Why did Nelly debut as a boy name in 2002?

Nelly in the music video for "Dilemma" (2002)
Nelly in a music video

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.

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Image: Screenshot of the music video for “Dilemma”

Where did the baby name Jabraylin come from in 2013?

High school football player Ja'Braylin Thomas
Ja’Braylin Thomas

The rare name Jabraylin popped up in the U.S. baby name data for the first and only time in 2013:

  • 2015: unlisted
  • 2014: unlisted
  • 2013: 8 baby boys named Jabraylin [debut]
  • 2012: unlisted
  • 2011: unlisted

Why?

There may not be a reason. The name may have emerged naturally as a respelling of Jabraylon or Jabraylen, both of which had previously appeared in the data.

That said, if there is an influence, it could be high school football player Ja’Braylin Thomas — a 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive tackle from small-town Texas. He was being recruited by college football programs during 2012, so his name was mentioned on several sports websites that year. (He ultimately opted for the University of Houston, though it looks like he didn’t play much once he got there.)

What are your thoughts on the name Ja’Braylin? How would you spell it?

P.S. The name Braylin (by itself) was given to 174 baby boys and 105 baby girls in 2013.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of a Houston Athletics YouTube video

What popularized the baby name Venetia in the late 1950s?

Actress Venetia Stevenson (1938-2022)
Venetia Stevenson

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Venetia — which was the fastest-rising baby name of 1956 — saw its highest usage in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

  • 1963: 28 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1962: 45 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1961: 56 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1960: 89 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1959: 84 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1958: 99 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1957: 84 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1956: 45 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1955: 7 baby girls named Venetia
  • 1954: 11 baby girls named Venetia

What was drawing attention to the name during those years?

Pin-up model and actress Venetia (pronounced ven-EE-sha) Stevenson.

In August of 1955, several memorable photos of 17-year-old Venetia and her boyfriend, actor Russ Tamblyn, were published in Life magazine. (In all four photos, acrobatic Russ was upside-down, usually in mid-air.)

Russ Tamblyn and Venetia Stevenson (in 1955)
Russ & Venetia

Several months later, on Valentine’s Day of 1956, the couple got married at the Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes, California.

They were in the news again when they divorced in April of the following year.

In mid-1957, television host Ed Sullivan teamed up with Popular Photography magazine to find the “Most Photogenic Girl in the World.” The winner? Venetia Stevenson, who beat out 1,691 other contenders. She was presented with an award on an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show in early August, then featured on the cover of Popular Photography in September.

Venetia Stevenson in "Popular Photography magazine (Sept. 1957)
Venetia in “Popular Photography“

From 1958 to 1961, Venetia appeared on about a dozen TV shows (including Cheyenne, Colt .45, and 77 Sunset Strip) and in around 10 films (including one in which she co-starred with Audie Murphy).

She quit acting upon marrying Don Everly of The Everly Brothers in 1962. (She’d met Don and Phil on Ed Sullivan.)

Venetia Stevenson was born Joanna Venetia Invicta Stevenson in London in 1938 to film director Robert Stevenson and actress Anna Lee. (Her birth was reported in the papers, and there was a corresponding spike in the number of baby girls named Venetia in England and Wales that year.) The Stevenson family relocated to Hollywood in 1939.

The Latin word “Venetia” originally referred to an ancient region in northeastern Italy (roughly equivalent to the modern region of Veneto). The region was named after its inhabitants, the Veneti.

What are your thoughts on name Venetia?

P.S. During the 1960s, Venetia Stevenson and Don Everly welcomed three children: Stacy Dawn, Erin Invicta, and Edan Donald. Erin, who was in a tumultuous relationship with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose for several years, inspired Rose to write the hit song “Sweet Child o’ Mine” (1988).

P.P.S. Here’s a suspicious fact: In the spring of 1959, Don Everly and his first wife, Mary Sue, welcomed a baby named Venetia Ember. Where did her first name come from? “Venetia Stevenson, whom Don had met in New York when the brothers were there for an Ed Sullivan gig in 1957.”

Sources:

Images: Clippings from Silver Screen magazine (Oct. 1956), Life magazine (1 Aug. 1955), and Popular Photography magazine (Sept. 1957)

Where did the baby name Essien come from in 2006?

Soccer player Michael Essien
Michael Essien

The name Essien first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 2006:

  • 2008: unlisted
  • 2007: 5 baby boys named Essien
  • 2006: 6 baby boys named Essien [debut]
  • 2005: unlisted
  • 2004: unlisted

Where did it come from?

My guess is Ghanaian professional soccer player Michael Essien (pronounced eh-see-ehn), a midfielder who was particularly successful in the mid-aughts.

In 2005, Essien — after winning back-to-back Ligue 1 championships with French football club Olympique Lyonnais — was named Ligue 1 Player of the Year. Over the summer, he was transferred to English football club Chelsea (for a club-record fee of £24.4 million) and went on to win the Premier League championship in 2006.

On the international stage, Essien helped the Ghana national football team qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time ever in 2006. Notably, Ghana was the only African team to reach the second round of the tournament that year.

What are your thoughts on Essien as a first name?

P.S. I’ve added Essien (which is pronounced like the names of the letters s, e, and n) to our growing list of names spelled with names of letters…

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Essien Real Madrid by Ultraslansi under CC BY-SA 3.0.