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Baby Name of the Day: Wayne

April 22, 2011 By appellationmountain 14 Comments

From The Challenge of Ideas (1961)

Image via Wikipedia

He was a workhorse of a name, once solidly established in the US Top 100, but now fading fast.

Thanks to Lola for suggesting Wayne as our Baby Name of the Day.

File Wayne with other obscure occupational surnames.

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Comments

  1. chaneltara says

    May 2, 2011 at 1:45 AM

    I love Wayne. Always have. My grandfather-in-law is named Wayne, and that’s made me love it more. It’s definitly at least middle name material for a future son. One of my best friends has a little boy named Hunter Wayne. Somehow Wayne makes me like Hunter better 🙂

    Reply
  2. Charlotte Vera says

    April 24, 2011 at 12:58 AM

    Well, seeing as I hail from Edmonton Wayne Gretzky is the strongest reference I have for the name Wayne. I imagine that any Edmontonian who chooses to go with Wayne will have to accept that everyone will assume their little guy was named for Gretzky, whether true or not. My other references are my mother’s cousin Wayne and, of course, the actor John Wayne. I LOVED Hatari as a kid!

    Reply
  3. Bewildertrix says

    April 23, 2011 at 5:27 PM

    Adding. When my Nan named him she thought she was being rather ‘unique’ in using that plonker John Wayne for inspiration. No, Nan, that’s what everyone else did too. Little did she know just how trendy it was in 1956 England. And it hadn’t even peaked yet! She did the same with four childrens’ names.. Epically popular choices at the time. When they emigrated to Aus and NZ the popularity was almost identical there.

    To this day she still thinks all four choices were unusual for the period.

    Reply
  4. Bewildertrix says

    April 23, 2011 at 5:19 PM

    Ick. And my father’s name no less. It seems that almost every second middle aged + male school teacher in NZ is a Wayne.

    It’s still ultra naff here along with Trevor and Darrell.

    Reply
  5. Sarah A says

    April 23, 2011 at 2:06 AM

    Wayne is the name of one of my 60-ish professors. I actually like Wayne. I think he has a bit of the old-man feel of names like Walter.

    I would guess that Wayne won’t take too long to come back, especially since many future baby namers are currently bumping and grinding to Lil Wayne 🙂
    Oh, I just looked it up – Dwayne ranked #697 in 2009, not too far ahead of Wayne.

    Reply
  6. Claire says

    April 22, 2011 at 2:54 PM

    @Julie — There’s a running joke (I think it originated in the News of the Weird) column that Wayne is the most common middle name for serial killers and other criminals (John Wayne Gacy, etc). Superstitious, maybe, but I would be rightly cautious of using it in the middle. That may have been your SIL’s reasoning. (Check out C in DC’s link above).

    Reply
    • Julie says

      April 23, 2011 at 1:26 AM

      In a round about way, that’s what I was referring to. (This isn’t directed at anyone, I just have insomnia and a mind that won’t shut off.)

      When this guy researched the middle name “Wayne” and it’s propensity to criminality he found:
      –Wayne is much more common as a middle name than it is as a first name.
      –Law enforcement databases are one of the few instances where middle names are commonly listed

      “The result of all this is that people don’t see or hear the name Wayne all
      that often,… When they do see a list of names that include middle names, the list is often from a law enforcement context, and the name Wayne pops out because it is a relatively uncommon name. (In contrast, there are also lots of
      people on inmate lists with the middle name William, but these don’t “pop
      out” since William is a common first name as well). Hence, it’s easy to come away with the impression that middle-name Waynes are somehow associated with criminality.”
      http://uclue.com/?xq=936

      I looked at my family tree, there are six men with the middle name Wayne. Three engineers, one mechanic, one minister and one science teacher… no murderers.

      Reply
  7. Julie says

    April 22, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    Wayne is a family name in my SIL’s family and just the other day she was mentioned that she regretted not continuing the tradition. But since she’s a court officer, she thought Andrew Wayne Lastname sounded like a bit like a felon.

    On the other hand, my stepdaughter’s fianc

    Reply
  8. C in DC says

    April 22, 2011 at 7:52 AM

    My high school nemesis was Wayne. And then there’s this. http://www.newsoftheweird.com/wayne.html

    Reply
  9. Lola says

    April 22, 2011 at 7:35 AM

    Catherine, my Pop was Wayne too! Mine was born in 1936 and died in 1997. I miss him lots.

    But, his name gives me fits. His brothers were: James/Jim (1931), Theodore/Ted/Teddy (1934), Wayne (1936) and Richard/Skip (1938).
    My Grandmother always said Pop was her best Valentine’s present ever. (2/14/36 was his b-day). But he could never figure out why he wasn’t William or Thomas, George or something more classic. He hated his trendy feeling moniker. Complained about it constantly, too.
    I’ve thought long & hard about using it in the middle but ultimately his hatred of it tells me no. So I’ve thought about Valentine (girl) Valentin (boy) and George (for Pop’s patron saint) St. George. Somehow, I think he’d be pleased by the thought. But I have to admit, I’m starting to see the breezy, happy apppeal of Wayne. Just starting to appreciate the light, lilting sound of Wayne. Next generation for sure. (It’s tops on Leo’s list for a boy. I may have a grandson Wayne in 10 years or less!)

    Gooooo Wayne! 😀

    Reply
  10. SadieSadie says

    April 22, 2011 at 6:53 AM

    I predict that the next generation will start bringing back names like this. They still feel dusty to me.

    Reply
  11. Catherine says

    April 22, 2011 at 2:13 AM

    As my father’s name, I feel some affection for the name but I doubt I would ever use it because of that.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      April 22, 2011 at 2:14 AM

      I should add that my father was born in 1947!

      Reply

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