NameVoyager Analysis: Gary

Here's another one of those names that says, "I am likely a 50-something-year-old man." Hard to believe that this name was actually ranked #12 in popular boys names at during one decade. If you want to have some perverse fun, next time you get pregnant, tell people that you plan to name your kid Gary, and see if they can resist the urge to blurt, "Why?"

To me, Gary is one of those solid American names, kind of the way Gordon is regarded in Canada. It's the kind of name that looks good sewn in script on a blue-collar worker's uniform. Gary will fix your brakes, or unclog that sink, and he'll do it with a smile.

Folks under 40 might wonder what the hell went on during the 1940s and 1950s that made Gary burn so brightly in the minds of new moms. Wikipedia (that is, the people who added this information to the "Gary (given name)" page) has the answer:

According to the Social Security Administration[2], Gary was relatively rare as a given name in the 1900-1920s period (e.g., in the 1910s it was the 677th most frequent name, given to less than 0.01% of the babies born in that decade). However, when the actor's Gary, Indiana–born agent Nan Collins told him to change his name (then Frank Cooper) to Gary, this name's popularity soared. In the 1930s, 0.38% of the male babies in America were named Gary, and in the 1950s as many as 1.54% of the male babies were given this name, making it the 12th most popular given name of that decade.

The name Gary reached its record popularity (9th place) in 1954, the year after Gary Cooper received his Best Actor Academy Award for his leading role in High Noon. Since then, the popularity of Gary as a given name in America has been on a very slow, but steady decline. In the 1990s, this name is the 170th most popular, given to around 0.1% of newborn males.

There you have it. Apparently, Gary Coleman's red-hot but brief popularity during the Diff'rent Strokes era did not revive much interest in the name.

My favorite Gary, at least in terms of usage, is the INXS bassist Garry Gary Beers. He was born Gary William Beers, but, as we consult Wikipedia again we learn:

Beers was originally given his double name at school, it was later misprinted on the first INXS album cover as "Garry Gary Beers". Very rarely known as Gary, Beers adopted the alternative spelling; which appears on INXS merchandise and personal items such as guitar picks.

I've never actually heard anyone speak to or of him directly, so I don't know whether you would address him as "Gar(r)y" or "Garry Gary." One day, if I'm lucky, I'll find out. Read more...