What gave the baby name Sharona a boost in 1979?

The Knack single "My Sharona" (1979)
The Knack single

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Sharona saw its highest usage in the early 1980s:

  • 1981: 60 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1980: 68 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1979: 40 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1978: 12 baby girls named Sharona
  • 1977: 16 baby girls named Sharona

Why?

Because of the song “My Sharona” by Los Angeles-based power pop band The Knack.

“My Sharona,” the band’s debut single, climbed to the #1 spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in August of 1979 and stayed there for six weeks straight.

Here’s what it sounds like:

The song was co-written by The Knack’s lead guitarist, Berton Averre, and vocalist, Doug Fieger.

Fieger’s lyrics were inspired by Sharona Alperin — a teenage girl with whom he’d become infatuated.

Fieder and Alperin eventually began a relationship that lasted nearly four years. In fact, a photo of Alperin (“posing in a revealing tank top and tight jeans”) graces the cover of the single that popularized her name.

Decades later, Alperin was asked if she’d ever disliked her name. She replied,

When I was younger, I remember hating it because no one could pronounce it. Once the song came out, I remember feeling so excited.

What are your thoughts on the name Sharona?

Sources:

How did Lyndon B. Johnson influence baby names?

American politician Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973)
Lyndon B. Johnson

Texas-born politician Lyndon B. Johnson, who served as president of the United States from late 1963 to early 1969, influenced the popularity of the baby name Lyndon several times over the course of his life.

In 1941, the year he narrowly lost a U.S. Senate special election in Texas, the name Lyndon nearly doubled in usage:

Boys named Lyndon (U.S.)Boys named Lyndon (TX)
1943102 (rank: 632nd)21
194278 (rank: 729th)22
194190 (rank: 645th)43
194046 (rank: 947th)8
193941 (rank: 1,000th)6

As you’d expect, most of that extra usage happened in the state of Texas.

In 1948, on his second try, Johnson narrowly won a seat in the U.S. Senate. (The unique first name of his opponent, Coke R. Stevenson, made its last appearance in the U.S. baby name data the same year.)

More than a decade later, when Senator Johnson was elected vice president as John F. Kennedy‘s running mate, the name saw another uptick:

  • 1962: 148 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 635th)
  • 1961: 207 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 548th)
  • 1960: 246 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 506th)
  • 1959: 193 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 559th)
  • 1958: 161 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 606th)

Finally, in 1964, the name shot to peak popularity:

  • 1966: 161 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 592nd)
  • 1965: 306 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 444th)
  • 1964: 514 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 347th)
  • 1963: 176 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 594th)
  • 1962: 148 baby boys named Lyndon (rank: 635th)

Here’s a visual:

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

This considerable increase in usage can be attributed to a pair of related events: Johnson assuming the presidency upon the assassination of Kennedy in November of 1963, and Johnson’s landslide victory in the presidential election of 1964.

Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office following the assassination of President Kennedy (Nov. 1963)
Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born to Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Johnson (née Baines) in 1908. Where did his first name come from? Here’s how he told the story:

I was three months old when I was named. My mother and father couldn’t agree on a name. The people my father liked were heavy drinkers — pretty rough for a city girl. She didn’t want me named after any of them.

Finally, there was a criminal lawyer — a county lawyer — named W. C. Linden. He would go on a drunk for a week after every case. My father liked him, and he wanted to name me after him. My mother didn’t care for the idea, but she said finally that it was all right; she would go along with it if she could spell the name the way she wanted to. So that was what happened.

Johnson’s two daughters, Lynda and Luci, were both married during their father’s presidency. The younger one, Luci, married in August of 1966 and the older one, Lynda, married in December of 1967. (Luci had a flower girl named Bader; Lynda had a bridesmaid called Trenny.)

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

Sources:

Images: Adapted from Lyndon B. Johnson, photo portrait, leaning on chair, color and Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office (both public domain)

What brought the baby name Karamo back in 2018?

Karamo Brown of the TV series "Queer Eye" (2018-)
Karamo Brown

The rare name Karamo re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 2018:

  • 2020: unlisted
  • 2019: unlisted
  • 2018: 6 baby boys named Karamo
  • 2017: unlisted
  • 2016: unlisted

Why?

Because of Karamo (pronounced kah-RAH-moh) Brown, the culture expert on Netflix’s reboot of the TV series Queer Eye, which began airing in February of 2018.

Brown, a trained social worker, was born in Texas in 1980. He began appearing on reality TV in the early 2000s. (One of his first appearances was on The Real World in 2004.)

In his memoir, Brown described how his parents (both originally from Jamaica) fought over his name. His father wanted him to have an African name, while his mother wanted him to have a more conventional name. They eventually settled on “Karamo Karega.”

The name Karamo Karega is Swahili in origin. Karamo means “educated,” and Karega means “rebel.” My father thought there needed to be a complementing contrast to the meaning of my name.

I was able to confirm the definitions of the names, but neither one seems to be Swahili in origin. Karamo means “teacher” or “scholar” in Mandinka, while Karega means “rebel” in Gikuyu.

What are your thoughts on the name Karamo?

P.S. Brown also noted in his memoir that he’d encouraged fellow Queer Eye co-host Tanveer “Tan” France — who goes by a nickname “[b]ecause when you google ‘Tanveer,’ only terrorists come up” — to use his full first name, in order to help change the public’s perception of the name via the TV show.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Queer Eye

What gave the baby name Davy a boost in 1967?

Davy Jones from the TV series "The Monkees" (1966-1968)
Davy Jones

The baby name Davy went into decline after reaching peak usage in 1955 (thanks to Davy Crockett).

During the second half the ’60s, though, the name did see a two-year uptick. It even re-entered the boys’ top 1,000 one last time.

  • 1969: 48 baby boys named Davy
  • 1968: 57 baby boys named Davy [rank: 974th]
  • 1967: 43 baby boys named Davy
  • 1966: 22 baby boys named Davy
  • 1965: 26 baby boys named Davy

What accounts for this brief rise?

British actor and singer Davy Jones.

Jones was one of the stars of the musical sitcom The Monkees, which aired on NBC for two seasons (from September of 1966 to March of 1968).

The series followed a struggling rock ‘n’ roll quartet called The Monkees (which was patterned after The Beatles). The four Monkees — Davy, Micky, Michael, and Peter — “romp[ed] through miscellaneous comic misadventures,” taking breaks to sing original songs penned by professional songwriters (including Carole King and Neil Diamond).

The Monkees was a hit — winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in mid-1967, and turning diminutive Davy Jones into a teen idol.

The show’s fictional rock band also achieved impressive real-life success. Six of the Monkees’ singles reached the top five on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. Jones sang lead vocals on three of these singles:

  • “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You,” which peaked at #2 in April of 1967,
  • “Daydream Believer” [vid], the #1 song in the nation for four weeks straight in December of 1967, and
  • “Valleri,” which peaked at #3 in March of 1968.

David “Davy” Jones was born in Manchester in 1945. Prior to becoming a Monkee, he’d acted in West End and Broadway productions of Oliver! and released a solo single [vid]. He was well-known enough that another British David “Davy” Jones — an aspiring singer-songwriter — decided to differentiate himself by adopting the stage name David Bowie in early 1966.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Monkees