What gave the baby name Dharma a boost in the late 1990s?

The character Dharma Montgomery from the TV series "Dharma & Greg" (1997-2002)
Dharma Montgomery from “Dharma & Greg“

After popping up in the U.S. baby name data a few times during the ’60s and ’70s, the name Dharma re-appeared in 1997 and reached peak usage the very next year:

  • 2000: 53 baby girls named Dharma
  • 1999: 55 baby girls named Dharma
  • 1998: 68 baby girls named Dharma (peak usage)
  • 1997: 9 baby girls named Dharma
  • 1996: unlisted
  • 1995: unlisted

What brought the name back?

The sitcom Dharma & Greg, which began airing on television in September of 1997.

Character Dharma Finkelstein (played by Jenna Elfman) was a “dog-training, yoga-teaching free spirit” raised by hippies. In the pilot episode, she met — and impulsively married — “button-down, anal-retentive Ivy League lawyer” Greg Montgomery (played by Thomas Gibson).

Regarding her name, Dharma explained: “My dad was Jewish, but he wished he was the Dalai Lama.”

In Buddhism, the term dharma refers to the true nature of reality as taught by the Buddha. (The concept of dharma is taught in the other Indic religions as well, but each religion defines the term differently.)

What are your thoughts on Dharma as a baby name?

P.S. Jenna Elfman’s real-life husband, actor Bodhi Elfman, also happens to have a name inspired by Buddhism. The term bodhi is often defined as “awakening” or “enlightenment.”

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Dharma & Greg

What gave the baby name Vance a boost in 1969?

Roger Miller's self-titled album (1969)
Roger Miller album

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Vance saw a spike in usage in 1969:

  • 1971: 339 baby boys named Vance [rank: 446th]
  • 1970: 407 baby boys named Vance [rank: 398th]
  • 1969: 555 baby boys named Vance [rank: 328th] (peak usage)
  • 1968: 331 baby boys named Vance [rank: 424th]
  • 1967: 288 baby boys named Vance [rank: 446th]

What gave the name a boost that year?

The country song “Vance” by Roger Miller. It was released in late 1968 and reached #15 on the Billboard‘s Hot Country Singles chart in early 1969. (It also appeared on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for several weeks, ranking as high as 80th.)

“Vance” is a rambling, spoken-word song in which the narrator talks about his son, Vance. Here’s how it starts:

He was born one mornin’, it was cold and it was snowin’,
And from the start he never had a chance.
And though the doctors said he couldn’t live, his mama had some faith to give,
And they brought him to her and his mama named him Vance.

Here’s how it sounds:

What are your thoughts on the name Vance?

P.S. A couple of years later, another song about a son, “Watching Scotty Grow,” also influenced both the music charts and the baby name charts…

Sources: Roger Miller discography – Wikipedia, SSA

What gave the baby name Yoel a boost in 1979?

Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum (1888-1979)
Yoel Teitelbaum

According to the U.S. baby name data, the Hebrew name Yoel was one of the fastest-rising baby names in the nation in 1979. A year later, the name — which was mostly being used in the state of New York — entered the boys’ top 1,000 for the very first time.

Boys named Yoel (U.S.)Boys named Yoel (NY)
198199 [rank: 898th]91 [rank: 180th]
1980127 [rank: 779th]120 [rank: 141st]
19797569 [rank: 228th]
1978129 [rank: 820th]
19778.

Yoel’s English equivalent, Joel, also made gains in 1979 and 1980. Again, the increase was largely attributable to usage in New York.

Boys named Joel (U.S.)Boys named Joel (NY)
19814,540 [rank: 65th]529 [rank: 45th]
19804,566 [rank: 67th]614 [rank: 41st]
19794,215 [rank: 71st]401 [rank: 53rd]
19783,809 [rank: 74th]214 [rank: 81st]
19773,823 [rank: 73rd]209 [rank: 80th]

So what was inspiring parents (particularly those in New York) to use the name?

The death of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum in August of 1979.

Teitelbaum — whose first name was often transcribed “Joel” — had been the the leader of the New York City-based Satmar Hasidic sect since the 1940s.

Teitelbaum was born in Eastern Europe in 1887. In the mid-1930s, he was appointed chief rabbi of the town of Szatmár (which was traded between Hungary and Romania during the first half of the 20th century).

After World War II, Teitelbaum emigrated to the United States and re-established the Satmar sect in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The sect was ultra-conservative, isolationist, and anti-Zionist. It grew steadily over the ensuing decades.

In the mid-1970s, the Satmars established a village called Kiryas Joel (“City of Joel”) about 50 miles to the north (i.e., away from the temptations of the city). A few years later, Yoel Teitelbaum’s funeral — which was attended by tens of thousands of people — was held in the village that bore his name.

Speaking of his name, it comprises two elements, the first of which refers to Yahweh and the second of which means “god.” (Fun fact: The name Elijah is essentially made up of the same two elements, but in reverse order.)

What are your thoughts on the name Yoel? How about Joel?

P.S. The 1994 death of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of another New York City-based Hasidic group, also influenced U.S. baby names…

Sources:

Image: Joel Teitelbaum (public domain)

What gave baby name Kazuko a boost in 1927?

Emperor Hirohito, a.k.a. Emperor Showa (1901-1989)
Emperor Hirohito of Japan

According to the U.S. baby name data, the Japanese name Kazuko saw a distinct spike in usage in 1927 — the one and only year it reached the U.S. top 1,000.

  • 1929: 20 baby girls named Kazuko
  • 1928: 28 baby girls named Kazuko
  • 1927: 63 baby girls named Kazuko [rank: 958th]
    • 31 born in California, 21 in Hawaii, 6 in Washington state
  • 1926: 14 baby girls named Kazuko
  • 1925: 15 baby girls named Kazuko

Nearly 83% of the usage came from California and Hawaii — states with relatively large numbers of Japanese-Americans.

We saw a very similar pattern of usage when looking at Shoji, which was influenced by the start of Japan’s Showa era in the waning days of 1926. So I suspected that Kazuko was likewise influenced by the Showa era. For years, though, I was unable to figure out how the name and the era were connected.

Then I discovered a key fact about the second kanji (i.e., Chinese character) in the word Showa.

Kanji character for "peace"
“peace”

This kanji, which means “peace” or “harmony,” is usually pronounced “wa.” But it can also pronounced in other ways. And one of those others ways is “kazu” — a nanori reading used exclusively in Japanese personal names.

The SSA’s data doesn’t reveal how Japanese names are rendered in Japanese, but my hunch is that most of the 1927 Kazukos wrote their names using this particular character. (And the “-ko” portion of their names was almost certainly represented by the kanji meaning “child” that was so trendy during that period for girl names, e.g., Yoshiko, Chiyoko, Mitsuko, Haruko, Yoko.)

Soon after leaning about the “kazu” pronunciation, I noticed that the Japanese girl name Kazue (pronounced kah-zoo-eh) doubled in usage the same year, no doubt for the same reason:

  • 1929: 7 baby girls named Kazue
  • 1928: 5 baby girls named Kazue
  • 1927: 24 baby girls named Kazue
    • 13 born in Hawaii, 9 in California
  • 1926 12 baby girls named Kazue
  • 1925: 13 baby girls named Kazue

Do you have any thoughts on the name Kazuko? How about Kazue?

Sources: Showa era – Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Kazuko – Behind the Name, SSA

Images: Adapted from Emperor Showa (public domain)