Baby name story: Wyatt

Actor Joel McCrea as Wyatt Earp in the movie "Wichita" (1955)
Joel McCrea as Wyatt Earp in “Wichita“

A few weeks ago, I spotted a news article about the Wichita premiere of the independent film Sod & Stubble, which tells the story of a pioneer family in Kansas in the late 1800s.

In the accompanying clip, it was mentioned that the grandfather of one the film’s actors, Wyatt McCrea, had also been an actor.

McCrae calls this a full-circle moment not just for his career, but for his life, as he was actually named Wyatt after the character his grandfather played in the movie Wichita.

Wyatt McCrea’s grandfather was actor Joel McCrea, best known for his work in Westerns. In Wichita, which came out in 1955, Joel McCrea portrayed frontiersman Wyatt Earp.

Source: Wray, Abby. “Kansas film ‘Sod and Stubble’ premieres at Wichita’s Orpheum Theater.” KAKE News 28 Mar. 2025.

Image: Screenshot of Wichita

“Price is Right” contestant named after former “Price is Right” contestant

Contestant Kendra and host Drew Carey on the TV game show "The Price is Right" (10 Mar. 2025)
Kendra and Drew Carey on “The Price is Right“

Last month, the TV game show The Price Is Right featured a contestant named Kendra.

After introducing herself to the show’s host, Drew Carey, she mentioned the origin of her name:

And, actually, I was named Kendra 36 years ago from a contestant from The Price is Right.

Then she played a game called “More or Less.” She won the first three prizes (workout equipment, a shuffle board table, and a laptop) but not the fourth (a Hyundai Venue SEL).

Before Kendra left the stage, Drew said,

You got all these prizes, Kendra. And if anybody out there just had a baby, and they’re looking for a nice baby name, I think Kendra would be a lovely one. You can pass on the tradition of naming your children after Price Is Right contestants.

I’ve tried scanning partial lists of contestants, but so far I have not spotted one named Kendra from 1989 or thereabouts.

(If any of you guys ever come across a comprehensive list of Price Is Right contestants, please let me know! Not only would it help us to track down the original Kendra, but it would also allow us to see if any past contestants influenced U.S. baby names.)

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Price is Right

Baby born during Cyclone Rene, named Rene

hurricane

In February of 2010, Tropical Cyclone Rene brushed past American Samoa in the South Pacific. The storm came closest to the U.S. territory on February 13.

The night before, a baby girl was born at American Samoa’s LBJ Tropical Medical Center.

The hospital’s emergency team had been camping at the hospital in preparation for the cyclone that night.

The head of the delivery department, Dr. John Ah Ching, says the mother came in with complications and having all the necessary staff present may have saved the baby’s life.

I don’t know the baby’s full name, but she was “named after Cyclone Rene,” according to my source.

P.S. The Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Tropical Medical Center, which was named after the first and only U.S. president to visit American Samoa, opened in June of 1968. “The first admitted patient was a baby about to be delivered. He received the name Lyndon.”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)

Baby born in Colorado City, named Colorado

Birth announcement for Colorado Johnson (1859)
Colorado Johnson’s birth announcement

On August 13, 1859 — during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush — the settlement of Colorado City was established in western Kansas Territory (near the base of Pikes Peak itself). The abundance of red sandstone in the area is what inspired the founders to use the Spanish word colorado, meaning “red,” in the settlement’s name.

A mere two weeks later, Colorado City welcomed its first baby. The Rocky Mountain News (which was just four months old at the time) published the following announcement:

BIRTH. — Born in Colorado City, Aug. 28th, Colorado Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. [William] Johnson, late of Pensylvania [sic].

In consideration of its being the first birth in the embryo city of Colorado, a share of eight lots was donated to the new comer.

Colorado City became part of the newly organized Colorado Territory in 1861. (Interestingly, the territory was not named after the city, but after the Colorado River, whose headwaters were located within the boundary of the territory.) Today, the settlement is a neighborhood within the city of Colorado Springs.

P.S. Colorado City was founded several weeks before the settlements of Auraria and Denver to the north.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Rocky Mountain News (10 Sept. 1859)