Cleveland Evans: Christina 'anointed' in 'beauty' for centuries

Happy birthday to the “Voice of a Generation”!

That nickname’s been bestowed on Christina Aguilera, born in New York on Dec. 18, 1980. Her 1999 debut album won her a “Best New Artist” Grammy. Aguilera’s sold more than 90 million records worldwide. A new video of her 2002 hit “Beautiful”, with its empowering lyric “We are beautiful no matter what they say” came out in October.

Christina is a short form of Christiana, the feminine form of Christian. The word derives from Greek “christos” (“anointed”), a translation of Hebrew “messiah”.

St. Christina of Bolsena (77 miles northwest of Rome) was a probably legendary third-century virgin martyr. Said to have been locked inside an idol-filled room to force her to become a pagan priestess, Christina smashed the idols after being taught about Christianity by visiting angels. She was tortured for years before being beheaded.

The name was reinforced by St. Christina the Astonishing (1150-1224), a Belgian peasant thought to have died from a seizure at age 21, who revived at her own funeral. She described visions of heaven and hell and lived the rest of her life in self-imposed poverty to help release souls from purgatory.

In England, St. Christina of Markyate (1097-1161) persuaded a bishop to annul the marriage she’d been forced into. She founded a convent, and embroidered sandals for Adrian IV (1100-1159), the only Englishman to become Pope.

All these helped Christina become the 13th most common name for English women in 1379. It was especially popular in southern England, perhaps because Markyate is only 37 miles north of London.

Christina became rare in England by 1600. It stayed common in Scotland, perhaps because of Christina of the Isles (1290-1318), a Scottish noblewoman who supported Robert the Bruce’s successful fight to reclaim Scotland’s independence from English King Edward I.

In Britain’s 1851 census, there were 1,304 Christinas in England and 18,726 in Scotland, though Scotland’s total population was less than a sixth of England’s.

The 1850 United States census found 10,774 Christinas. In America, German immigrants promoted the name. 25.9% of 1850’s Christinas were German-born, compared with 2.5% of the total population.

In 1880, when Social Security’s yearly data starts, Christina ranked 187th. The French form Christine was already more common, at 153rd. Christina steadily fell, bottoming out at 418th in 1939.

Christina then rose, partly as Americans of German, Scandinavian and Italian descent began to bring back names from their ancestry. In the 1970s, as parents tired of Christine but still wanted a feminine counterpart for then hugely popular Christopher, Christina boomed. It reached 12th in 1975. With spellings Cristina and Kristina added, it would have been 8th.

Christina stayed in the top 20 until 1988. In 1985, it again ranked 12th, perhaps because of the huge celebrity of Greek shipping heiress Christina Onassis (1950-1988).

Famous Christinas besides Aguilera include actresses Applegate (born 1971) and Ricci (1980). Chef Christina Machamer (1982) took first place on “Hell’s Kitchen” in 2008, with Christina Wilson (1979) doing the same in 2012. HGTV star Hall (1983), critic of feminism Hoff Sommers (1956) and Brown University President Paxson (1960) add to Christina’s fame.

With most Christinas now middle-aged, the name’s falling away rapidly, ranking only 629th for babies in 2021. But surely Aguilera’s fame will keep it “Beautiful” for years to come.