Mrs. Flintstone, storm among noted Wilmas

MIAMI — The name means "determined protector," but the image will forever be that of the Stone Age's hottest 30-year-old red-haired homemaker, Wilma Flintstone.

In the past few days, though, Wilma has been anything but a protector, howling through the Caribbean as a Category 5 hurricane and projected to barrel toward Florida. In the process, some of South Florida's Wilmas have been taking a ribbing.

"I'm the storm they're talking about," laughed Wilma Kociol, 87, of Coconut Creek, who was delighted when she heard that a major storm was named after her.

"First a cartoon character and now a storm, and a big one at that. I never thought I'd live to see the day," said Kociol, adding that all of her friends and family have been commenting about the name and power of Hurricane Wilma.

"They all said, 'If the storm is as nice as you, it won't be so bad by the time it hits Florida.' "

Kociol said that besides a cousin who passed away, she is the only Wilma she has met.

According to voter-registration records, 243 Wilmas are in Broward County, 210 in Miami-Dade County and 17 in Monroe County.

There are 112 in Miami, 36 in Fort Lauderdale and 27 in Hollywood.

And according to behindthename.com, Wilma, short form of the German name Wilhelmina, was Sweden's ninth most-popular baby name in 2004.

In the United States, Wilma peaked at No. 68, from 1920 to 1929. In 2004, Wilma never made the U.S. top-1,000 charts.

In the cartoon world, Mrs. Wilma Flintstone, of 301 Cobblestone Way, Bedrock, wife of Fred and mother of the equally redheaded Pebbles, reigns supreme.

But in the real world, Olympic track star Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and was heralded as one of the greatest athletes of all time. That was the same year that the cartoon Flintstones premiered on TV.

And Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is known as one of the most-powerful Native American leaders in history.

Kociol is proud to be in such esteemed company, and recalls how she and her husband dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Fred Flintstone for a Halloween party years ago.

"After so many people making the connection for so many years to that other Wilma, it just made sense," she said.