What gave the baby name Ariel a boost in 1982?

The character Ariel Aldrin from the TV series "As The World Turns" (1956-2010)
Ariel from “As The World Turns“

In 1981, the unisex name Ariel was given to roughly the same number of girls and boys.

Just one year later, it was given to almost twice as many girls as boys:

Girls named ArielBoys named Ariel
1984636 [rank: 362nd]281 [rank: 504th]
1983650 [rank: 348th]315 [rank: 471st]
1982584 [rank: 394th]294 [rank: 497th]
1981228 [rank: 721st]236 [rank: 553rd]
1980181 [rank: 853rd]239 [rank: 554th]

What caused this sudden interest in Ariel as a girl name?

My guess is a television character.

In February of 1982, Swedish-born Ariel Aldrin (played by actress Judith Blazer) was introduced on the long-running CBS soap opera As The World Turns.

During her time on the show, Ariel worked as a model at the local fashion emporium (“Fashions, Ltd.”) and married two different men: Dr. John Dixon (who she’d mistakenly believed was wealthy) and Burke Donovan (who’s son, she’d discovered, was the heir to a fortune). Neither relationship lasted very long. She “left town to pursue a European count” in 1984.

P.S. Earlier in the ’80s, the name may have been influenced (slightly) by Princess Ariel, one of the main characters of the Saturday morning cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian (1980-1981).

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of As The World Turns

Babies named for the Battle of Trafalgar

Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar — during which an outnumbered Royal Navy fleet (under Horatio Nelson) soundly defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet (under Napoleon Bonaparte) — took place off the south-western coast of Spain, near Cape Trafalgar, on October 21, 1805.

The battle cost Nelson his life, but the decisive victory “cemented Britain’s reputation as ruler of the seas.”

Dozens of babies in England were given the name “Trafalgar,” typically as a middle, over the next few years. Most of them were boys, but several were girls. Some examples…

  • John Trafalgar Black, b. 1806 in England
  • John Trafalgar Cotton, b. 1807 in England
  • Joseph Trafalgar Dowding, b. circa 1806 in England
  • Jane Trafalgar Grapes, b. 1805 in England
    • Among her siblings were William Nile (b. circa 1798), Charles Wellington (b. circa 1811), and Charlotte Waterloo (b. circa 1815) — likely named for the Battle of the Nile, the Duke of Wellington, and the Battle of Waterloo.
  • William Trafalgar Hannah, b. 1806 in England
  • Richard Trafalgar Hillgrove, b. 1807 in England
  • Robert Trafalgar May, b. 1807 in England
  • Louisa Trafalgar Priske, b. 1805 in England
  • John Trafalgar Salmon, b. 1805 in England
  • Samuel Trafalgar Sparks, b. 1807 in England

A good number of these babies — including Nelson Trafalgar Black (b. 1805 in Scotland) and Horatio Trafalgar Taylor (b. 1806 in England) — were also named in honor of the late admiral.

The Spanish place-name Trafalgar can be traced back to a pair of Arabic words. The first, taraf, means “edge, extremity” (in reference to the cape itself), and the second may mean “west.”

Sources: Battle of Trafalgar – Wikipedia, Battle of Trafalgar – Britannica, Battle of Trafalgar Timeline – National Maritime Museum, Cape Trafalgar – Wikipedia, FamilySearch.org

Image: Adapted from Battle of Trafalgar (1836) by William Clarkson Stanfield

What gave the baby name Korben a boost in 1998?

The character Korben Dallas from the movie "The Fifth Element" (1997)
Korben Dallas from “The Fifth Element“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Corbin saw a discernible increase in popularity in 1998. Other spellings (like Korbin and Corban) saw similar increases, but none were as steep as that of Korben, which more than tripled in usage:

  • 2000: 43 baby boys named Korben
  • 1999: 31 baby boys named Korben
  • 1998: 37 baby boys named Korben
  • 1997: 11 baby boys named Korben
  • 1996: 8 baby boys named Korben

What was influencing these names?

Korben Dallas, the main character of the “campy sci-fi extravaganza” The Fifth Element, which was released in theaters in May of 1997.

The movie was set in the 23rd century, and Korben (played by Bruce Willis) — who had recently retired from the elite Special Forces unit of the Federated Army — was now driving a a flying taxicab in New York City.

One day, an orange-haired woman wearing an outfit made of white bandages fell into Korben’s cab through the roof. (Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich, had just jumped off the ledge of a building after escaping from a science lab.) This unlikely encounter led to Korben getting caught up in mission to save humanity from a “planet-sized sphere of supreme evil” that was swiftly approaching Earth.

The Fifth Element was the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1997, and went on to become a science-fiction cult classic. (The name Leeloo debuted in the U.S. baby name data about a decade after the movie came out.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Korben? (Do you like it more or less than the traditional spelling, Corbin?)

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Fifth Element

What gave the baby name Ariel a boost in 1978?

Dean Friedman's self-titled debut album (1977)
Dean Friedman album

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Ariel was given more often to boys than to girls from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s.

Then, in 1982, the girls’ usage surged ahead of the boys’ usage. Less than a decade later, Ariel reached the girls’ top 100 — and stayed there for three years straight.

What caused this growing interest in Ariel as a girl name?

A series of pop-culture nudges, the first of which came along in the late 1970s:

Girls named ArielBoys named Ariel
1979154 [rank: 951st]216 [rank: 581st]
1978162 [rank: 895th]224 [rank: 559th]
1977105157 [rank: 675th]
197663177 [rank: 614th]
197560175 [rank: 616th]

This initial increase corresponds to the success of a pop song called “Ariel” [vid] by singer-songwriter Dean Friedman.

The quirky song — about the narrator’s date with “a free spirited, pot-smoking, vegetarian Jewish girl” named Ariel (pronounced AIR-ee-el) — was released in April of 1977 and peaked at #26 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in late June.

During a recent interview, Friedman was asked about the song’s many namesakes. He replied,

Well, you’re right, actually, there are definitely a lot of Ariels out there of a certain age that were not named after a mermaid. And so that’s always a nice surprise, when someone will come up and introduce themselves and say, “I was named after your song.”

The Hebrew name Ariel comprises two elements, the first of which means “lion” and the second of which means “god.” It’s pronounced ahr-ee-EL by Hebrew speakers.

Sources: Bio – Dean Friedman, Ariel (song) – Wikipedia, Billboard Hot 100 for the week of 25 Jun. 1977, From ‘Ariel’ to SongFest: Dean Friedman Discusses His Career, creativity and ’25 Tour! – Almost Famous Magazine [vid], Ariel – Wiktionary, SSA