The rare name Yoenis has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just once so far, in 2015:
2017: unlisted
2016: unlisted
2015: 7 baby boys named Yoenis [debut]
2014: unlisted
2013: unlisted
What put it there?
Professional baseball player Yoenis Céspedes (pronounced yo-EHN-eess SES-peh-des).
Yoenis, an outfielder and power hitter, played on four different Major League Baseball teams from 2012 to 2020.
He saw the most success in the mid-2010s, when he was named an All-Star twice (in 2014 and 2016) and won both a Gold Glove Award (in 2015) and a Silver Slugger Award (in 2016).
Yoenis was born in Cuba in 1985, and is therefore part of Cuba’s Generación Y (i.e., one of the many Cubans who were given Y-names during the 1970s and ’80s). In fact, Yoenis was “[p]erhaps the best-known example” of this trend in the MLB, according to a New York Times article from mid-2016.
(The article also mentioned the high proportion of Y-names on the roster of Cuba’s national baseball team, which had played an exhibition game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Havana that spring. Of the 30 players, ten had Y-names: Yoandry, Yoanni, Yorbis, Yordan, Yordanis, Yosvani #1, Yosvani #2, Yunier, Yunior, and Yurisbel.)
What are your thoughts on the name Yoenis?
P.S. Céspedes’ younger half-brother, Yoelqui, currently plays in the minor leagues.
The curious name Iyanla first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1998:
2000: 41 baby girls named Iyanla
1999: 49 baby girls named Iyanla
1998: 10 baby girls named Iyanla [debut]
1997: unlisted
1996: unlisted
Where did it come from?
Self-help expert Iyanla (pronounced ee-YAHN-lah) Vanzant, who was featured on 20 episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show from 1998 to 1999.
According to Oprah.com, Iyanla doled out “some of the best no-nonsense, hard-hitting advice Oprah had ever heard.”
Iyanla’s humorous style and life-changing advice struck a chord with women everywhere. Her message was simple: To live better, you’ve got to love yourself.
She went on to host two of her own talk shows, the most successful of which, Iyanla: Fix My Life, aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) from 2012 to 2021.
Iyanla’s birth name was Rhonda Eva Harris. In her late 20s, she decided to reinvent herself — and adopt a new name, to symbolize her new life. Here’s how she tells the story:
Like Saul on the road to Damascus, I too had a spiritual awakening. Saul became Paul, and Rhonda became Iyanla, which, in the language of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, means “great mother.” It’s not even a name, it’s a title — it’s a title with a purpose.
The Yoruban title Ìyá nlá is made up of the words ìyá, meaning “mother,” and nlá, meaning “big, large.”
The Matrix — widely considered to be one of the greatest science-fiction movies of all time — was released in March of 1999. It was the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year, and went on to win four Oscars (including Best Visual Effects) in early 2000.
In The Matrix, the majority of humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality created by sentient machines. This simulation is called “the Matrix” by the (relatively few) humans who live outside of it.
At the start of the story, a man living inside the simulation — a computer programmer named Thomas Anderson (who is also a hacker known as “Neo”) — becomes vaguely aware of the Matrix.
Neo (played by Keanu Reeves) is soon contacted by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) — two resistance fighters who have been freed from the Matrix. They offer him a chance to escape the simulation and join them in the war against the machines.
Neo from “The Matrix“
So, how did The Matrix impact U.S. baby names?
Neo
After returning to U.S. baby name data in 1999, the name Neo more than quadrupled in usage in 2000:
2001: 111 baby boys named Neo
2000: 116 baby boys named Neo
1999: 24 baby boys named Neo
1998: unlisted
1997: unlisted
Neo’s name is not only a match to the Greek prefix neo-, meaning “new,” but also an anagram of the word one, which is significant because Morpheus believes Neo is “the One” — the person who, according to prophecy, will destroy the Matrix and liberate mankind.
Morpheus
The rare name Morpheus debuted in the data in 2000:
2001: unlisted
2000: 5 baby boys named Morpheus
1999: unlisted
1998: unlisted
1997: unlisted
The character’s name comes from the mythological figure of Morpheus, one of the dream-shaping sons of the Greek god of sleep, Hypnos. According to Ovid, Morpheus’ specialty was appearing in dreams as a human. (His bothers specialized in taking other forms.)
Trinity
Already being given to hundreds of baby girls per year, the name Trinity more than tripled in usage in 1999, then nearly tripled again (jumping straight into the girls’ top 100) in 2000:
2001: 4,481 baby girls named Trinity [rank: 67th]
2000: 4,284 baby girls named Trinity [rank: 74th]
1999: 1,481 baby girls named Trinity [rank: 209th]
1998: 481 baby girls named Trinity [rank: 525th]
1997: 437 baby girls named Trinity [rank: 543rd]
The word trinity, which refers to a group of three, is strongly associated with the concept of the Holy Trinity in Christian theology.
(Another name based on a religious concept, Nevaeh, became trendy around the same time.)
Matrix
Like Neo, the name Matrix returned to the data in 1999:
2001: unlisted
2000: 6 baby boys named Matrix
1999: 12 baby boys named Matrix (peak usage)
1998: unlisted
1997: unlisted
The word matrix refers to a place where something originates or takes form. Before the mid-16th century, it meant “uterus” specifically. In ancient Rome, the word referred to “a female animal kept for breeding.” It ultimately derives from mater, the Latin word for “mother.”
Niobe from “The Matrix Reloaded“
The Matrix was followed by three sequels — not to mention three video games, several comic books, and more.
The first sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, and the first video game, Enter the Matrix, both came out in May of 2003. The second sequel, The Matrix Revolutions, was released six months later, in November.
Reloaded and Revolutions became the third- and the eighth-highest-grossing films of the year, respectively, and they (along with the game) featured a number of new characters, including…
Niobe
Noibe (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) was a Zion-born resistance fighter who captained the hovercraft Logos.
The character’s name comes from the Greek mythological figure of Niobe, who was punished by the gods for her hubris.
Persephone
Persephone (played by Monica Bellucci) was a human-like computer program living inside the Matrix with her husband, the Merovingian.
Usage of the name Persephone more than doubled in 2003:
2005: 47 baby girls named Persephone
2004: 43 baby girls named Persephone
2003: 45 baby girls named Persephone
2002: 19 baby girls named Persephone
2001: 22 baby girls named Persephone
The character’s name comes from the Greek mythological figure of Persephone, the wife of Hades and (thereby) the queen of the underworld.
Link
Link (played by Harold Perrineau) was the Zion-born operator of Morpheus’ hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar.
The name Link saw slightly elevated usage in 2003:
2005: 7 baby boys named Link
2004: 15 baby boys named Link
2003: 13 baby boys named Link
2002: 8 baby boys named Link
2001: 6 baby boys named Link
Sati
Sati (played by Tanveer K. Atwal) was, like Persephone, a sentient computer program. Introduced in the second sequel, Sati was a little girl whose parents (also programs) had created her without a purpose, putting her at risk of deletion.
The rare name Sati returned to the data briefly in 2004:
2006: unlisted
2005: unlisted
2004: 7 baby girls named Sati
2003: unlisted
2002: unlisted
The character’s name comes from the Hindu goddess Sati, whose name means “truthful” or “virtuous” in Sanskrit.
Zion
Zion wasn’t a character, but a place — the last human settlement on planet Earth. The vast underground city was depicted onscreen in both Reloaded and Revolutions (after having been only mentioned in the original film).
Usage of the name Zion, which had been declining for several years, began increasing again in 2003:
Boys named Zion
Girls named Zion
2005
1,120 (rank: 293rd)
248 (rank: 988th)
2004
1,008 (rank: 311th)
212
2003
879 (rank: 329th)
137
2002
828 (rank: 333rd)
125
2001
867 (rank: 324th)
143
Of all the Matrix-related names above, which one would you be most likely to use in real life?
In 2002, the name Nelly appeared as a boy name for the first time in the U.S. baby name data:
2004: unlisted
2003: 7 baby boys named Nelly
2002: 5 baby boys named Nelly (gender-specific debut)
2001: unlisted
2000: unlisted
Why?
Because of St. Louis-based rapper and singer Nelly (birth name: Cornell Haynes, Jr.).
Nelly was particularly successful in 2002. He’d already scored a couple of top-ten hits — “Country Grammar” in 2000, and “Ride wit Me” in 2001 — but 2002 was the year that two of his songs spent a total of 17 weeks atop Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.
“Hot in Herre” ranked #1 for seven weeks straight, from late June to mid-August. It was knocked out of the top spot by…
“Dilemma” (feat. Kelly Rowland), which also ranked #1 for seven weeks straight, from mid-August to late September. It regained the top position for another three weeks, from mid-October to early November, after being temporarily dislodged (by a different Kelly — recent American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson with her debut single “A Moment Like This”).
Both “Hot in Herre” and “Dilemma” went on to win Grammy Awards (for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, respectively) in early 2003.
What are your thoughts on the name Nelly? Do you like it more as a boy name or as a girl name (à la Nelly Furtado)?
P.S. The song that “Hot in Herre” ousted in mid-2002 was “Foolish” by Ashanti. More than twenty years later, Nelly and Ashanti got married (in late 2023) and welcomed a baby boy (in mid-2024) named Kareem Kenkaide Haynes. His middle name is Ashanti’s father’s name.
Image: Screenshot of the music video for “Dilemma”
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