

  • 1938: unlisted
  • 1937: 7 baby girls named Dwanna
  • 1936: 20 baby girls named Dwanna [debut]
  • 1935: unlisted
  • 1934: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A little girl who got hit by a train — and survived!

In October of 1933, a toddler named Dwanna Lee Newman — the daughter of Arvid and Tola Newman of Eureka, Utah — was struck by a train traveling at about 20 miles per hour.

The locomotive pilot knocked her 10 feet in the air, she alighted on the cross-ties exactly between the rails and the entire freight train passed over her. […] When picked up, she was found to be unconscious, but soon revived, and examination disclosed the fact that aside from a bump on forehead, she was uninjured.

Nearly three years later, in July of 1936, Dwanna’s story was featured in the nationally syndicated Ripley’s Believe It or Not newspaper panel.

Sadly, Dwanna died of pneumonia in late 1937, at the age of five. (Arvid and Tola went on to have two more children, daughters Linda Rae and Vicki Ann, in the 1940s.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Dwanna?

P.S. Believe it or not, the weirdly similar name Dwala was also influenced by Believe It or Not…

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Daily Colonist (16 Jul. 1936)

Where did the baby name Kida come from in 2002?

The character Kida from the movie "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001)
Kida from “Atlantis: The Lost Empire“

The name Kida first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2002:

  • 2004: 10 baby girls named Kida
  • 2003: 10 baby girls named Kida
  • 2002: 5 baby girls named Kida [debut]
  • 2001: unlisted
  • 2000: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A character in the animated Disney movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which was released in June of 2001.

Atlantis was a Jules Verne-inspired adventure film set in the mid-1910s. It followed Smithsonian linguist Milo Thatch (voiced by Michael J. Fox) as he led an underwater expedition to find the legendary kingdom of Atlantis.

Upon arriving, Milo encountered an Atlantean princess named Kidagakash “Kida” Nedakh (voiced by Cree Summer). Kida hoped that Milo could help her revive the kingdom, which had “fallen into apathy and disrepair” since sinking into the ocean thousands of years earlier.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire did not feature singing, dancing, or cute sidekicks — unlike many of Disney’s animated films of the previous decade (e.g., Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King). Perhaps because of this, it was not a big hit at the box office.

But it clearly had a small influence on expectant parents. And it may have affected the name Milo as well, though it’s hard to tell by the data.

What are your thoughts on the name Kida?

Sources: Atlantis: The Lost Empire – Wikipedia, Atlantis: The Lost Empire review – Roger Ebert, SSA

Image: Screenshot of Atlantis: The Lost Empire

What gave the baby name Ren a boost in 1984?

The character Ren McCormack from the movie "Footloose" (1984)
Ren McCormack from “Footloose“

The simple name Ren, after dropping out of the U.S. baby name data for a year in 1983, returned with nearly two dozen baby boys in 1984:

  • 1986: 22 baby boys named Ren
  • 1985: 32 baby boys named Ren
  • 1984: 21 baby boys named Ren
  • 1983: unlisted
  • 1982: 10 baby boys named Ren

What brought it back?

The main character of the movie Footloose, which was released February of 1984 and went on to become the seventh-highest-grossing film of the year.

Ren McCormack (played by Kevin Bacon) was a teenager who loved to dance. The problem? He’d recently moved from the big city to a rural town where dancing was banned, thanks to the efforts of a local preacher.

As Ren challenged the anti-dancing law (so that the town’s high school could hold a senior prom), he also became romantically involved with the preacher’s rebellious daughter Ariel* (played by Lori Singer).

Coincidentally, one of the fastest-rising boy names in the U.S. in 1984 was the similar name Ryne; the trendiness of Ryne could have influenced the usage of Ren as well.

What are your thoughts on the name Ren? Do you like it as a standalone name, or do you prefer it as a nickname for something longer (like Lorenzo, Terrence, Warren, or Reynold)?

*Ariel was apparently the inspiration behind the name of Disney’s Little Mermaid…

Sources: Footloose – Wikipedia, 1984 in film – Wikipedia, Footloose review – Roger Ebert, SSA

Image: Screenshot of Footloose