Where did the baby name Riggan come from in 2016?

The character Riggan Thomson from the movie "Birdman" (2014)
Riggan Thomson from “Birdman“

The rare name Riggan has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just once so far, in 2016:

  • 2018: unlisted
  • 2017: unlisted
  • 2016: 7 baby boys named Riggan [debut]
  • 2015: unlisted
  • 2014: unlisted

Where did it come from?

My guess is the dark comedy/drama Birdman, which was released in October of 2014.

The movie’s main character, Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton), was a washed-up Hollywood actor who’d become famous for portraying the winged superhero Birdman in a trilogy of blockbuster films 20 years earlier. He was now trying to revive his career by starring in a self-written, self-directed Broadway adaptation of the Raymond Carver story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.”

Birdman went on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in early 2015.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Riggan?

Sources: Birdman – Wikipedia, Birdman (review) – RogerEbert.com, SSA

Image: Screenshot of Birdman

What popularized the baby name Ally in the late 1990s?

The character Ally McBeal (played by Calista Flockhart) from the TV series "Ally McBeal" (1997-2002)
Calista Flockhart as Ally McBeal

The offbeat comedy-drama series Ally McBeal premiered on television in September of 1997.

The show was set largely in a fictional Boston law firm (with a unisex bathroom), and its main character was a young lawyer named Allison “Ally” McBeal (played by Calista Flockhart), whose inner world was frequently depicted on-screen “in quick, comic surrealisms.”

Ally McBeal was an immediate hit and, as a result, the baby names Ally and Calista both saw steep rises in usage in the late 1990s:

Girls named AllyGirls named Calista
2000418 [rank: 605th]401 [rank: 627th]
1999540 [rank: 480th]490† [rank: 519th]
1998636† [rank: 417th]323 [rank: 697th]
199718543
19967926
19957323
†Peak usage

The name Allie also saw discernible uptick in usage in 1998, and the names Kalista and Callista both reached peak popularity in 1999.

Flockhart, who was born in Illinois in 1964, was “given her first name, Calista, in honor of her great-grandmother, who the family believes was named after an Irish Catholic nun who became a saint.”

The name Calista derives from the Roman name Callistus, which is based on the Ancient Greek word kallistos, meaning “most beautiful.” (Kallistos is the superlative form of the word kalos, meaning “beautiful.”)

What are your thoughts on the names Ally and Calista? (Which one would you be more likely to use in real life?)

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Ally McBeal

What gave the baby name Arielle a boost in 1988?

The character Arielle from the TV series "General Hospital" (1963-)
Arielle Ashton from “General Hospital“

The baby name Arielle was already on the rise when it suddenly doubled in usage in 1989:

  • 1990: 1,569 baby girls named Arielle [rank: 185th]
  • 1989: 1,530 baby girls named Arielle [rank: 185th]
  • 1988: 653 baby girls named Arielle [rank: 368th]
  • 1987: 341 baby girls named Arielle [rank: 581st]
  • 1986: 318 baby girls named Arielle [rank: 604th]

Similar spellings (like Ariele, Aurielle, Arrielle, Aryelle, and Aerielle) also saw higher usage that year.

Like most Ariel-based names, Arielle went on to reach peak usage in 1991, thanks to The Little Mermaid. But the animated film wasn’t released until November of 1989 — so it couldn’t have affected Arielle prior to 1989, and wouldn’t have affected it very much in 1989 either. (The usage of Ariel itself only increased by 41% that year.)

Instead, I think a character on the long-running ABC soap opera General Hospital was influencing the name during the last two years of the 1980s.

In October of 1988, Lady Arielle Ashton (played by actress Jane Higginson) sailed into fictional Port Charles on a yacht with her husband, Lord Larry Ashton. The man who became the ship’s mechanic, Colton Shore, happened to be Arielle’s former lover. Arielle and Colton came close to resuming their relationship, but Colton ultimately chose Felicia over Arielle, and Arielle left Port Charles (alone) in May of 1989.

What are your thoughts on the spelling Arielle? (Do you like it more or less than Ariel?)

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of General Hospital

What gave the baby name Davey a boost in 1929?

The character Sonny (played by Davey Lee) from the movie "The Singing Fool" (1928)
Davey Lee in “The Singing Fool“

According to the U.S. baby name data, both Davey and David saw sizeable increases in usage in 1929:

Boys named DaveyBoys named David
193145 [rank: 985th]11,783 [rank: 13th]
193054 [rank: 911th]12,275 [rank: 15th]
192989 [rank: 655th]11,301 [rank: 17th]
192899,992 [rank: 19th]
1927.9,426 [rank: 21st]

Davey was the fastest-rising boy name of the year in terms of relative increase, and David was the second-fastest-rising boy name of the year (after Donald) in terms of absolute increase.

The names Davy and Davie also saw upticks in usage in 1929.

What was influencing these names?

Child actor Davey Lee (born David Lea in Hollywood, California, in late 1924).

Davey Lee appeared in six feature films between 1928 and 1930. (He was credited as “David Lee” in two of the films.)

His first movie, The Singing Fool, was a partial-talkie released in September of 1928. He played the part of Sonny, the son of main character Al Stone (played by Al Jolson), an entertainer who’d been deserted by his wife. Here’s how one film critic summarized the young actor:

This little David Lee playing the Jolsons’ kid is a perfect wonder. He plays sick, dead, happy, asleep, affectionate and sad, and talks, in his wee voice that gets over without a blemish.

The Singing Fool was the highest-grossing film of 1928, and one of the film’s songs, “Sonny Boy,” was also a best seller.

The song’s title was used for one of Davey Lee’s subsequent movies, Sonny Boy, which was another partial-talkie released in April of the following year. Here’s how the film critic for the New York Times described the experience of seeing Lee on the big screen:

There was many a rousing outburst [of] laughter [from the audience] at a word or two from the diminutive Davey. His childish speech was not always distinct, but (…) whether or not one understood his lines, they nevertheless carried a strong appeal to one’s heart.

What are your thoughts on the name Davey? (Do like this spelling?)

P.S. The baby name Davey went on to reach peak usage in the mid-1950s, thanks to the Davy Crockett craze…

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Singing Fool