Save the name Gary campaign started by Calgary man
Danielle Nerman | CBC News | Posted: September 1, 2015 11:52 PM | Last Updated: September 2, 2015
Name has drastically lost popularity since the 1950s
A man named Garry wants to save the name Gary.
"I'm one of the rare, double-R Garys," said Garry Snow.
The Calgary man just launched the Twitter handle @SaveNameGary because he says his name is on the verge of extinction.
"In my limited research, I did see that Gary Cooper, the famous film star, when he won his Academy award, that was at the height of the Gary name. Since that time, in the '50s, it's steadily gone downhill."
While Alberta only began publicly releasing data about popular baby names in 1990, British Columbia has information going back 100 years.
A B.C. database, which uses information from registered births, suggests Gary had its heyday in 1954 — with 298 children given the name. According to OurBabyNamer.com, a whopping 38,733 boys were named Gary two years earlier in the United States.
But between 2009 and 2014 — there were no Garys delivered in B.C. and there were only three boys given the name in Alberta last year.
"You know, it's not that bad of a name. Why don't more people take advantage of it?" said Snow. "Gary can be more of a friendly-natured name, rather than the hunkey star of a movie."
Who's your favourite famous person named Gary? Tell us in the comments section below.