Sunday, November 27, 2011

"Gone With the Wind" and Baby Names



Did the release of "Gone With the Wind" in 1939 have any influence on baby names?

Let's take a look.

"Rhett" didn't appear among the top 1000 baby names for boys until 1955.
                                                 Year of birth                                    Rank

And "Clark" had already been a somewhat popular name by the late 1930s.  I suppose we could make a small case here for the minor bump shown here.

"Scarlett" made its first-ever appearance on the Top 1000 list in 1940, although it fell off the list in 1944.

We can probably make a much stronger case for "Vivien", a name which has made the list just 3 years.

Until 1940, "Ashley", as a boy's name, had not been on the Top 1000 list since 1927.

"Leslie", as a boy's name, was the most popular baby name in the late 30s/early 40s among the 8 names under consideration in this post.

In the first year of Gone With the Wind's release, "Melanie" increased significantly in popularity.

The ranking sequence for "Olivia", a top ten name since 2001, is very similar to "Clark".

Pop Culture Makes Mark on Social Security's Most Popular Baby Names List.

Cultural and Ethnic Influences on Baby Names.

1 comment:

Baby Names said...

During 1940 to 1959, Ryan was considered the most popular baby boy name in Scotland and Chloe is the most popular girl name. Here we will explore top names in Scotland, Top Scottish boys names- Abhainn (River), Acair (Anchor).