Baby name story: Helvetia

The Boswell sisters: Martha, Connie, and Vet (circa 1930)
Martha, Connie, and Vet Boswell

The Boswell Sisters were a trio of siblings from New Orleans who performed as a jazz vocal group from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s.

Martha, Constance (“Connie”), and Helvetia (“Vet”) Boswell were famous for their “intimate, close harmonies.” Their songs also tended to feature changes in both key and tempo.

Here’s what they sounded like:

(The song “It’s the Girl,” released in 1931, was added to the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2010.)

Helvetia’s first name — unlike her sisters’ first names — is quite unusual. Where did it come from?

She was named after the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company, because that’s the brand of milk she was bottle-fed as an infant.

The Helvetia Milk Condensing Company was founded in Illinois in 1885 by Swiss immigrant John B. Meÿenberg. “Helvetia” was what the ancient Romans called the region now known as Switzerland (because, at that time, a Celtic people known as the Helvetii resided there). In English, the word Helvetia is typically pronounced hel-VEE-shuh.

All three Boswell sisters got married in the mid-1930s. At that point, Martha and Vet decided to retire and start families, but Connie — who had been wheelchair-bound since childhood, due to a bout of polio — decided to continue performing.

Intriguingly, Connie altered the spelling of her name to “Connee” partway through her moderately successful solo career. Here’s why:

The onset of WW II meant touring and signing autographs for troops. The loss of dexterity from the lingering affect of polio made it difficult to dot the “i” in her name, making Connee a more practical alternative; by 1942, she legally changed the spelling.

Which of the sisters’ names do you like best – Martha, Constance, or Helvetia?

P.S. Another famous jazz vocal group was Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, which later became Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from What’s on The Air magazine (Jan. 1931)

Babies born to Diego Maradona fan, named Mara, Dona, Diego

Argentine soccer player Diego Armando Maradona (1960-2020)
Diego Maradona

In July of 2011, Argentinian sportswriter Walter Rotundo and his partner Victoria welcomed twin baby girls.

Their names? Mara Delfina and Dona Isabella — “Mara” and “Dona” in honor of legendary Argentinian soccer player Diego Maradona. (Rotundo chose the names to commemorate Maradona’s performance in the 1986 World Cup specifically.)

In 2021, the couple became pregnant again. This time they were having a baby boy, and when they realized he might arrive on the first anniversary of Maradona’s death, they went ahead and scheduled a caesarean section for that day.

Their son was born in Buenos Aires on November 25. His name? Diego Amado — “Diego” as a final tribute to Maradona.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Diego Maradona (public domain)

Baby name story: Colby O’Donis

American singer Colby O'Donis Colón
Colby O’Donis

Do you remember Lady Gaga’s first (and arguably catchiest) hit single, “Just Dance”?

The featured vocalist on that track was Colby O’Donis — full name Colby O’Donis Colón — who began performing and recording music as a child.

Colby was born in 1989 to New York City disc jockey “Fast Freddy” Colón, who was eager to tell the story behind his son’s name back in 1999:

“You need to ask me about his name — Colby O’Donis is his first and middle name. He’s named after a firefighter who died saving my life when my house caught on fire in Brooklyn when I was 7 years old,” said Colon, who said O’Donis dived on top of him just as the ceiling collapsed. “The guilt was so bad that he died just two days before he was supposed to retire — I researched his life. He saved over 27 people’s lives. I never understood why this man would die and I would live. That’s why my son is named Colby O’Donis Colon — he’s the namesake of this hero.”

So far I haven’t been able to track down any information about the firefighter, but Colby’s father (whose full first name was Sigfredo) was born in 1958, so the house fire would have happened in the mid-1960s.

P.S. “Just Dance,” released in 2008, was co-written by Akon.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Colby O’Donis from the music video for “Just Dance”

Baby name story: Victoria Melita

Princess Victoria Melita (1876-1936)
Victoria Melita

In early 1874, Prince Alfred (son of Queen Victoria) married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (daughter of Czar Alexander II) in St. Petersburg. Their wedding “directly united the British and Russian royal families for the first time.”

(To mark the occasion, a London bakery invented the Marie biscuit, also known as the Maria cookie.)

Alfred and Maria ended up having five children: Alfred, Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra, and Beatrice.

Their third child was born in November of 1876 while her father, a Royal Navy officer, was stationed on the island of Malta (which was then part of the British Empire). The baby girl was named Victoria after her grandmother and Melita after the national personification of Malta, her birthplace.

Where does the name Melita come from?

Most of the time, it derives from the ancient Greek word meli, meaning “honey.” In the case of the allegorical figure, however, it came from the name of an ancient Maltese city.

Melita (or Melite) was the Roman name of the city. The Romans had taken the island from the Phoenicians during the Second Punic War. The Phoenicians’ original name for the city (founded in the 8th century B.C.) was Maleth, meaning “shelter.”

What are your thoughts on the name Melita?

P.S. Victoria Melita’s older sister, Marie, went on to marry the future king of Romania. (Americans became familiar with Marie and two of her children, Nicolae and Ileana, when the three of them toured the U.S. for several weeks in late 1926.) And Victoria Melita’s paternal uncle, the future Edward VII, was the father of Louise, Victoria and Maud, a.k.a., Louvima.

Sources: Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Wikipedia, The marriage of Prince Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna – The Royal Collection Trust, Early Inhabitants – Visit Malta

Image: Adapted from Victoria Melita autograph card (public domain)