Lamont

Lamont comes from the Irish and Scottish surname, and its use as a given name has been mainly confined to the U.S. The surname is derived from Lagman which was a given name used in medieval times. Lagman comes from the Old Norse combination of log ("law") and madhr ("man"). This gives a resulting meaning for Lamont of "lawman" or "law giver." Lamont began to appear in the U.S. top 1000 names list in the 1940's, and its popularity peaked in the 1970's--though it never was a really "popular" name, at any time. Use of the name has declined steadily since the 1970's, and in 2004 the name was still in the top 1000, but barely. The first thing many of us think of when we hear the name Lamont is that it was the name of Fred Sanford's son in the Redd Foxx television show, Sanford and Son.

Darlene

Darlene is an adaption of the word "darling," that uses the fairly common name suffix lene that also appears in Arlene and Marlene. It was a popular name between the 1930's and the 1960's, but went out of fashion with the other lene names and isn't used much today.

Kandi

Kandi is one of several variant spellings of Candy that appeared around the 1950's. This particular was used a little--unsurprisingly--in the 1960's and 1970's. Most parents today hopefully have more sense. Fiction writers might have uses for this name, and it probably wouldn't damage a cat or dog to be named Kandi, but your daughter probably wouldn't thank you for it.

Carol, Carole

Carol began to be used as a name for baby girls in the late 19th century. It was apparently originally just a pet or short form of Caroline, or Carolina, and as such is considered a feminine version of the name Charles. Carole is the French spelling, and this spelling gained much popularity due to actress Carole Lombard (1908-42.) In the 1930's, 40's, and 50's, Carol was a top 20 name in the United States, but has been in decline ever since. Carol will probably make a comeback and regain some popularity at some point, but that may not be in the immediate future; it still seems a bit old-fashioned at the moment--there are still plenty of Carols from the name's peak around. Carol has also been used as a name for baby boys, but more often the male form is Carroll, which will be dealt with in a seperate entry eventually.

Cynthia

Cynthia comes from the Greek Kynthia, and was a title of the goddess Artemis. It means "woman (or goddess) of Kynthus." Kynthus was the mountain on which Artemis was supposedly born. The name wasn't used in the Middle Ages, but reappeared in the 17th and 18th centuries to some extent. Because Artemis was a virgin goddess, and Queen Elizabeth I was the virgin queen, Raleigh, Spenser and others used "Cynthia" to refer to the queen. Many wives of U.S. plantation owners gave the name Cynthia to slaves in the 19th century; many slaves of that time were given names from classic literature. Cynthia has been used steadily if not overwhelmingly since then. It had a brief surge of popularity in the U.S. in the mid 1900's, making it to #10 in the 1960's. Currently it remains comfortably in the top 300; used but not overused. Cynthia is a somewhat versatile name, bringing with it the nickname Cindy, which as a name in its own right has become nearly as much used as Cynthia.

Donna

Donna is Italian for "lady," and its use as a name in English-speaking countries only began in the 1920's. According to some sources it has been used as a feminine form of Donald--I'm guessing that this basically means daughters of men named Donald who wanted to name their children for themselves. Donna was a very popular name from the 1930's through the 1960's, making it as high as #8 in the 1960's. In fact, it was used so much that even though it is a relatively late addition to the name game, it now sounds rather common, and so has dropped in popularity, all the way into the 700's.

Suzanne

Suzanne is a French form of Susannah, which means "lily." For more information on that name you'll either have to look it up yourself (try Behind the Name, the link is right over there on the side of your screen,) or you can wait til I add it here. Suzanne was a reasonably popular name in the U.S. for some time, appearing in the top 100 in the 1940's, 50's, and 60's, but it hasn't appeared in the top 1000 since 1999. The name could make a comeback with the right trigger--famous super-model or fictional character, for instance. Personally I think Suzanne is a just "okay" name--because it has some versatility, but that same versatility is working against it; the obvious nicknames for Suzanne are Suzie, Sue, or (less likely) Anne. Sue and Suzie are not very high in public favor at the moment, and there are many other ways to wind up with "Anne," including simply naming a girl "Anne."

Rhonda

I knew a Rhonda in elementary school. I didn't like her. Rhonda, if you're out there, I just want you to know that if you wouldn't have mispronounced words when I was forced against my will to do spelling drills with you, I wouldn't have misspelled them. And I wonder to this day if you still say "ofent" when you see the word "often." Had to get that off my chest. Sorry. Alrighty then. Rhonda is a Celtic name and means "good spear," so if you are you looking for a name for your favorite weapon before you take it into battle, look no further. It's not exactly "Excalibur," but then you're not King Arthur, are you? For practical naming purposes, Rhonda appeared on the U.S. top 1000 list in the 1940's, made it all the way to 44th most popular in the 1960's, and has been falling out of favor ever since. 1994 was the last year it was even in the top 1000. So what happened to Rhonda? It may be that it's just one of those shooting star names, here today, gone tomorrow. There is also the little matter of a well-known song--"Help Me Rhonda" casts Rhonda as a girl expected to be a substitute for the girl the singer really wants. Not an image most parents want for their newborn daughters.

Cheryl

When I hear the name Cheryl I think of Cheryl Ladd, and that's probably a dead giveaway as to my general age group. Or, maybe not. According to one source that I have, Cheryl is an old diminutive form of the name Caroline. According to another source, Cheryl is a name that was invented in the 1920's. Behind the Name agrees that it was a 1920's invention, having possibly evolved from Cherie and stolen its spelling from Beryl. Since everyone seems to be guessing here, I'm going to suggest that it could just easily have been invented to rhyme with Carol--the Beryl spelling influence theory seems okay. According to a commenter on the Behind the Name site, though, at least one Cheryl was born in 1902. A few other internet sources--most of which I don't really trust--list the name as either English, or French. Those that say it's French give it the meaning "beloved," which suggests they're just tapping into the "Cherie" theory. I think we ought to just decide that "Cheryl" is derived from absolutely nothing and means "mystery." Popularity-wise, the name leaped out of nowhere in the 1930's, rose to a high point of 19th most popular name for girls in the 1950's, then started sinking steadily and very quickly in popularity, dropping out the top 1000 altogether after 1997. Sort of a shooting star of names, really. Will it make a comeback? On this one, your guess is as good as mine. It's not a classic, has no proven staying-power, and after all the Cheryls from the 1900's are gone and forgotten, the name could be forgotten as well. On the other hand, if a Cheryl became hugely famous, and in a good way, bringing good associations to the name that would last in public consciousness past the lifespan of that actual person, the name could see a resurgence in popularity. History shows us that it's even possible that a name like Cheryl could regain popularity through a fictional character (like Scarlett O'Hara,) or even a song (like Layla.) In any case, it's probable (or I think so anyway) that the name will be kept marginally alive for a while because of babies being named for their grandmothers or great-grandmothers. Only time will tell. Things I'd like to know for sure--or at least for probable: Where did Cheryl really come from? Why did it shoot to such popularity so fast, and why did it fall from favor so quickly afterwards (overuse, maybe.) This entire post (currently, at least) falls almost completely into the category of "notes to myself."