Baby name story: Alexandra Naldera

George and Mary Curzon (in 1903)
George and Mary Curzon (in 1903)

British statesman George Curzon and his first wife, American heiress Mary Leiter, were married in 1895. They had a total of three children, all girls.

The first two were named Mary Irene (b. 1896) and Cynthia Blanche (b. 1898).

The third — born in early 1904, while George was serving as Viceroy of India — was named Alexandra Naldera.

Why?

Her first name honored her godmother, Queen Alexandra, and her middle name came from the Indian hill station of Naldera, which is where she was conceived in mid-1903.

Naldera — located about 20 miles away from the city of Shimla, the summer capital of British India — was where George and Mary “would withdraw for a respite from official duties, where Mary could rest and Curzon could work out of doors.”

The settlement’s name (now spelled Naldehra) was likely derived from the term Nag Devta, meaning “serpent deity” — a nod to the local Naga temple.

Sources:

Image: George Curzon with his wife posing with a hunted Bengal tiger, 1903

Baby name story: Tangiene

Title of the TV series "Popcorn Playhouse" (1961-1978)
“Popcorn Playhouse“

In the 1960s and ’70s, the children’s TV program Popcorn Playhouse aired live on weekday afternoons in Edmonton, Canada. The show was set in a faux log cabin (complete with a wall-mounted moose head) and hosted by a man called “Klondike Eric.”

Each episode of Popcorn Playhouse featured 36 local children, each of whom was briefly interviewed.

In 1972, one of the children on the show was 10-year-old Tangyne (pronounced tan-jeen) Taylor. After introducing herself, Tangyne was asked to repeat her unusual name several times.

Watching that particular episode at home (along with her three daughters) was an Edmonton mom who liked the sound of the name Tangyne. She liked it so much, in fact, that she decided she would name her next baby girl Tangyne.

That baby girl came along in 1975, and she did indeed get the name. In her case, though, it was spelled Tangiene.

This past January, nearly 50 years later, Tangyne Berry (née Taylor) — now living in St. John’s and working at Memorial University of Newfoundland — was a guest on a local radio show.

Tangiene Poholko — now also living in St. John’s, and also working at Memorial University — was alerted by co-workers that a woman on the radio happened to have her very uncommon name.

So Tangiene found Tangyne on Facebook and sent her a message. It didn’t take them long to figure out that one was the namesake of the other. (Here’s a video of them telling the story.)

So, how did the original Tangyne come to have her name? Her birth occurred early in the morning, so her father — who was born in Wales, but grew up in England — chose the name Tangyne, which he claimed meant “rising of the sun” in Welsh.

So far, I haven’t found any Welsh words that resemble Tangyne. (The word for “sunrise,” for instance, is codiad haul. Words meaning “daybreak” include cyfddydd and gwawr.)

But I am very curious about the impact of Popcorn Playhouse on Edmonton-area baby names during the 1960s and ’70s. Unfortunately, very few recordings of the show exist, and Alberta’s baby name data only goes back to 1980. So if you happen to know anyone who was named after a kid on Popcorn Playhouse, please leave a comment!

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Popcorn Playhouse

Where did the baby name Anansa come from in 1979?

The character Dr. Anansa Linderby (played by Beverly Johnson) from the movie "Ashanti" (1979)
Dr. Anansa Linderby from “Ashanti“

The rare name Anansa first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1979:

  • 1981: unlisted
  • 1980: unlisted
  • 1979: 5 baby girls named Anansa [debut]
  • 1978: unlisted
  • 1977: unlisted

Why?

Because of a celebrity baby, or a movie character, or both.

Fashion model Beverly Johnson made her acting debut in the late ’70s adventure film Ashanti, in which she and Michael Caine portrayed married medical doctors named Anansa and David Linderby. Ashanti was shot largely in Africa during 1978.

The same year, in late December, Johnson gave birth to a baby girl — her first and only child.

In January of 1979, Jet magazine published a photo of Johnson and her newborn daughter, who’d been named Anansa.

“I loved the name,” she beamed, “and I was pregnant with her during [filming]. I even told the producers that if I had a girl I would name her Anansa.”

Model Beverly Johnson with baby Anansa
Beverly Johnson holding baby Anansa

Several months later, in April, Ashanti finally came out in theaters.

The movie clearly gave the baby name Ashanti a boost in 1979:

  • 1981: 89 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1980: 191 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1979: 175 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1978: 53 baby girls named Ashanti
  • 1977: 44 baby girls named Ashanti

But I’m not sure if it was the primary reason for the debut of Anansa, considering that Jet magazine has a long history of influencing U.S. baby names (e.g., Nasiya, Kushana, Nkenge, Charlayne, Tondalaya).

Ashanti was based on the Spanish-language novel Ébano (1974) by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa. In the book, the protagonists were named David and Nadia Alexander (and neither one was a doctor).

I don’t know how the screenwriters came up with the name Anansa, but it does remind me of Anansi — the name of a spider character in the folktales of the Ashanti (and other Akan peoples).

What are your thoughts on the name Anansa?

P.S. Beverly Johnson became the first African-American model featured on the cover of American Vogue in 1974 — eight years after Donyale Luna appeared on the cover of British Vogue, in 1966.

Sources:

Images: Screenshot of Ashanti; clipping from Jet magazine (18 Jan. 1979).

Musical tempo siblings: Allegro, Largo, Lento

Actress Largo Woodruff in the movie "The Funhouse" (1981)
Largo Woodruff in “The Funhouse“

Actress Largo Woodruff, who appeared in several films in the 1980s, was born in New Jersey in 1955.

She was the second of three children. Her older sister was named Allegro, and her younger brother was named Lento.

All three siblings were named after musical tempos by their father Wallace Woodruff, a professional musician and music teacher. The three names/tempos are Italian words that indicate the speed at which a particular piece of music should be played:

  • Allegro means “cheerful” (i.e., play briskly)
  • Largo means “broad” (i.e., play slowly)
  • Lento means “slow”

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also named with music in mind. Her name is based on the musical term con dolcezza, meaning “with sweetness” in Italian.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Funhouse