Margaret Mitchell published Gone with the Wind in 1936 with Scarlett O'Hara as its protagonist. The 1939 film, with Vivien Leigh in the role, made the name unforgettable. And then American parents almost completely refused to use it — for the next sixty years. Scarlett was outside the SSA top 1000 every year from 1940 to 1991. The 2017 peak at #16 represents one of the longest delayed-revival arcs on the entire chart.
The color name with a complicated character
Scarlett began as a Middle English occupational surname — a "scarletter" was a dyer or seller of scarlet cloth, the brilliant red fabric that was a luxury good in medieval European trade. The surname became fixed in English use by the 14th century, with the cloth itself probably named after the Persian saqalāt that traveled the Silk Road into European commerce.
The first-name use traces almost entirely to Mitchell's novel. Before 1936, Scarlett as a personal name was nearly nonexistent in any English-speaking country — the only earlier uses appear in literary fiction (Will Scarlet, the Robin Hood companion) and as occasional surname-to-given-name transfers. Mitchell deliberately picked Scarlett to signal her character's irreverence and unconventionality. The name was meant to feel slightly inappropriate for a 19th-century Southern belle, which it did.
The sixty-year wait
The Scarlett O'Hara character is morally complicated — she's manipulative, ruthless, and the novel and film both engage uncomfortably with the antebellum South's racial politics. American parents responded to the cultural saturation of the 1939 film by mostly avoiding the name. The first measurable use of Scarlett in SSA records was in the 1990s, with sustained climbing only beginning after 2000.
What changed was distance. By the time Gen X parents were naming daughters in the late 1990s and 2000s, Scarlett O'Hara had become more historical artifact than living character. Scarlett Johansson's emergence as a major actress in the early 2000s gave the name a contemporary anchor that detached it from the Mitchell novel. By 2017, Scarlett peaked at #16 — a position the chart-makers of 1940 would have found incomprehensible.
The cluster Scarlett anchors
Scarlett sits at the center of what naming-forum patterns identify as the strong, slightly-vintage girls' name cluster — alongside Ivy, Violet, Ruby, and Cora. These names share a specific aesthetic register: short to medium length, definite consonant work, vaguely pre-1950s historical placement, and a certain edge that softer Latinate names like Sofia avoid. Parents picking Scarlett are usually picking against the soft-Latinate aesthetic, deliberately.
The counter-reading worth noting: Scarlett's growth has flattened since 2017, holding around #20-30 rather than continuing the climb. The Johansson factor may be fading as her career matures, and the Gone with the Wind association has come back into cultural conversation in ways that complicate the name's appeal — the 2020 HBO Max review of the film's content warnings is the most visible example. Parents picking Scarlett in 2025 should expect the name to feel distinctly 2010s in fifteen years.
The nickname options are limited. Scarlett, Scar, and occasionally Lettie are the main forms in casual use, with Scar reading slightly aggressive and Lettie feeling distinctly retro. Most Scarletts use the full two syllables. Sibling pairings: Scarlett and Ruby, Scarlett and Violet, Scarlett and Stella. Middle-name patterns: Scarlett Rose, Scarlett Mae, Scarlett Grace.