TV Mom Names

Charles Addams invented the name Morticia for the mother in his cartoon series "The Addams Family." The name comes from the word mortician—very appropriate for this macabre mom.

When Deborah seemed too formal in the laid-back sixties, Debra stepped in as a pared-down alternative, but the pendulum is about to swing back.

Invented for Bellini's opera, Norma had some star quality in the silent-screen and Marilyn Monroe days, but at this point it's a graying grandma in baby name limbo.

Innocent, sincere, and bright-eyed, and as outdated as its mother name, Gertrude.

Colorful, yes, but also probably among the hippiest of hippie names. Holly Madison recently chose it for her little girl.

Marcia is the most common version of this group of names in the U. S., now found more often among moms and grandmas than babies. Marsha was a Top 100 name in the 1950s, when Marcy was its common go-by name.

Sam as a name standing on its own was given to only 18 girls in 2021, versus over 400 boys. But as a short form it's appealing and down-to-earth for both sexes, and heard far more often: There were over 2500 baby girls named Samantha in the US in one recent year and more than 8500 boys named Samuel, so you will hear the name Sam a lot more often than you might guess judging by the numbers for this short form. Like the wildly popular Charlie, Sam is a nickname that works equally well as a girls' name as a boys'. All forms considered, Sam is still one of the most popular names that start with S.

This simplified spelling of Claire does not improve on the more popular version.

Cookie is most often used as a dog name, and it should stay that way.

Marge used to be as common as Maggie or Megan, ranking on its own in the girls' Top 1000 from 1900 until right after World War II, when so many Old School names fell off the list in favor of a new generation cuter, perkier choices.

Peg is a nostalgic turn-of-the-last-century nickname, sociable but slight. Like near-identical twin Peggy, Peg is in mothballs.

Forever -- or at least for a while -- linked to the onetime "Domestic Goddess", Roseanne Barr.

Famously the name of Samantha's mother on Bewitched.

Lacks the cachet of some newer place-names.