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| Jean Harlow, the Original Blonde Bombshell whose birth name was 'Harlean' |
Old Hollywood
glamour and vintage name gems are all coming back full steam ahead in the baby
name world but one name that is not on people’s radars is Harlean. The name belongs to Jean Harlow whose full name is Harlean
Harlow Carpenter. Given to her in 1911 by her parents, the name was seemingly ‘created’ for her by her parents who took
her mother’s maiden name, Jean Harlow (which would go on to be her stage
name) and amalgamated the two together to get Harlean.
Harlean (pronounced: hahr-LEEN),
is similar to the masculine Old English surname, Harlan which means ‘hare
land’ but there are actually multiple meanings to the name. If analysed
through the way Jean Harlow’s parents created the name for her, it might take
its meaning from the two names that help to create it - the female Jean is the medieval
English variant of Jehanne meaning ‘God
is gracious’ while Harlow is an English surname meaning ‘army’.
However the name is also of American
origin and means ‘dweller by the boundary wood’. Also, if taken by
the Harleen
spelling variant, the name is of Punjabi
origin and means ‘within the love of God’.
The name was not used commonly before
‘the original blonde bombshell’, and even Jean Harlow was said to have not even
known that was her name as everyone, including her mother, always referred to
her as ‘The Baby’ . The name has not
gone out of popular culture despite its lack of use as it is a name of a
character within the DC Comics Batman series, Dr Harleen Quinzel. The character
more familiarly goes by the name of ‘Harley Quinn’ and is the girlfriend of
Batman’s arch enemy ‘The Joker’. That might mean that little boys are familiar
with the name but I doubt that as a reason not to use it. The character is a
little ‘unpredictable’ at times and gets in trouble with the law but in recent
storylines she has managed to redeem herself in the eyes of Gotham so hopefully
this name does the same as well.
The name fits in with the other ‘Ha-‘
names that are popular at the moment like Hadley,
Harper and Harlow and it would be a different way of honouring that Old
Hollywood Glamour. Harlow made the name not uncommon during her lifetime, with
38 girls given the name Harlean in
1937, the year of her tragic death, though it has never been greatly popular.
Five years after her death, the name was not being used at all. In 2011, the
variation Harleen was given to 39
girls so the name is in use but it would still be a rarity, especially if you
used ‘Jean Harlow’ spelling. Another variant of the name would be Harlene. With Harlow currently sitting
at number #621 on the charts, this might be the way to go if you want to honour
the Hollywood icon or want a touch of Old Hollywood Glamour.
