What brought the baby name Valleri back in 1968?

The Monkees performing the song "Valleri" on their TV series (1966-1968)
The Monkees performing “Valleri”

The name Valleri both re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data and reached peaked usage in 1968:

  • 1970: 5 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1969: 6 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1968: 17 baby girls named Valleri
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted

Why?

Because of the song “Valleri” by The Monkees.

It was introduced to TV audiences in February of 1967, during an episode of the band’s self-titled NBC sitcom. In the closing credits, the song’s title was spelled “Valerie”:

Song title spelled "Valerie" (Feb. 1967)

Two months later, the song was featured in another episode. This time around, the title was spelled “Valleri”:

Song title spelled "Valleri" (Apr. 1967)

I don’t know why the name’s spelling was changed, but I do know that it referred to a real person: a girl who the song’s co-writer, Bobby Hart, had been enamored with as a teenager.

The Monkees’ record label hadn’t planned to include “Valleri” on an album (due in part to contractual issues), but several disc jockeys began playing bootleg recordings on the radio, and the song became popular with listeners. This prompted the label to re-record “Valleri” for the 1968 album The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees.

In February of 1968 — a year after debuting on television — “Valleri” [vid] finally came out as a single. It peaked at #3 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart the following month.

What are your thoughts on the name Valleri? (Which spelling do you prefer?)

P.S. The other song introduced in that February 1967 episode of The Monkees was “Your Auntie Grizelda.”

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of The Monkees (episodes from Feb. and Apr. 1967)

What popularized the baby name Colton in the late 1980s?

The character Colton Shore from the TV series "General Hospital" (1963-)
Colton Shore from “General Hospital“

According to the U.S. baby name data, usage of the name Colton rose significantly in the late 1980s:

  • 1990: 2,235 baby boys named Colton [rank: 139th]
  • 1989: 1,925 baby boys named Colton [rank: 157th]
  • 1988: 880 baby boys named Colton [rank: 268th]
  • 1987: 324 baby boys named Colton [rank: 494th]
  • 1986: 236 baby boys named Colton [rank: 577th]

Why?

My guess is a character from the soap opera General Hospital (which has been airing on ABC since the 1960s, impressively).

Colton Shore — a “tall, blond, All-American ex-Marine with an air of spirituality” — first appeared on the series in February of 1988. The character was played by actor Scott Thompson Baker, who won Soap Opera Digest‘s award for “Outstanding Male Newcomer” in early 1989.

During the three years he was on General Hospital, Colton held several different jobs. Initially, he hosted an inspirational TV program called The Colton Connection. After that, he worked at a marine repair shop, then as a helicopter pilot. Eventually he purchased the local health club, which he renamed Body Heat.

He also had several romantic partners, starting with widow Felicia Jones. (Colton and Felicia got married, but the relationship didn’t last long after the return of Felicia’s not-dead-after-all husband Frisco.) He was later linked to Arielle Ashton and Olivia Jerome before settling on Carla Greco, with whom he left town in February of 1991.

What are your thoughts on the name Colton?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of General Hospital

What gave the baby name Seth a boost in 1999?

The character Seth from the movie "City of Angels" (1998)
Seth from “City of Angels“

The paranormal romance City of Angels was released in movie theaters in April of 1998.

The film’s main character, Seth (played by Nicolas Cage), was an angel who helped dying humans transition to the next life.

While doing his work in a Los Angeles hospital, Seth took an interest in heart surgeon Maggie Rice (played by Meg Ryan). He made himself visible (and audible) to her, so that they could communicate with one another, and the pair soon fell in love. Seth ultimately decided to give up his immortality in order to live as a human with Maggie.

City of Angels was a success at the box office and, in 1999, the name Seth was the fastest-rising boy name in the country:

  • 2001: 6,223 baby boys named Seth (rank: 68th)
  • 2000: 6,717 baby boys named Seth (rank: 63rd)
  • 1999: 6,304 baby boys named Seth (rank: 65th)
  • 1998: 4,587 baby boys named Seth (rank: 86th)
  • 1997: 4,043 baby boys named Seth (rank: 97th)

The name reached peak usage one year later.

Here’s a visual:

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

The brief-but-steady rise of the name Maggie that began in the late ’90s may have been kicked off by the movie as well:

  • 2000: 1,614 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1999: 1,423 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1998: 1,238 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1997: 1,054 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1996: 1,103 baby girls named Maggie

And one of Seth’s angelic friends, Cassiel (played by Andre Braugher), also had an impact on names. Despite the fact that the character was male, Cassiel debuted in as a girl name in the U.S. baby name data in 1999.

What are your thoughts on the name Seth? (Do you like it more or less than Cassiel?)

P.S. Coincidentally, the movie Universal Soldier: The Return, which came out in mid-1999, also featured characters named Seth and Maggie.

P.P.S. The Goo Goo Dolls’ power ballad “Iris” [vid], which was written for the City of Angels soundtrack, reached #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in December of 1998. Though the name Iris was not mentioned in either the song or the film — vocalist Johnny Rzeznik randomly chose the song’s title after spotting Iris DeMent‘s name in a magazine — the usage of baby name Iris did see an uptick in usage in the late ’90s.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of City of Angels

Where did the baby name Dwanna come from in 1936?

Illustration of Dwanna Lee Newman
Dwanna Lee Newman

The name Dwanna first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1936:

  • 1938: unlisted
  • 1937: 7 baby girls named Dwanna
  • 1936: 20 baby girls named Dwanna [debut]
  • 1935: unlisted
  • 1934: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A little girl who got hit by a train — and survived!

In October of 1933, a toddler named Dwanna Lee Newman — the daughter of Arvid and Tola Newman of Eureka, Utah — was struck by a train traveling at about 20 miles per hour.

The locomotive pilot knocked her 10 feet in the air, she alighted on the cross-ties exactly between the rails and the entire freight train passed over her. […] When picked up, she was found to be unconscious, but soon revived, and examination disclosed the fact that aside from a bump on forehead, she was uninjured.

Nearly three years later, in July of 1936, Dwanna’s story was featured in the nationally syndicated Ripley’s Believe It or Not newspaper panel.

Sadly, Dwanna died of pneumonia in late 1937, at the age of five. (Arvid and Tola went on to have two more children, daughters Linda Rae and Vicki Ann, in the 1940s.)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Dwanna?

P.S. Believe it or not, the weirdly similar name Dwala was also influenced by Believe It or Not…

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Daily Colonist (16 Jul. 1936)