Like the Dwights and Lyndons of Old, Baby Baracks All Over

Like the Dwights and Lyndons of Old, Baby Baracks All Over
By JENNIFER 8. LEE
Published: November 9, 2008


Decontee Williams was so excited by Barack Obama’s victory on Tuesday night that she started jumping up and down — and went into labor. Twelve hours later, Barack Jeilah was born at Phoenix Baptist Hospital to Ms. Williams and Prince Jeilah. The baby was 8 pounds 9 ounces and had a full head of hair.


Thomas Mukoya/Reuters


In Kisumu, an area in Kenya where relatives of Barack Obama live, at least 43 children have been named after the Obamas since Election Day, including Josephine Ochieng’s newborn son.

“I love Barack Obama, and I love the name,” said Ms. Williams, 31, who came to the United States as a refugee from Liberia in 2003. “In Africa, we call it a blessing. That is a good name.”

In the last week, Barack, Obama, Michelle, Malia and Sasha have become inspirations for first and middle names across the United States, according to news reports. But the Obama baby boom has been even more pronounced in Kenya, particularly in Kisumu, an area in the western part of the country where relatives of Mr. Obama live.

From Election Day through Saturday afternoon, 43 children born at the Nyanza Provincial Hospital in Kisumu were named after the Obamas, with 23 boys given the first and middle name Barack Obama and 20 girls named Michelle Obama.

Pamela Odhiambo, who gave birth to a girl during Mr. Obama’s victory speech in Chicago, named her Michelle Obama. “It’s a new start, a new beginning,” said Ms. Odhiambo, 18.

There have been other presidential naming trends in the past century, according to Social Security Administration data. Franklin jumped to No. 33 in 1933, up from No. 147 in 1931. Dwight surged in the 1950s and Lyndon in the 1960s. Theodore hit its peak in the first decade of the 20th century.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/us/politics/10babies.html

These people would be in their 40s and 50s today. I don't know anyone with those names. As a child, I knew one boy names Dwight. I think there will be a real boom of baby Baracks, though, both here and in other countries.

I've never known a Lyndon, nor heard of one other than Lyndon Johnson! Where are all those Lyndons?

Now that I think of it, there is Lyndon LaRouche, but he was born in 1922.

but aren't there quite a few Dwights, maybe in the south? (I'm thinking Yokum, a c/w singer)

I was born in 1949; Ike was elected in 1952. My entire life I met not one Dwight.
Nor did I, in 30 years, ever teach a Dwight or a Lyndon.

Oddly, I knew plenty of Barrys.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, better known as Woody Guthrie.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, I think we all know who he was.

Woodrow Wilson Bean, long-time county judge in El Paso, Texas.

Now doubt a search through a database of births from 1912 and later would find many others.

I know Wilson isn't terribly popular on DU, but back when he was elected he was the great progressive hope.

And of course another Democrat not terribly popular on DU but whose name was common in the Nineteenth Century was Andrew Jackson. Oddly enough, Millard Fillmore never really caught on.