‘The Young and the Restless’: Ashley Abbott Nearly Had a Different First Name

The name Ashley was one of the most popular baby girl names from 1983 to 2001. As it turns out, one of the primary reasons that the name rose in popularity in the early 1980s was thanks to the introduction of the character Ashley Abbott on the CBS soap The Young and the Restless. However, actor Eileen Davidson who has portrayed Ashley Abbott on-and-off since 1982, recently revealed that her character almost had an entirely different name. Find out the alternative first name Ashley Abbott was almost given below. 

The introduction of Ashley Abbott to Genoa City 

Ashley Abbott was first introduced as a character on The Young and the Restless in 1982. During this year, show writers brought Ashley and her younger sister, Traci Abbott, into Genoa City’s fold. According to Fandom, the storyline was that Ashley was returning home from college, whereas Traci was returning to Genoa City after a stint at boarding school. 

The girls were returning to the Abbott Mansion, where their father, John Abbott, and older brother, Jack Abbott, resided. The girl’s mother, Dina Mergeron, had abandoned the family when the three Abbott children were quite young. Years later, it was revealed that Ashley was not John’s biological daughter but was a result of Dina’s affair with tennis pro Brent Davis. 

How Ashley Abbott helped to popularize the name Ashley for girls 

Regardless of Ashley’s paternity, the character has had a huge impact. Not only has Ashley been a fan-favorite for over four decades now, her introduction actually helped to popularize the name Ashley for little girls across the United States. According to the Social Security Administration, the name Ashley had been a popular boy’s name until the early 1980s. 

The character of Ashley Abbott was introduced in 1982, and in 1983 the name Ashley suddenly jumped to being in the Top 5 Baby Girls Names in 1983. Along with Ashley, Jennifer, Jessica, Amanda, and Sarah were the baby girl names that found their way into the top five in 1983. The name Ashley remained in the top five most used baby girl names from 1983 to 2001. In 2002, Ashley was knocked out of the top five by the likes of Emily, Madison, Hannah, Emma, and Alexis. 

Eileen Davidson revealed that her character almost had a different name 

While Ashley Abbott seemingly had a huge impact on how parents decided to name their little girls in the 1980s and beyond, the character almost had an entirely different name. During an interview, Eileen Davidson, who has portrayed Ashley Abbott on and off since 1982, revealed that her character was almost named Tiffany instead. Show writers were thinking about going with two ‘T’ names for the Abbott Sisters, Tiffany and Traci. However, they ultimately opted to go with Ashley and Traci for the girls. 

According to Name Census, in terms of the Top 1000 Baby Girl Names in 1982, the name Ashley sat in the number 17 spot, while the name Tiffany was in the number 14 spot. After the introduction of Ashley Abbott on Y&R in 1982, the name Ashley jumped up to the number four spot on the Top 1000 Baby Girl Names in 1983, while the name Tiffany stood firm in the number 14 spot. 

So, it looks like all the Ashley’s out there might just have the 1982 Y&R writers to thank for inspiring a whole generation of moms to name their daughters Ashley.