Since records began in the 1880s, the most popular name for baby girls in America was the religiously rooted Mary ( if we don't count a brief 'Linda' break in the late 1940s ). That was until 1960, when the character Lisa Miller Hughes appeared on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns. Lisa was American television's first true female villain - a lying, selfish, and ambitious character who chased her own desires. Conservative housewives of the era hated her, but they also secretly admired her rebellious, rule-breaking power, and Lisa became a popular name. In 1962, Lisa took the top spot,dethroning Mary.