What popularized the baby name Corliss in the 1940s?

The character Corliss Archer (played by Shirley Temple) from the film "Kiss and Tell" (1945)
Corliss Archer from “Kiss and Tell“

After re-emerging in the U.S. baby name data in 1943, the name Corliss went on to feature in the girls’ top 1,000 from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s.

  • 1946: 182 baby girls named Corliss [rank: 591st]
  • 1945: 80 baby girls named Corliss [rank: 843rd]
  • 1944: 70 baby girls named Corliss [rank: 918th]
  • 1943: 44 baby girls named Corliss
  • 1942: unlisted
  • 1941: 6 baby girls named Corliss

(The spelling Corlis also saw higher usage during that period, and Corless was a one-hit wonder in 1947.)

What accounts for the trendiness of Corliss during those years?

A fictional teenage girl named Corliss Archer.

Created by writer F. Hugh Herbert, the “energetic and vivacious” Corliss was introduced in early 1943 as the central character of…

  • A series of six short stories published in the popular women’s magazine Good Housekeeping (starting in January),
  • The radio program Meet Corliss Archer (which also started in January), and
  • The Broadway play Kiss and Tell (which premiered in March).

In 1945, the play was adapted into a film of the same name starring 17-year-old Shirley Temple. The following year (which, admittedly, was the first year of the baby boom) the name Corliss reached peak usage.

Shirley Temple also starred in a second Corliss Archer film, A Kiss for Corliss, which was released in 1949.

The character Corliss Archer from the TV series "Meet Corliss Archer" (1954-55)
Corliss Archer from “Meet Corliss Archer“

During the 1950s, the radio program Meet Corliss Archer was adapted to television twice:

  • In the first adaptation, which was broadcast live on CBS from 1951 to 1952, Corliss was played by Lugene Sanders.
  • In the second, which was produced for first-run syndication during the 1954-55 season, Corliss was played by Ann Baker (above).

The radio program itself remained on the air for more than 13 years, until mid-1956.

I’m not sure why F. Hugh Herbert chose “Corliss” as the name of the character. (Perhaps he was inspired by Corliss Palmer?) But I do know that the character was based on his own teenage daughters, Diana and Pamela. He wrote,

I merely had to put into the lips of Corliss some of their more pungent phrases, into the life of Corliss some of their exuberant high spirits, their natural gaiety, bounce, and charm.

Sources:

Image: Screenshots of Kiss and Tell (1945) and Meet Corliss Archer (1954-55)

What gave the baby name Cara a boost in 1965?

The character Cara Bridges/Wilton from the TV series "The Cara Williams Show" (1964-1965)
Cara from “The Cara Williams Show“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Cara saw a spike in usage in 1965:

  • 1967: 604 baby girls named Cara [rank: 366th]
  • 1966: 677 baby girls named Cara [rank: 347th]
  • 1965: 987 baby girls named Cara [rank: 274th]
  • 1964: 663 baby girls named Cara [rank: 366th]
  • 1963: 682 baby girls named Cara [rank: 368th]

What caused the brief increase?

The 1965 pop song “Cara Mia” could be a secondary influence here, but I think the main influence was a single-season sitcom called The Cara Williams Show, which aired from 1964 to 1965 (30 episodes) on CBS.

The star of the show was actress Cara Williams, who played a scatterbrained character also named Cara. Fictional Cara went by two different surnames: Bridges (her married name) at home, and Wilton (her maiden name) at work. Why? Because she and her husband Frank (played by actor Frank Aletter) were co-workers at a company that forbade the employment of married couples. They therefore went to great lengths to conceal their marriage from their boss.

Cara Williams — a “perky redhead” often compared to Lucille Ball — was born Bernice Kamiat in New York City in 1925.

What are your thoughts on the name Cara?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Cara Williams Show

How did The Boys influence U.S. baby names?

The Boys' album "Messages from the Boys" (1988)
The Boys album

The Abdulsamad brothers — Khiry (b. 1973), Tajh (b. 1976), Hakim (b. 1975), and Bilal (b. 1978) — started performing together in the mid-1980s, “dancing and lip-synching to New Edition records at Venice Beach for donations.”

They were so successful at busking that they “[set] their sights on a show-biz career.”

The brothers formed an R&B vocal quartet called The Boys and, a few years later, signed a record deal with Motown.

The Boys’ songs are well-produced and propelled by strong, danceable rhythms, offering simple, romantic messages that apparently set young girls swooning.

Three of their songs climbed to #1 on Billboard‘s Hot Black Singles chart, and two of the three also reached Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart:

  • “Dial My Heart,” which peaked at #13 in February of 1989, and
  • “Crazy,” which peaked at #29 in October of 1990.

So, how did The Boys influence U.S. baby names?

Khiry

The name Khiry debuted impressively in the data in 1989 and reached peak usage in 1990:

  • 1991: 132 baby boys named Khiry [rank: 916th]
  • 1990: 244 baby boys named Khiry [rank: 649th] (peak usage)
  • 1989: 159 baby boys named Khiry [rank: 788th] (debut)
  • 1988: unlisted
  • 1987: unlisted

Notably, Khiry would have been the top boy-name debut of the year if not for the glitch of 1989.

The similar name Kyree also saw higher usage 1989. Other names that debuted in the data that year and the next include Khiree, Kiry, Kiree, Khiri, Khayri, and Khirey.

The name Khiry — which the eldest Abdulsamad brother pronounced kie-ree — is likely based on the Arabic name Khayri, meaning “charitable.”

“Hakeem” (Hakim)

Hakim’s name is spelled “Hakim” in the California Birth Index, at various music websites (e.g. AllMusic, Genius), and in this 2017 Instagram post written by Tajh.

Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, however, it was regularly spelled “Hakeem.”

I assumed this was a typo when I first encountered it in Jet and Ebony, because I’ve seen name-related typos in those magazines before. But then I spotted it in several major newspapers. And finally I noticed it on-screen in the “Dial My Heart” music video, and printed on the single for “Crazy” — suggesting that the spelling was, in fact, intentional.

Misspelling of Hakim in the music video for "Dial My Heart"
Hakim’s name spelled “Hakeem” in a music video

I can’t account for the Hakim/Hakeem spelling discrepancy, but I can show you the result: the baby name Hakeem shot to peak usage (and entered the boys’ top 1,000 for the first time) in 1989, while baby name Hakim saw no movement at all the same year.

Boys named HakimBoys named Hakeem
199136242 [rank: 654th]
199061271 [rank: 612th]
198941279 [rank: 586th]
19884365
19873155

Hakim is an Arabic name meaning “wise.”

Tajh

Just like Khiry, the name Tajh debuted impressively in the data in 1989, and reached peak usage in 1990:

Boys named TajhBoys named Tahj
19914022
199079†26
198965*37*
1988..
1987..
*Debut, †Peak usage

The spelling Tahj debuted in 1990, and Taj saw higher usage that year as well.

The name Tajh is probably based on the Arabic name Taj, meaning “crown.”

(Interesting fact: When he was six weeks old, Tajh Abdulsamad played the part of newborn Kunta Kinte in the first episode of the miniseries Roots.)

Bilal

The name Bilal nearly doubled in usage in 1989:

  • 1991: 119 baby boys named Bilal [rank: 981st]
  • 1990: 104 baby boys named Bilal
  • 1989: 100 baby boys named Bilal
  • 1988: 52 baby boys named Bilal
  • 1987: 57 baby boys named Bilal

The spelling Belal also got a boost that year, and both Billal and Bilaal debuted in the data.

Bilal — which the youngest Abdulsamad brother pronounced bih-LAL (like the name Bill with the end-sound of “canal” or “morale”) — is an Arabic name meaning “moistening.”

Which of The Boys’ names – Khiry, Tajh, Hakim, or Bilal – do you like best?

Sources:

Second image: Screenshot of the music video for “Dial My Heart”

Where did the baby name Merrial come from in 1920?

Illustration of Merrial Houlton from the Rocky Mountain News (May 1920)
Merrial Houlton (with a suitor)

The rare name Merrial was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1920:

  • 1922: unlisted
  • 1921: unlisted
  • 1920: 6 baby girls named Merrial [debut]
  • 1919: unlisted
  • 1918: unlisted

Where did it come from?

My guess is the story “Mice and Men,” which was serialized in various U.S. and Canadian newspapers that year.

The main character was a young American woman, Merrial Houlton — “an amazing wisp of a girl, who was equally at home on the back of a bucking broncho or presiding over the ‘tea things’ in a Boston drawing room” — who had traveled to England to visit her late mother’s family.

The story was written by Katharine Newlin Burt, a prolific author whose novels (mostly Westerns) were published from the 1910s to the 1970s. Originally from New York, Burt spent much of her adult life in Wyoming on her husband’s Bar BC Dude Ranch (which was later incorporated into Grand Teton National Park).

What are your thoughts on the baby name Merrial?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Rocky Mountain News (16 May 1920)