Do Songs with Names as the Title Affect their Naming Popularity?

Through this short paper, we will take a look at a group of positively associated named songs and negatively associated named songs. To define a song as negatively correlated, I look to see if the lyrics had any of the following traits:

For clarification purposes, many of the positive songs do in fact speak kindly of the women’s promiscuity, but the context of the songs falling in the negative category classify them as such. The songs chosen are from the years 1960 to 1995. Each song has the previous 4 years and the following 4 years of their release date, as the data becomes null before or after due to influence being lost. Here are the song categories:

Postive:

  • “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos

  • “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac

  • “Michelle” by The Beatles

  • “Roxanne” by The Police

  • “Hey Jude” by The Beatles

  • “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond

  • “Rosanna” by Toto

Negative:

  • “Lola” by the Kinks

  • “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by The Beatles

  • “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson

  • “Jolene” by Dolly Parton

  • “Runaround Sue” by Dion DiMucci

  • “Angie” by The Rolling Stones

  • “Black Betty” by Spiderbait

The following graphs shows the popularity by percentage and the change over time, with markers on the release date.

Positive Names

Negative Names

Hit songs changed the popularity of names, as shown in both figures. The sharpest increases in popularity after a song’s release date occurred with the names Rhiannon, Layla, and Jolene, followed by Angie and Michelle. Oddly, songs with negative connotations do not seem to have affected name popularity. If anything, the names that were decreasing seem to have already been on the decline before the release date. The names that most dramatically rose to popularity were names that were already very low in popularity to begin with (Rhiannon and Layla). The influence of the song is obvious but the weight of which is to be taken lightly as only a small group of Rhiannon’s/Layla’s could cause such a visibly drastic change.

Most interestingly, Jolene shot up largely in popularity after being in decline for over a decade with a small increase before the release date. Given that the song is about a mistress stealing Dolly Parton’s partner, it could be assumed that the love for the song and Ms. Parton override the meaning and social implications of the song.

The three Beatles’ songs vary greatly in their influence. In the height of Beatlemania, the already very popular name Michelle rose even higher. While Jude decreased, maybe due to it’s stronger ties to religion in the hippy sixties, it would be interesting to see if it affected the masculine naming pattern. Although the Beatles managed to prolong the decline of the name Lucy, it may have not been enough as the rise of name diversity as a whole during this time caused a decrease in classic names all around, as seen with Sue.

Song Saturation

Because of the status of these songs in today’s time being highly recognizable, it is easy to assume that by their release date, they were booming in popularity, but that may not be the case. A good measure of popularity for all songs with a release date before 1986 in the United States would be cassette and all forms of vinyl sale (whether it be the full album track or just the single). According to the U.S. Music Revenue Database, it wasn’t until 1986 that C.D. sales began to contribute significantly to overall revenue. To add, only sales data from the United States will be relevant as the SSA data is being used to track name influence, even though there are plenty of songs released in other countries such as the three Beatles songs.

While on the topic of the Beatles, it is only fair to separately categorize their level of influence. They are the single most popular band to ever exist in the form of certified units sold and in combination with Gold, Platinum, multi-platinum, and Diamond units awarded.

The Beatles:

  • Certified Units (In Millions): 183

  • Gold Units: 48

  • Platnium Units: 42

  • Multi Platnium Units: 26

  • Diamond Units: 6

  • The Beach Boys only having 22.5 Cert. Units

For this reason, on the scale of influence via popularity, the Beatles are at the highest end of the scale while artists who have yet to be awarded anything are the lowest. Focusing purely on the most influential songs for this section, Michelle, Rhiannon, Layla, Angie, and Jolene will be a subset. The following are each band’s certified units sold in the millions.

  • The Rolling Stones (Angie): 66.5

  • Fleetwood Mac (Rhiannon): 55.5

  • Eric Clapton (Layla): 40

  • Dolly Parton (Jolene): 9

Each of these songs also made impressive jumps on their respective song charts for the time. Here are their placings after the release date:

  • Michelle: Grammy for Song of the Year in 1967, No. 1 in multiple countries

  • Angie: No. 1

  • Rhiannon: No. 11

  • Layla: No. 16

  • Jolene: No. 1 (Country Charts)

These song names have a massive onset of “name-fame” which causes a quick yet dramatic effect on name popularity. This form of influence seems to be distinct from other forms such as presidential names which if there even is an increase, it is still relatively gradual, but more often it causes a decrease in name popularity.

One of the original baby-naming handbooks, “How to Name Baby Without Handicapping it for Life” by Alexander McQueen, although dated in many ways, lays out recommendations for naming in America that are still relatively upheld for many parents. When speaking about famous names, he uses examples such as Shakespeare and Lincoln, stating further that the magnitude of recognition those names hold will cause a burden as people will “pay more attention to the name than to the person.” The naming pattern of large spikes then a relatively steady decline following the release, bringing a name out of the shadows of normality and into “name-fame” territory. I’d suggest that the evolutionary phase of this cycle is what causes the massive jump in name popularity. As when the song first comes out either the connection to the artist or the phenomenon of hearing a name you like for the first time makes the burden of meticulously planning a child’s name so much easier. However, once a name reaches “name-fame”, it will likely cause the same outcome as described by McQueen of a name having a stronger identity than the person can.

Social Security data depicts name volatility increasing as new generations are less and less indebted to family traditions, due to the growing strength of individuality in American culture and assimilation. In 1930, the total amount of documented names was 11927 whereas in 2020 it was 31517. Given that listening to music is the most popular entertainment activity and had a prevalence in humanity long before T.V. it is not unreasonable to assume that music is highly influential to naming patterns.

Michelle Influence

Jolene Influence

Layla Influence

Rhiannon Influence

Angie Influence

The red line depicts the designated name’s trajectory would be without the influence of the song. It is clear that the release of songs with names in the title has a strong influence on naming patterns, whether they are positively or negatively associated. As time goes on and name volatility seems to increase, baby-naming forums continue to fill with the most unique ways of how to name a child after their beloved music memories followed by more & more generations of cherished music carried within family bloodlines.

Sources:

McDonald, Kelli. “‘Jolene’: Dolly Parton’s Classic Was Inspired by a Bank Teller with a Crush on Her Husband.” Wide Open Country, October 15, 2021. https://www.wideopencountry.com/jolene-dolly-parton-revisited/.

Entertainment, Sony. “Michelle.” Michelle | The Beatles, 2019. https://www.thebeatles.com/michelle.

Lupis, JC. “These Are Americans’ Most Common Entertainment Activities.” Marketing Charts, December 18, 2023. https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/media-and-entertainment-231730.

McQueen, Alexander. How to name baby without handicapping it for life; a practical guide for parents and all others interested in “better naming.” Cincinnati, O,: McQueen Pub. Co., 1922.

Havers, Richard. “The Story behind the Rolling Stones’ ‘Angie.’” uDiscover Music, January 3, 2024. https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/angie/.

DeMain, Bill. “‘it Was If Merlin Himself Could Not Have Concocted a Spell More Perfect’: How Stevie Nicks Turned to Mythology to Conjure up Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon.” louder, September 2, 2023. https://www.loudersound.com/features/fleetwood-mac-rhiannon.

Havers, Richard. “The Unusual History of Derek and the Dominos’ ‘Layla.’” uDiscover Music, August 2, 2022. https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/unusual-history-derek-dominos-layla/.