Written by American singer Shirley Ellis (who based the song on a game she played as a child[3]) and Lincoln Chase.
Ellis's recording, produced by Charles Calello, was released in late 1964 as "The Name Game".
Ellis performed on then-major television programs, including Hullabaloo, American Bandstand and The Merv Griffin Show.
For example: Billy becomes "Billy Billy bo-illy"; Fred becomes "bonana fanna fo-red"; Martha becomes "fee fi mo-artha"[3] The song as originally performed gives no indication of what to do with names where the stress falls on a syllable after the first, like Anita or Antoinette, but during the live rendition of the song on The Merv Griffin Show, Ellis uses the same rules as explained above ("Tallulah, Tallulah, bo-ballulah").
Laura Branigan covered the song for her 1987 fifth studio album Touch.