Desmond

Desmond rarely appeared on the American naming charts for boys in the early part of the 20th century. However, by the 1960s, the name finally took hold. The usage of the name increased by an average of 300 positions on the charts per decade in the 1960s and 70s, and then seemed to level off in the 1980s. There was one exception: the name Desmond saw a big jump in one year alone (1985). This was right after Cape Town’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless work against apartheid and oppression in South Africa. By the 1990s, Desmond started slipping down the naming charts again – back down to fairly low levels of usage. However, since 2006, it appears as if Desmond is once again on the upswing. Hard to say where the name will go from here. Desmond is an interesting name; we were surprised to see that it had Irish roots. You don’t think of Desmond when you think about Irish male names (like Sean, Seamus, Patrick, Malachi, Kevin or Brian for instance). No, Desmond is more like the name Oscar – where you’re like, “That’s Irish!??” And did you know that the Beatles’ song Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (1968) is about a couple named Desmond and Molly? Paul McCartney wrote the song about an expression he heard from a Nigerian conga-playing acquaintance of his: "ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah".