Babies named Jolene are on the rise – Quartz

The Dolly Parton renaissance is upon us. In the last year, the American country music icons name has gilded everything from podcasts to college courses, a revived musical to a Netflix documentary. Her resurgence can even be seen in baby names.

Jolene, the titular character of Partons 1973 chart-topping hit, has not seen this much popularity as a baby name since, well, the release of the song in the 70s.

The heartbreak anthem, sung from the perspective of Parton, literally begs Jolene: Please, dont take my man. Partons pleas aside, each chorus of the song repeats Jolenes name four times in a row, twice. Each verse ends with the name almost as a punctuation. Finally, the song leaves us with two more ethereal utterances. All told, thats 31 times the name gets a chance to worm its way inside a listeners head.

Theres no question that the history of the name Jolene is tied up inextricably with the song, says Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard. Before the hit, Wattenberg says, Jolene was just another compound mid-century name, where two names fuse to become one.

Now, though, the song itself is hard to escape, even if you dont fancy yourself a Dolly Parton fan. Its been covered well over a hundred times by artists from Miley Cyrus to Jack White of the White Stripes, according to Secondhandsongs.com.

With close to one million sales in the US, the songs popularity alone doesnt kick-off name adoption. I think it ultimately comes down to my Golden Rule of Celebrity Baby Names: Its not about the fame, its about the name, says Wattenberg. When baby names come into vogue, they require both the appeal of the name and the appeal of the sound. Jolene features two long vowel sounds, Wattenberg explains, which are highly prized in contemporary name style.

But what about Dolly? Sadly, the name has been a falling star since the start of the last century. Its not a name thats easily taken seriously, says Wattenberg. Dolly Parton has leaned into the name and made it work for her, with her larger-than-life exuberance. For now, at least, Jolene is just more captivating.

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Babies named Jolene are on the rise - Quartz