I’m a fan of Sirius radio, and I often listen to First Wave. Because, well, I remember hearing all of those 80s bands on the radio back in the day. The other night, DJ Richard Blade played a string of songs with one thing in common. Women’s names!
Obviously, I couldn’t leave the car until I’d heard every. single. one. of the five songs.
Also, I guessed most of them. You probably can, too. So – what were the five most iconic 80s(ish) new wave/alternative songs with a woman’s name in the title?
I’d love to tell you, but when I tried to write them down, I could only remember four:
- “Come on Eileen,” Dexy’s Midnight Runners
- “Valerie Loves Me,” Material Issue – my personal favorite!
- “Alison,” Elvis Costello
- “Letter to Elise,” The Cure
Any ideas for number five?
Elsewhere online:
- Would you change the spelling to make the pronunciation more obvious? Often I say no, but this question at Swistle makes me less certain.
- Amber Tamblyn made headlines with what might just be the best celebrity birth announcement. Except that there’s no way her daughter is named Dauphinoise Petunia Brittany Scheherazade Von Funkinstein Mustard Witch RBG Cross Tamblyn-Bey jr. Also, I am now wildly curious about the baby’s real name.
- I so very much agree with Laura Wattenberg – flexible names are a positive, and I’m sorry that we’re not more open to them in 2017. A comment on the Appellation Mountain Facebook page really hit home: someone mentioned that it’s especially important for young people who are struggling with their identities. Being able to try out a new name can help. She wrote that “Names are such a powerful affirmation …” very true.
- There should be more boys named Jayne.
- Looking for culture-spanning baby names? Some excellent suggestions here.
- Love this exercise from Roses & Cellar Doors: which names from 1970 have pretty much disappeared? Let’s bring back Winfield and Trudi!
Lastly, I’ve mentioned a few times that I have a great new tech support provider on board. They’ve been working through a bunch of issues, but it took a while to figure out the biggie. Thanks to all of your wonderful support, the site has officially outgrown its current host! We’ll be migrating shortly. I don’t think it will cause any disruptions on your side, but please bear with us if it does.
As always, many thanks for reading – and have a great week!
Jane Said, by Jane’s Addiction?
I thought of Rosanna or Amanda by Boston (1986) but neither really fits with the theme. It wasn’t My Sharona, was it? That was 1979.
Alison is already on there, or I’d suggest Veronica.
I also thought of the Sabine/Sabina question a lot. I think anyone in the US is going to pronounce her name Sah-been on first glance, but I also don’t think that’s reason enough to change it, as Sah-been-uh IS a legitimate pronunciation in France. Just like we usually have to spell our names (Both my children have classic names, and still have to spell them for people, as classic names comes with many alternative spellings) these days, she can just tell people “Actually, it’s Sah-been-uh.” For all we worry about this, it’s something that people from foreign countries confront and we all learn. We all learn to say Juh-vah-nee instead of Gee-oh-vah-nee for Giovanni, etc.
I have ever NOT had to correct someone’s pronunciation of my last name, for example, and I’m used to it. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just one of those things.
My immediate thought was Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure but they are already listed, so then I thought Charlotte Anne by Julian Cope. As much as I am a huge 80’s alt/new wave fan I can not think of any other songs with girls names in them
Well other than the song 88 Lines About 44 Women, which of course has the name of 44 different women in it but no woman’s name in the title.
Gloria!
Roxanne?
Based on the other artists, I’d guess “867-5309 (Jenny)” by Tommy Tutone, but it could also have been “Gloria” by Laura Branigan or “Jack & Diane” by John Cougar or “Rosanna” by Toto. Those are all 1981-82.
I thought Gloria, too, but I forgot about Rosanna. What a great song that was.
Well this was not new wave/alt but it was 80s and I think it will humor you to know we named our dog after this: MANDY by Barry Manilow.
Mandy is from 1974 – way too early. There was a girl named Mandy T@nny in my Brownie troop, and I thought she had the coolest name ever. Early sign of name neediness to come.
Mambo number 5? Lyrics: “A little bit of ‘name’ in my life etc”….
Roxanne?
Ha! Nope. Just looked it up. That was 70’s