How an MTV Video and Subsequent French Film Changed the Gender of a Name

One of the interesting and somewhat funny things that I run into all the time living in Russia, is when I mention my very good friend Nikita to Americans. Their first reaction is to ask for more information about "HER". Of course, my friend Nikita is a very masculine 2 meter tall male with a distinct Russian accent. My American friends always ask, "why his parents would give him such a name?"

On the flip-side, when I mention the popularity to my Russian friends about the name Nikita for a girl, I get a similar response such as, "Who would do such a thing to a girl, giving her that name?"

The answer is we can thank Sir Elton John and to a lesser extent, French film director Luc Besson. Huh? How is that possible? The power of pop-culture.

You see in 1985, Elton John (he hadn't received his knighthood yet) produced a song titled, "Nikita" and along with the song came the video. Remember, this was the MTV era. The song was about a border guard apparently in East Berlin that featured a beautiful and very Russian looking woman that John serenades from across the Berlin Wall. Of course, this was the 80's in America and homophobia was still rampant so the video had to feature a woman instead of a man.

Almost immediately there was a rise in the name Nikita for newborn girls in the States.

Statistics for newborn girls in the U.S. named Nikita

Adding fuel to this gender confusion was the French director Luc Besson who then wrote a screenplay and later directed a film about a female assassin named Nikita. His film was aptly titled La Femme Nikita and was released in 1990 with much critical acclaim. So much, in fact, that it inspired both an American remake in 1993 (Point of No Return) and a Canadian television series by the same name in 1995.

The result is that during this period the amount of female Nikita's grew substantially and now it is not so rare a name (far from common, but not unusual).

If you're unfamiliar with the song by Elton John or the film by Luc Besson, take a look at the clips below.

If you're still not convinced that Hollywood and the music industry have a significant impact on names, check out how many boys were named Tristan following the 1994 release of Legends of the Fall starring Brad Pitt. Unfortunately, my nephew, Tristan, still has no idea who Isolde is.

graphic by @habeebability

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