The 'Mother of Father's Day' plus 2022 was a great year for 'Star Wars' names

Happy Father's Day! For today's celebration, I'm revisiting the themes of two previous observances, beginning with the history of Father's Day, which I last examined in 2020, from History of Father's Day: Founded in Spokane by KREM 2 News.

Father's Day originated in Spokane in 1910. Here's more about the woman behind it and how it became a national holiday.

Thank you, Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, for thinking of Father's Day and doing the work to make it a national holiday.

Follow over the jump for a follow-up to the Star Wars part of Kylo passes Anakin while Arya and Khaleesi fall in popularity, baby names from entertainment for the Father's Day weekend, which qualifies this entry as the Sunday entertainment feature.

The three names from the Star Wars franchise I featured two years ago all had their best years ever in 2022, beginning with Kylo.


Kylo had an even better 2022 than 2020, reaching a new peak in popularity. As the graphic from the Social Security Administration above states: "For 2022, the number of births with name Kylo is 707, which represents 0.038 percent of total male births in 2022. The year when the name Kylo was most popular is also 2022."


Despite being passed by Kylo in 2019, Anakin had its three best years ever, ranking 704th in 2020, 642nd in 2021, and 606th in 2022, making 2022 the year when Anakin was most popular with 460 American boys named after the boyhood name of Darth Vader. By the way, 606 is an important number in "Star Wars," as the 606th Legion fought in the Clone Wars.

The most popular name of the three generations of Skywalkers that earned their popularity from the films was Leia, which saw 1210 American girls named after the adopted princess of the Organas in 2022, enough to rank the name 256th last year, an all-time high, passing the previous peak in 2017, when the name ranked 282nd.

Of course, the most popular Skywalker name is Luke, which was popular well before "Episode I: A New Hope." It slipped slightly to 34th last year, down from 31st in 2020 and a 21-Century peak in 2015 at 28th.

That's it for today. Stay tuned for Juneteenth, American Eagle Day, World Giraffe Day, National Seashell Day, and the Summer Solstice to complete the streak of holidays that began with Flag Day.