Rare Girl Names from Early Cinema: C (Part 1)
Here's the next installment of rare female names collected from old films (1910s through 1940s).
I've split the list of C-names in two, and the second half will be posted in a few weeks.
Cabiria was a character played by actress Lidia Quaranta in the film Cabiria (1914).
Caecilia
Caecilia was a character played by actress Zasu Pitts in the film The Honeymoon (1930).
Calalou
Calalou was a character played by actress Hattie Peters in the film White Youth (1920).
Calanthe was a character played by actress Ann Little in the film Damon and Pythias (1914).
Usage of the baby name Calanthe.
Cally was a character played by actress Margaret Lindsay in the film Slim (1937).
Usage of the baby name Cally.
Calpurnia was a character played by actress Gertrude Michael in the film Cleopatra (1934).
Capria
Capria was a character played by actress Kathlyn Williams in the short film The Survival of the Fittest (1911).
Usage of the baby name Capria.
Caprice was a character played by actress Carmen Phillips in the short film The Pipes o' Pan (1914).
Usage of the baby name Caprice.
Carreen
Carreen O'Hara was a character played by Ann Rutherford in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Usage of the baby name Carreen.
Caricia was a character played by actress Barbara Bedford in the film The Broken Mask (1928).
Usage of the baby name Caricia.
Carita was a character played by actress Renée Adorée in the film Tin Gods (1926).
Usage of the baby name Carita.
Carlina was a character played by actress Charlotte Burton in the film At the Potter's Wheel (1914).
Usage of the baby name Carlina.
Carlita
Carlita was a character played by actress Steffi Duna in the film Flirting with Fate (1938).
Usage of the baby name Carlita.
Carlotta was a character name in multiple films, including The Laugh that Died (1915) and Dinner at Eight (1933).
Usage of the baby name Carlotta.
Carmel Myers was an actress who appeared in films from the 1910s to the 1970s. She was born in California in 1899.
Usage of the baby name Carmel.
Carmelita Geraghty was an actress who appeared in films from the 1920s to the 1930s. She was born in Indiana in 1901. Carmelita was also a character name in multiple films, including Carmelita's Revenge (1914) and The Magnificent Fraud (1939).
Usage of the baby name Carmelita.
Carmencita was the dancer who appeared in the short film Carmencita (1894). Carmencita was also a character name in multiple films, including Man from God's Country (1924) and Adventurous Knights (1935).
Usage of the baby name Carmencita.
Carmina was a character name in multiple films, including The Drop of Blood (1913) and In Gay Madrid (1930).
Usage of the baby name Carmina (which debuted in the data in 1914).
Carminella was a character played by actress Madame Pilar-Morin in the short film Carminella (1910).
Carney was a character played by actress Evelyn Brent in the film Daughter of the Tong (1939).
Usage of the baby name Carney.
Carola was a character name in multiple films, including College Holiday (1936) and Dangerous Partners (1945).
Usage of the baby name Carola.
Carole Lombard was an actress who appeared in films from the 1920s to the 1940s. She was born in Indiana in 1908. Her birth name was Carol Jane Peters.
Carole Landis was an actress who appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s. She was born in Wisconsin in 1919. Her birth name was Frances Lillian Mary Ridste.
Carole was also a character played by actress Ruth Robinson in the film Ann Carver's Profession (1933).
Usage of the baby name Carole.
Carolyne Wright was an actress who appeared in films in the 1910s.
Usage of the baby name Carolyne.
Carroll Sherridan was a character played by actress Irene Ware in the film Happiness C.O.D. (1935).
Usage of the baby name Carroll.
Cary Whipple was a character played by actress Virginia Brissac in the film Three's a Crowd (1945).
Usage of the baby name Cary.
Caryl
Caryl Lincoln was an actress who appeared in films from the 1920s to the 1960s. She was born in California in 1903. Caryl was also a character name in multiple films, including Caryl of the Mountains (1914) and Fighting Destiny (1919).
Usage of the baby name Caryl.
Cassy Cara was a character played by actress Pauline Frederick in the film The Paliser Case (1920).
Usage of the baby name Cassy.
Castelene
Princess Castelene was a character played by actress Fania Marinoff in the short film The Unsuspected Isles (1915).
Catana Perez was a character played by actress Jean Peters in the film Captain from Castile (1947).
Usage of the baby name Catana (which debuted in the data in 1948).
Catterina
Catterina was a character played by actress Sylvia Sidney in the film Thirty-Day Princess (1934).
Cecile was a character name in multiple films, including Camille (1915) and Honeymoon Deferred (1940).
Usage of the baby name Cecile.
Cecy Acuña was a character played by actress Leslie Brooks in the film You Were Never Lovelier (1942).
Usage of the baby name Cecy.
Cédrien
Cédrien was a character played by actress Dale Fuller in the film Volcano! (1926).
Ceinwen
Ceinwen was a character played by actress Ann E. Todd in the film How Green Was My Valley (1941).
Celestine was a character name in multiple films, including Dancing Man (1934) and I Want a Divorce (1940).
Usage of the baby name Celestine.
Celida
Celida was a character played by actress Doris Kenyon in the film The Feast of Life (1916).
Usage of the baby name Celida.
Celie
Celie Sterling was a character played by actress Eileen Percy in the film Some Liar (1919).
Usage of the baby name Celie.
Celimena
Celimena Moore was a character played by actress Emily Fitzroy in the film Bobbed Hair (1925).
Celinda
Celinda was a character played by actress Virginia Brown Faire in the film The Temptress (1926).
Usage of the baby name Celinda.
Cella Stuart was a character played by actress Sunday Wilshin in the film An Obvious Situation (1930).
Usage of the baby name Cella.
Cenci Prohaska was a character played by actress Patricia Medina in the film Waltz Time (1945).
Cerise was a character played by actress Patsy De Forest in the short film A Day on the Force (1915).
Usage of the baby name Cerise.
Cesca was a character name in multiple films, including Scarface (1932) and Tortilla Flat (1942).
Chaddie
Chaddie Green was a character played by actress Dorothy Devore in the film The Prairie Wife (1925).
Chadyeane
Chadyeane Fairfax was a character played by actress Claire Windsor in the film Born Rich (1924).
Usage of the baby name Chadyeane (which was a one-hit wonder in the data in 1924).
Chala was a character played by actress Amalia Rivera in the film The Tents of Allah (1923).
Usage of the baby name Chala.
Chameli Brentwood was a character played by actress Aileen Pringle in the film The Tiger's Claw (1923).
Cyd Charisse was an actress who appeared in films from the 1940s to the 1970s. She was born in Texas in 1922. Her birth name Tula Ellice Finklea.
Usage of the baby name Charisse.
Charmaine was a character name in multiple films, including What Price Glory? (1926) and Those Three French Girls (1930).
Usage of the baby name Charmaine.
Charmian was a character name in multiple films, including Queenie of the Nile (1915) and Mister Dynamite (1925).
Usage of the baby name Charmian.
Charmion
Charmion was a character name in multiple films, including The Darling of the Rich (1922) and Cleopatra (1934).
Usage of the baby name Charmion.
Charmis
Charmis Graham was a character played by actress Florence Turner in the film The Ugly Duckling (1920).
Cheema
Cheema was a character played by actress Steffi Duna in the film Panama Lady (1939).
Cheeta
Cheeta was a character played by actress Steffi Duna in the film River's End (1940).
Cherie was a character name in multiple films, including The Destroyer (1915) and Her Man o' War (1926).
Usage of the baby name Cherie.
Cherokee Lansing was a character played by actress Susan Hayward in the film Tulsa (1949).
Usage of the baby name Cherokee.
Cherry was a character name in multiple films, including The Silver Horde (1930) and As Good as Married (1937).
Usage of the baby name Cherry.
Cheryl Walker was an actress who appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s. She was born in California in 1918.
Usage of the baby name Cheryl.
Chichita
Chichita was a character played by actress Elsie Ferguson in the film The Avalanche (1919).
Chilita
Chilita was a character played by actress Louise Fazenda in the short film Mike and Jake in Mexico (1913).
China Valdés was a character played by actress Jennifer Jones in the film We Were Strangers (1949).
Usage of the baby name China.
Chinta
Chinta was a character played by actress Cora Drew in the film The Moral Law (1918).
Chiquita Hart was a character played by actress Carmen Miranda in the film Something for the Boys (1944).
Usage of the baby name Chiquita.
Chita was a character name in multiple films, including Flaming Love (1925) and Girl from Havana (1940).
Chonita
Chonita Alvarado was a character played by actress Edith Storey in the film The Tarantula (1916).
Usage of the baby name Chonita (which debuted in the data in 1917).
Chook-Ra
Chook-Ra was a character played by actress Edith Roberts in the film The Son of the Wolf (1922).
Christabel was a character name in multiple films, including Robin Hood (1912) and A Man of Honor (1919).
Usage of the baby name Christabel.
Christiane Mandelys was an actress who appeared in films in the early 1900s. She was born in France in 1873.
Usage of the baby name Christiane.
Chulita
Chulita was a character played by actress Frances Drake in the film The Trumpet Blows (1934).
Chyra
Chyra was a character played by actress Nina Quartero in the film One Stolen Night (1929).
Usage of the baby name Chyra.
Which of the above do you like best?
Categories: Early Cinema, Name Lists Tags: aileen, amalia, ann, barbara, caecilia, calalou, calanthe, cally, calpurnia, camille, capria, caprice, caricia, carita, carlina, carlita, carlotta, carmel, carmelita, carmen, carmencita, carmina, carminella, carney, carol, carola, carole, carolyne, carreen, carroll, cary, caryl, cassy, catana, catterina, cecile, cecy, cedrien, ceinwen, celestine, celida, celie, celimena, celinda, cella, cenci, cerise, cesca, chaddie, chadyeane, chala, chameli, charisse, charlotte, charmaine, charmian, charmion, charmis, cherie, cherokee, cherry, cheryl, china, chiquita, chonita, christabel, christiane, chyra, claire, cleopatra, cora, cyd, dale, doris, dorothy, edith, eileen, ellice, elsie, emily, evelyn, fania, florence, frances, gertrude, hattie, irene, jane, jean, jennifer, kathlyn, leslie, lidia, lillian, louise, margaret, mary, nina, patricia, patsy, pauline, renee, ruth, steffi, sunday, susan, sylvia, tula, virginia, zasu Leave a comment
The Debut of Sade (shah-day)
Nigerian-born British singer Sade Adu (born Helen Folasade Adu) formed her eponymous smooth jazz band Sade in the early 1980s.
The band went on to see massive success in the mid-1980s with its first two albums: Diamond Life (1984) and Promise (1985). These albums included the popular singles "Smooth Operator" [vid], "Your Love Is King," "The Sweetest Taboo," and "Never as Good as the First Time" — each of which reached the U.S. Hot 100 in either 1985 or 1986.
Notably, on the debut album, the band's record label (Epic) decided to include a suggested pronunciation of the band's name: shar-day. This pronunciation could be found on all formats of the album, from the vinyl record to the cassette tape to the CD:
"Diamond Life" CD
The problem? Shar-day is the British-English pronunciation of Sade. Brits often drop their R's — they speak a non-rhotic version of English — so shar-day to a Brit is essentially shah-day to an American.
But the label forgot to account for this dialectical difference when they released the album overseas, and Americans were forced to conclude that Sade, despite not including the letter R, somehow featured an audible R-sound.
Even the Chicago Tribune emphasized this mispronunciation in a December 1985 article entitled, "The Name is Shar-Day":
Not "Sahd," not "Sayd," not "Say-dy."
"Shar-day."
The band's success had a big impact on American baby names. The name Sade was the top debut name of 1985 (in fact, it was one of the top debut names of all time) and it saw peak popularity in 1986. Even more interesting, though, is the sheer number of variant spellings featuring that letter R.
Here are Sade and all the Sade-variants I could find in the mid-1980s U.S. baby name data, sorted by 1986 levels of usage:
Name 1984 1985 1986 1987
Sade – 393*
[rank: 513th] 1,245
[rank: 213th] 626
[rank: 373rd]
Shardae – 129* 200
[rank: 836th] 99
Sharde – 124* 190
Sharday – 100* 170
Sharda – 70 111 65
Charde – 67* 105 44
Chardae – 50* 81 51
Shade – 33 61 41
Shadae – 29* 58 41
Shada 5 26 47 38
Shaday – 13* 40 22
Shardai 33* 33 19
Charday – 24* 32 19
Charda – 12* 20 13
Chade 6** 18 5
Shardey – 5* 17 –
Chadae – 5* 12 –
Chardai – 10* 10 11
Shadai – 8* 10 6
Folasade – 5* 10 11
Shardee – 11* 9 –
Shadea – – 7* 10
Shardea – 11* 6 10
Shardaye – – 6* 5
Chardee – 5* 5 –
Shawday – – 5* –
Chardey – – 5* –
Chada – 5* – –
Sadea – 5* – –
*Debut. (The last 3 names were one-hit wonders.)
**Gender-specific debut only.
Finally, as a reward for making it to the end of the post, here's a clip of young Sade Adu talking about her name. Be sure to listen to the end, where she laughs and says, "American people tend to go sharrr-day."
What do think of the name Sade?
Sources: Sade – Wikipedia, Sade Chart History | Billboard
Categories: 1980s, From Pop Culture & History Tags: chada, chadae, chade, charda, chardae, chardai, charday, charde, chardee, chardey, folasade, helen, sade, sadea, shada, shadae, shadai, shaday, shade, shadea, sharda, shardae, shardai, sharday, shardaye, sharde, shardea, shardee, shardey, shawday Leave a comment
The Unexpected Introduction of Jade
Here's one I didn't expect: the baby name Jade, very trendy during the last quarter of the 20th century, was put on the onomastic map in the U.S. thanks to one of the strangest roles of Katharine Hepburn's career.
1947: 18 baby girls named Jade
1944: 6 baby girls named Jade [debut]
1943: unlisted
The war drama Dragon Seed, released in the summer of 1944, told the tale of Chinese peasants fighting off Japanese invaders during 1937, at the start of the during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was based on the 1942 novel of the same name by Pearl S. Buck.
Hepburn played Jade, a Chinese woman who led the resistance in her village. (These days it would seem pretty out-of-touch — or possibly racist — to cast a non-Asian actor in a role like this one. Back then, though, it was the convention.)
After getting this boost in the mid-1940s, the name Jade stuck around in the data. In fact, it ended up reaching the top 100 for a couple of years in the early 2000s.
Do you like the name Jade? Would you use it?
Source: Dragon Seed – TCM
Categories: 1940s, From Pop Culture & History Tags: jade, katharine Leave a comment
Popular Baby Names in PEI, 2019
According Prince Edward Island's Vital Statistics, the most popular baby names on the island in 2019 were Sophie and Liam.
Here are PEI's top girl names and top boy names of 2019:
Sophie, 12 baby girls
Charlotte, 11
Olivia, 9
Ella and Lucy (2-way tie), 8 each
Amelia, Mia, and Paisley (3-way tie), 7 each
Brielle, Brooklyn, Emma, and Evelyn (4- way tie), 6 each
Liam, 10 baby boys
Benjamin, 9
Carter, Hunter, Oliver, William, and Wyatt (5-way tie), 8 each
Ethan, Jack, Mason, and Noah (4-way tie), 7 each
These rankings are based on provisional data covering the year up to December 17th. (By that date, 633 baby girls and 598 baby boys had been born.)
I didn't post 2018 rankings for PEI, but in 2017 the top two names were Ava and Liam.
Source: Here are P.E.I.'s top baby names of 2019
Categories: Canada, Name Rankings (by Country) Tags: amelia, ava, benjamin, brielle, brooklyn, carter, charlotte, ella, emma, ethan, evelyn, hunter, jack, liam, lucy, mason, mia, noah, oliver, olivia, paisley, sophie, william, wyatt Leave a comment
Rare Baby Name: Liati
I stumbled upon the quote "love is all there is" in an article I was reading recently. The author of the article said it came from a Beatles song.
I believe the author was actually thinking of the lyric "love is all you need" from the 1967 song All You Need Is Love. So, in this case, "love is all there is" is likely a mondegreen. Regardless, my first thought upon seeing "love is all there is" in quotes was that the acronym Liati — just like Ily, Ilys, and other love-based acronyms — would make a cute baby name.
"Liati" has never popped up in the U.S. baby name data before, but I managed to find one real-life Liati in an article about unusual personal names that ran in the Toledo Blade in 2003. Liati Huff, who was 23 years old at the time, had this to say about her unique name:
Most people think my name is either Italian or Hawaiian. The most unique guess was Russian. When I tell them it's an acronym for 'love is all there is,' they usually think it's so sweet, or a lot of people will respond by, 'Oh, your parents loved the Beatles, right?'
What are your thoughts on Liati as a baby name? Would you consider using it?
Source: People share the stories behind their unusual monikers by Rhonda B. Sewell
Categories: Name Spotlight Tags: ily, ilys, liati 2 Comments
Name of the Week: Sade