Once in a while some pop culture phenomenon comes along that doesn’t just reflect the name gestalt of its day, but actually influences it. This was the case with the glossy nighttime soaps of the late 70s and early 80s–most particularly Dynasty—which were all about wealth and greed, ambition, melodrama, campy catfights –and humungous shoulder pads.

The writers on these shows were quite ingenious in the way they came up with names that reflected perfectly those values and vices. Male names that were short, sleek, and powerful. Sophisticated, boyish women’s names like Arliss that were a complete reversal of  the previous decades’ unisex nicknamish names like Jodie and Jamie. Elegant surname names such as Blake Carrington.

Probably the most influential was the name of Blake’s ex-wife, that evil viper, Alexis. Despite the character’s villainy, her name took off, and was instrumental in the success of other Alexi: Alexandra, Alexa, Alex et al. In the year before Dynasty debuted in 1982, there were scarcely 1500 girls given that name across the country; by 1999, it had reached #3 on the list, with the birth of 19,000 baby Alexises.

(more…)

Cowboy names first galloped onto the scene in the 1950s and 1960s, along with the cool Western TV shows and movies of the era.  A lot of these were Old Testament names that had not been heard much since, well, since the real Old West.  Some of the early choices that launched a trend that’s still going strong:

ADAM – - Bonanza

BARNABY — Wagon Train

BART — Maverick

BEAU — Wells Fargo, Maverick

BEN –Bonanza

BRENT — Maverick

BRET — Maverick

CALEB  — Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

CHEYENNE — Cheyenne

EPHRAIM — Seven Brides

FLINT — Wagon Train

GIDEON — Seven Brides

JARROD — Big Valley

JASON — Wanted: Dead or Alive; Here Come the Brides

JEB — Wells Fargo

JED – - Rawhide; How The West Was Won

JEREMY — Here Come the Brides

JOSH — Wanted: Dead or Alive

JOSHUA — Here Come the Brides

LUCAS — Rifleman

LUKE — How the West Was Won

MATT — Gunsmoke

SETH — Wagon Train

SHANE — Shane

SIMON — Rawhide

ZEB — How The West Was Won

Females and their names were in short supply in the Old West, split between hardy pioneer women and dance hall girls. Their names help you tell which was which:

ALICE — Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

BELLE — Wells Fargo

BIDDIE — Here Come the Brides

CANDY –Here Come the Brides

DORCAS — Seven Brides 

EVE — How The West Was Won

JULIE — How The West Was Won

KITTY — Gunsmoke

LIZA — Seven Brides

MARTHA — Seven Brides

MILLY — Seven Brides

SARAH — Seven Brides

Tomorrow: Names for thoroughly modern cowbabies.