If your muscial inclinations take you lower on the radio dial, you won’t be surprised to learn the following: in 1977, the Ramones released Rocket to Russia, their third LP. Track Six was Sheena is a Punk Rocker – an upbeat, surf-rock influenced number that remains one of the band’s better-known anthems. When it was released as a single in the US, it reached #81 on the Billboard charts.

For a brief time, the name did even better.

After barely cracking the Top 1000 – it first dipped a toe in back in 1956, but didn’t stay long – this name would rocket from obscurity to familiarity by 1981 (#357) and cracked the Top 100 in 1984, reaching #80 – a notch higher than the song.

Sheena’s run didn’t last. It was out of the Top 100 by 1986, and vanished from the Top 1000 a decade later.

While the name would feel dated today – the “Sh” at the top and the “ee” sound in the middle – it had a good run.

If you’d like the 2008 version of Sheena, here are some nominees:

• Rosemary, from Interpol’s 2004 release Antics. Only trouble is that the song is actually called Evil, and thought to reference either a British serial killer of the same name, or possibly Rosemary’s Baby. (Rosemary was #703 last year.)
• Ruby, released by the Kaiser Chiefs in 2007, and reaching #1 on the UK charts that year. And let’s not forget Rancid’s 1995 Ruby Soho. (#137 last year – and gaining fast. Expect this to be Top 100 by 2010 – if not by 2008.)
• Coco, as in stellastarr*’s 2004 song My Coco. (Has never appeared in the Top 1000, despite Courtney Cox Arquette’s use of the name for her daughter.)
• And, of course, Delilah, the Plain White Tee’s #1 single from last year. In fact, Delilah has been infrequently used for years. Now this Biblical bad girl might find that she has many new namesakes in the 21st century. (#548 in 2006.)

And a few from the wayback machine:

• Caroline, from the Psychedelic Furs’ song Pretty in Pink. Remember the first lyric? “Caroline laughs and it’s raining all day.” Molly Ringwald’s character in the John Hughes movies was, of course, Andie. But it’s the name from the song that reached #81 last year.
• Alison, from Elvis Costello’s very first album, back in 1977. Rolling Stone ranked this name #318 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; in the US, the double-L version – Allison – has fared better on the charts, currently holding steady at #46. It’s been in the Top 100 since 1974 – well before the song was released.
• Charlotte, as in Charlotte Sometimes, is a haunting single from the Cure, back in 1981. It’s based on a novel by the same name. And, of course, there’s the band Good Charlotte – though their frontman is new father to Harlow. (Charlotte was #123 in 2006.)
• Mary also deserves a mention. If you cut your teeth on the Cure, you might know that frontman Robert Smith is married to a woman named Mary. She appears in at least one of their videos and in the vid for Let’s Go to Bed, Robert scrawls her name on a screen. It’s as vanilla as you can get – but in an ocean of Kaylies and Caydences, Jaidens and Hayleas, the stripped down Mary almost sounds like a valid AlternaGirl choice. (Mary was #84 in 2006 – the least popular it has ever been!)

So there you are … eight choices that are surprisingly buttoned-down, but have plenty of indie cred.