What popularized the baby name Gage in the 1990s?

The character Gage Creed from the movie "Pet Semetary" (1989)
Gage Creed from “Pet Semetary“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Gage saw a substantial rise in usage during the last decade of the 20th century and achieved peak popularity during the first decade of the 21st century.

Here’s a visual:

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

What kicked off the trendiness of Gage in the 1990s?

  • 1991: 809 baby boys named Gage [rank: 319th]
  • 1990: 666 baby boys named Gage [rank: 361st]
  • 1989: 171 baby boys named Gage [rank: 755th]
  • 1988: 57 baby boys named Gage
  • 1987: 51 baby boys named Gage

A young character from the horror film Pet Sematary (1989), which was set in Maine.

In the movie, Gage Creed (played by Miko Hughes) was the 2-year-old son of Louis Creed (played by Dale Midkiff). After Gage was hit by a truck and killed, Louis, distraught, decided to bury Gage’s body in an ancient Mi’kmaq burial ground known for resurrecting people…as murderous zombies, of course.

The movie was based on the 1983 book of the same name by Maine-based horror writer Stephen King.

How fitting is it that the name Gage — after entering the boys’ top 1,000 in 1989 — nearly quadrupled in usage in 1990 to precisely 666 baby boys? ;)

Gage’s trendiness also gave rise to a handful of variants, including Gaige (which debuted in the data in 1989), Gauge (1990), Gayge (1998), and Gaege (1999).

The character Johnny Gage from the TV series "Emergency!" (1972-1977)
Johnny Gage from “Emergency!“

And, while we’re talking about Gage, let’s take a look at a similar (but much smaller) boost the name got from pop culture back in the 1970s:

  • 1976: 29 baby boys named Gage
  • 1975: 20 baby boys named Gage
  • 1974: 23 baby boys named Gage
  • 1973: 20 baby boys named Gage
  • 1972: 7 baby boys named Gage
  • 1971: 6 baby boys named Gage

In this case, the increase was caused by television.

One of the main characters of the medical drama Emergency!, which aired from 1972 to 1977, was a young firefighter-paramedic named John “Johnny” Gage (played by Randolph Mantooth). He was often addressed as “Gage” on the show.

Incidentally, the realistic series not only inspired dozens of parents to name their sons Gage, but also “motivated many people to embark upon careers in the emergency medical field.”

What are your thoughts on the name Gage?

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of Pet Sematary and Emergency!

What popularized the baby name Kylene in the late 1970s?

Kylene Barker, Miss America 1979
Kylene Barker

In 1978, after a short absence, the baby name Kylene re-emerged impressively in the U.S. baby name data. The very next year, it reached peak usage:

  • 1981: 64 baby girls named Kylene
  • 1980: 149 baby girls named Kylene [rank: 990th]
  • 1979: 205 baby girls named Kylene [rank: 779th]
  • 1978: 88 baby girls named Kylene
  • 1977: unlisted
  • 1976: 6 baby girls named Kylene

The spelling Kyleen — plus a number of similar names, such as Kylie, Kylee, Kiley, Kyley, and Kyleigh — also saw higher usage during the late 1970s.

Kylene Barker, Miss America 1979
Kylene Barker

What was drawing attention to Kylene (and like-sounding names) around that time?

My guess is Kylene Barker, the beauty queen from Virginia who was crowned Miss America 1979 (“wearing fashions she made herself”) in September of 1978.

During the talent portion of the competition, she performed an “acrobatic dance” routine in a purple leotard. One of the tunes she danced/tumbled to was the theme song from the movie Rocky.

Kylene was born Danice Kylene Barker in 1955 in the mountain town of Galax to parents Dolores and Kyle Barker. No doubt her middle name was based on her father’s first name.

What are your thoughts on the name Kylene?

Sources:

Images: Adapted from Kylene Barker postcard (public domain); screenshot of the TV broadcast of the 52nd Miss America pageant

Was the baby name Rheta influenced by a murder victim in the 1930s?

Chicago murder victim Rheta G. Wynekoop (1910-1933)
Rheta G. Wynekoop

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Rheta saw an impressive spike in usage in the 1930s:

  • 1936: 37 baby girls named Rheta
  • 1935: 61 baby girls named Rheta
  • 1934: 151 baby girls named Rheta (peak usage)
  • 1933: 81 baby girls named Rheta
  • 1932: 20 baby girls named Rheta

Here’s a graph showing the sharp rise of Rheta in 1933 and 1934:

Popularity graph of the baby name Rheta in the U.S.
Usage of the baby name Rheta

(The spelling Rheata was also a one-hit wonder in 1934.)

So what caused this sudden interest in the name Rheta?

A murder in Chicago!

On November 21, 1933, the body of a 23-year-old woman named Rheta G. Wynekoop was found — chloroformed, partially undressed, and shot to death — on an operating table inside the office of respected female physician Alice Wynekoop, who also happened to be Rheta’s mother-in-law.

The office was located in the basement of Alice’s sizeable Chicago residence, which Alice shared with Rheta and her husband Earle (as well as with various boarders).

Rheta, a violinist originally from Indianapolis, had been married to Earle Wynekoop for four years.

On November 23, both Alice and Earle were arrested.

Earle — who didn’t have a job, but did have multiple paramours (several of whom were named in the newspapers) — confessed to committing the crime. Soon after, though, it was determined that he had an alibi. (He’d been on a trip to Kansas City with a friend at the time of the murder.)

His false confession was an attempt to protect his 62-year-old mother, who (he knew) had taken out a double indemnity life insurance policy on Rheta two weeks earlier.

Alice — despite having an annual income, and owning a large home — was sinking into debt.

Not only that, but at least four other family members and friends had died under Alice’s care, in her “gloomy mansion,” in recent years. Alice’s otherwise healthy husband Frank, for instance, died suddenly in 1929. (His estate was worth $75,000.) And Alice’s close friend Catherine Porter died in 1932. (Alice claimed all the money in their joint bank account, and also inherited Porter’s 100-acre farm.)

On November 25, Rheta Wynekoop’s funeral took place in Indianapolis.

Huge bronze and yellow chrysanthemums, which might have graced the beauty of Rheta Gardner Wynekoop on the concert stage, bowed their heads as if in sorrow this morning while more than 1,000 persons filed slowly past her casket.

On November 30, Dr. Alice Wynekoop was indicted.

Her first trial began on January 15, 1934. It was declared a mistrial four days later due to Alice’s poor health.

Her second trial began on February 19 and lasted more than two weeks.

In early March, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Alice was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of her daughter-in-law.

Soon after, the story of Rheta Wynekoop’s murder was recounted in various true crime magazines, such as Real Detective (in April) and Bernarr Macfadden‘s True Detective Mysteries (in May).

What are your thoughts on the name Rheta?

P.S. I have a hunch that this incident also inspired the cartoonist behind Mandrake the Magician to name one of his comic strip characters Rheeta in early 1935…

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Brownsville Herald (26 Nov. 1933)

Where did the baby name Zyshonne come from in 1998?

Silkk album "The Shocker" (1996)
Silkk album

The curious name Zyshonne appeared for the first time in the U.S. baby name data in 1998:

  • 2000: 17 baby boys named Zyshonne
  • 1999: 30 baby boys named Zyshonne [peak usage]
  • 1998: 26 baby boys named Zyshonne [debut]
  • 1997: unlisted
  • 1996: unlisted

In fact, Zyshonne was the top debut name for boys that year, and several variants (Zyshawn, Zyshon, and Zyshaun) likewise debuted in the late ’90s.

Where did it come from?

A tenacious typo, apparently.

New Orleans-based rapper Silkk The Shocker was at the height of his success during the late 1990s, when seven songs featuring Silkk reached Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. The most popular was “Let’s Ride” by Montell Jordan (feat. Master P and Silkk The Shocker), which ranked #2 for two weeks in April of 1998.

Initially, several media outlets reported that Silkk’s real name was Zyshonne Miller. He was called Zyshonne by Jet magazine in May of 1998, for instance, and by the Washington Post in September of 2000.

A little later, other media outlets began reporting that Miller’s first name was either Vyshonne or Vyshonn. (Jet switched to “Vyshonn” in early 2001.)

The V-versions of the name also debuted in the data, though they didn’t manage to catch on like Zyshonne had.

Boys named VyshonneBoys named Vyshonn
2002..
2001.8*
20007.
19995*.
1998..
*Debut

The media eventually stopped referring to Silkk as Zyshonne, but continued to refer to him as both Vyshonne and Vyshonn:

  • Vyshonne was used by Vibe in July of 2018, and is currently being used on the Spotify, AllMusic, and iHeartRadio websites.
  • Vyshonn was used by the New York Post in July of 2020, and is typically used in newspaper articles about Silkk’s legal troubles.
  • Both spellings have been used in articles at MTV.com and Billboard.com.

I still don’t know for sure which spelling is correct.

But I can tell you about Silkk The Shocker’s rap name.

In the early ’90s, when he was in the hip hop group TRU with his older brothers Percy (a.k.a. Master P) and Corey (C-Murder), he went by Silk because he “raps very smooth, just like silk.” A second k was thrown in to differentiate Silkk from the R&B group Silk, and “The Shocker” was added upon the release of Silkk’s first solo album, The Shocker (1996).

Sources: