What gave the baby name Venus a boost in 1959?

Frankie Avalon single "Venus" (1959)
Frankie Avalon single

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Venus nearly tripled in usage in 1959:

  • 1961: 203 baby girls named Venus [rank: 733rd]
  • 1960: 180 baby girls named Venus [rank: 760th]
  • 1959: 295 baby girls named Venus [rank: 570th]
  • 1958: 106 baby girls named Venus
  • 1957: 103 baby girls named Venus

What pushed the name to peak popularity that year?

“Venus” by teen idol Frankie Avalon. The song was released in January of 1959 and held the top spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for five weeks straight (from early March to early April).

The narrator of the song pleads with the goddess Venus to “send a little girl for me to thrill.”

Here’s what the song sounds like:

Frankie Avalon (born Francis Thomas Avallone) put out more than two dozen of singles in the late ’50s and early ’60s, but five of his seven top-ten hits — including “Venus” and his only other #1 song, “Why” — were released in 1959 specifically. So it’s not surprising that we see an uptick in the usage of Frankie (as a male name) the same year:

  • 1961: 806 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 276th]
  • 1960: 815 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 280th]
  • 1959: 872 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 268th]
  • 1958: 751 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 281st]
  • 1957: 746 baby boys named Frankie [rank: 277th]

Avalon went on to star in a series of successful “Beach Party” movies with Annette Funicello in the 1960s.

What are your thoughts on the name Venus?

Sources: Frankie Avalon – Wikipedia, SSA

What turned Torrance into a girl name (briefly) in the early 2000s?

The character Torrance Shipman from the movie "Bring It On" (2000)
Torrance Shipman from “Bring It On“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Torrance — which has been given to baby boys regularly since the 1950s — was suddenly given to dozens of baby girls in 2001:

Girls named TorranceBoys named Torrance
20036253
200273†41
20014051
2000.39
1999.43
†Peak usage

Why?

Because of fictional cheerleader Torrance Shipman from the teen comedy Bring It On, released in August of 2000.

In the movie, San Diego high school senior Torrance (played by Kirsten Dunst) is the new captain of the Rancho Carne Toros cheerleading squad (whose members were predominantly white). The Toros are the long-reigning national champions, and Torrance is ready to lead the team to victory yet again.

Then she discovers that the previous cheer captain stole the Toros’ best routines from the East Compton Clovers (whose members were predominantly Black). Torrance will need to come up with a brand new cheer routine for the Toros in time to compete — against the Clovers themselves — at Nationals.

Jessica Bendinger, who wrote the movie’s screenplay, described Bring It On as “socioeconomic inequality and cultural appropriation in cheerleading skirts.”

So where did Torrance Shipman’s unusual first name come from? Likely from the city of Torrance in Los Angeles County. (Whittier, another city in LA County, was used as the name of the protagonist in Bring It On Again, the movie’s first direct-to-TV sequel.) The city of Torrance was founded in the early 20th century by real estate developer Jared Sidney Torrance.

What are your thoughts on the name Torrance? Do you like it better as a girl name, or as a boy name?

P.S. Earlier the same year, Kirsten Dunst starred as Lux in The Virgin Suicides…

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Bring It On

Where did the baby name Lux come from in 2001?

The character Lux Lisbon from the movie "The Virgin Suicides" (1999)
Lux Lisbon from “The Virgin Suicides“

The modern name Lux debuted in the U.S. baby name data during the first year of the 21st century:

  • 2003: 14 baby girls named Lux
  • 2002: 16 baby girls named Lux
  • 2001: 9 baby girls and 5 baby boys named Lux [dual-gender debut]
  • 2000: unlisted
  • 1999: unlisted

Why were expectant parents seeing the Latin word for “light” as a viable baby name around that time?

Likely because of the character Lux Lisbon (played by actress Kirsten Dunst) from the movie The Virgin Suicides (1999), which wasn’t given a wide theatrical release until May of 2000.

Set in a suburb of Detroit in the mid-1970s, The Virgin Suicides followed the five beautiful Lisbon sisters: Therese, Mary, Bonnie, Lux, and Cecilia. They were the teenage daughters of strict Catholic parents, and therefore off-limits to the neighborhood boys “who loved and lusted after” them (and from whose collective perspective the story was told).

Lux Lisbon — the “most perfect” of the sisters — was the only one to lose her virginity (to high school heartthrob Trip Fontaine, played by actor Josh Hartnett) during her short life.

The film was based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Jeffrey Eugenides.

What are your thoughts on the name Lux? Do you think it works better as a girl name or as a boy name?

Sources: The Virgin Suicides (film) – Wikipedia, The Virgin Suicides review – Roger Ebert, SSA

Image: Screenshot of The Virgin Suicides

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