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in reply to a message by lac
I did a little more research and the earliest use of the name I've come across was in an opera by William Vincent Wallace called "Lurline" from 1860. The subject of the opera was the Lorelei, whose name he changed. The Wikipedia entry for Lorelei says the name was derived from the Rhenish word "lureln" which means "murmuring", and Wallace supposedly came up with the idea for his opera while sailing the Rhine. I wonder if Lurline was derived from "lureln"? At any rate, this explains the Lurline-Lorelei connection.
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That's really interesting. Thanks for posting your research. The spelling "Lurline" (rather than Lurlene) makes me suspect Wallace was pronouncing the name lur-line, not lur-leen. Lur-line sounds a lot more like Lorelei than Lurlene does. (It would also rhyme with the English pronunciation of the Rhine river).
I rechecked the Social Security lists and while Lurlene never appears, Lurline goes off and on the top 1000 between 1887 and 1926. So it looks like Lurline is the original form and was almost certainly taken from the opera, instead of being an invented name as I guessed.
Then, Lurlene could have been a natural development from Lurline some time later when names like Marlene had become popular.
I rechecked the Social Security lists and while Lurlene never appears, Lurline goes off and on the top 1000 between 1887 and 1926. So it looks like Lurline is the original form and was almost certainly taken from the opera, instead of being an invented name as I guessed.
Then, Lurlene could have been a natural development from Lurline some time later when names like Marlene had become popular.
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