Name of the Week: Jodie

Origin:

Jodie is a modern coinage which developed in America in the 19th century where Jody was used as both a masculine and a feminine name. There are several possible origins for the name: There are several examples of Jody being used in America as a nickname for Joseph.**** Similarly, Jody can be found as a nickname for the feminine form Josephine*** such as Holywood actress Jody Lawrance (1930-1986) whose birth name was Josephine Goddard. Joseph is the Anglicised form of the Hebrew name Yosef meaning "He will add" usually referring to children as the first Biblical Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob.  Jodie/Jodie is also considered to be a variant of Judy, the traditional diminutive of Judith. Judith itself derives from the Hebrew name Yehudith meaning "Jewish (woman)". Indeed, Jody can be found as a nickname for any Jo- beginning name (such as Joel** or Joan**) and was likely adopted independently in 1950s America because of its similarity to sound-a-like names such as Joe, Judy, Joan, Joanne, Sandy, Randy, Wendy, Cindy, Andy, Trudy, Rudy etc.

Usage:

Jody—especially the spelling Jodie—seems to have been used as a rare independent name from the 1880s onwards in America. In 1900, Jodie ranked #816 for boys in America.  However, it wasn't until the 1940s that Jody for both boys and girls and Jodie for girls began to rise in use, as we can see from these charts from Nancy's fabulous site:  One boost to Jody's use as a girls' name was the 1946 film To Each His Own starring Olivia de Havilland as the heroine Josephine “Jody” Norris. Jody went from #891 in 1945, to #770 in 1946 and #544 in 1947. Jody saw its first peak a decade later at #170 in 1958.  During this period, actress Jody Lawrance (1930-1986) was also starring in Hollywood movies which may have helped to boost the name for girls.  Jody also started rising for boys in the 1950s. At its peak of #161 in 1971, Jody for girls was #162—the closest the two ever came for both genders. In 2013, a survey suggested that Jody was the 6th most unisex baby name in the U.S. since 1930. Several male American Jodys abounded in the 1960s, including rock and roll singer Jody Reynolds (1932-2008) who had a U.S. top-ten hit in 1958, and the young character Jody Davis on American sitcom Family Affair from 1966 to 1971.  Jody reached a second peak in America in 1970 at #153. This was followed by the introduction by Ideal (the largest US toy manufacturer at the time) of Jody The Country Girl Doll. Interestingly, neither Jody nor Jodie ever broke into the American top 100 for boys or girls. The same cannot be said for Britain. Though late to the party, Jodie began rising steeply for girls in Britain in the early 1970s. Jody also grew in use during the same period, but it was much more unisex in use.  For example, in 1974 in Scotland, Jody had 5 births for both boys (#248) and girls (#389). In Scotland, Jodie went from #613 (2 births) in 1976, to #301 (9 births) in 1977 and #226 (16 births) in 1978, which may have owed something to Jodie Foster's Holywood debut in Taxi Driver (1976) and Bugsy Malone (1976). Jodie first entered the top 100 in Scotland at #77 in 1989 and peaked at #44 with 168 births in 1993. It had a second peak at #41 with 138 births in 2001, after which it began to decline.  In 2018 in Scotland, Jodie ranked #809 (3 births) for girls. Jody was unranked in 2018, but one girl (#1537) and one boy (#1301) did receive the name in 2017.  Jodie entered the top 100 in England and Wales for the first time in 1984 at #53 peaking at #43 in 1996. Jodie left the top 100 in 2005 when it dropped to #132. It remained in the top 500 until 2012 but left the top 1000 three years later in 2015.  In 2018, Jodie ranked #1586 with 19 births. Jody was unranked.

Famous Bearers:

Contemporary: * Joseph "Jodie" Beeler (1921-2002), American baseball player. * Josephine "Jody" Lawrance (1930–1986), American actress. * Ralph Joseph "Jody" Reynolds (1932–2008), American singer and guitarist. * Joel "Jody" McCrea (1934–2009), American actor. * Jody Payne (1936–2013), American country musician and singer. * Jody Williams (born 1950), American political activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. * Jody Davis (born 1952), American Major League Baseball catcher. * Jody Azzouni (born 1954), American philosopher, short fiction writer and poet. * Jodie Fisher (born 1960), American actress. * Jodie Foster (born 1962), American actress, film director, and producer. * Joseph "Jody" Byrne (born 1963), Irish retired footballer. * Jodhi May (born 1975), English actress. * Jody Gerut (born 1977), American former Major League Baseball player. * Jody Cundy, OBE (born 1978), English cyclist and former swimmer. * Jodie Kidd (born 1978), English fashion model, sports woman, television personality and actress. * Jody Morris (born 1978), English footballer. * Jody Lavender (1979), American racing driver. * Jodie Connor (born 1981), British R&B and soul musician. * Jody Latham (born 1982), English actor. * Jodie Whittaker (born 1982), English actress. * Jodie Broughton (born 1988), English rugby league player. * Jodie Comer (born 1993), English actress. Literature and Other Media: * Josephine “Jody” Norris, a character in the 1946 film To Each His Own. * Jodie Landon, a cartoon character in the television show Daria. * Jodie Morton, a character in the soap opera Coronation Street. * Jodie Nash, a character in the soap opera Hollyoaks. * Jody Lynch, a character from American TV series "Party of Five"

Variants:

Jody, Jodi

Pronunciation:

JŌ-dee [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Jo, Joey

Sibling Names:

Gemma     Louise     Hayley     Paige     Nicole     Amber  Cameron     Jamie     Callum     Kieran     Ryan     Connor

Name Lists:

N/A

 

If you like Jodie you may also like:   Jasmine, Jenna, Kelly, Zoe, Natalie, Jade, Marie, Leanne, Lauren, Julie

Thanks to Joolz for requesting this name.