Message: "Re: names that popularities that surprised you"

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Re: names that popularities that surprised you

by Lily8

1/18/2009, 1:42 PM

Mary - it is still in the top 100. I was born in the 80s and have never met a Mary younger than 40. My theory is that people use Mary as a silent first name and let the child go by their middle name as in the case of my friends Ashleigh, Elle, Walker and Grace, who are actually Mary Ashleigh, Mary Elle, Mary Walker and Mary Grace. I didn't even know until I saw their passports.

Jennifer - how come this is still so high on the list? aren't people sick of it?

Rachel, Rebecca - I thought these classics would stay common for forever but they lost places and are as good as out of the top 100.

Laura, Amanda - both out of the top 100. I thought as classics they had more staying power.

Kaitlyn - how this ever got more common than Caitlin is beyond me. It looks so ugly and childish.

Haley, Hailey - how did this get more common than the much more appealing Hayley?

Evangeline - wow, that's what I call a dark horse name

Kimberly - still in the top 100?

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- abbasdaughter +2

1/18/2009, 6:35 PM

I've met a few Marys under 40, but not many... I can think of 4 Marys, a Maryanne and a Mariana.

as for Jennifer.. yes some of us are sick of it, but w/ it being so overused in the 70s, it's possible there are namesakes for friends and aunts... though I'd look at the person's mn instead

Rachel's still listed in the top 30 in BC

as for Caitlyn, I prefer the spelling Katelyn to either of those spellings...

- Lily8 +1

1/19/2009, 8:57 AM

hm yeah I was talking about the US list :P I like Katelyn better than Kaitlyn but much prefer Cateline and Caitlin over both.

I don't think it has anything to do with honoring. Most people honor grandparents and I think they'd put something like Jennifer in the middle position.

- abbasdaughter

1/19/2009, 10:40 PM

I don't like most Cate/Cait name spellings with a C... Catherine and maybe on occasian Catrina are the only exceptions, but they're not Cate/Cait(s). Cate somehow doesn't look right w/ a C (in my opinion). Ironically though, Caitlin looks more natural to me than Kaitlin... perhaps because I've seen it more that way though.

- Joan-Ay +12

1/18/2009, 1:48 PM

Kimberly

Wow, I thought that was long gone. That's another surprise added to my list.

- Lily8 +11

1/18/2009, 1:52 PM

did you notice that it is rising? I wouldn't have been so surprised to see it at the bottom of the list and falling but this name feels so dated that I wonder why it is about to enter the top 50 again.

- abbasdaughter +2

1/18/2009, 6:35 PM

namesakes for people born during its popularity season?

- Lily8 +1

1/19/2009, 8:59 AM

possible. but most people honor in the middle position when a name is dated. and usually (my experience) they honor grandparents and most women named Kimberly were born in the 60s and aren't quite at that age yet.

- abbasdaughter

1/19/2009, 10:46 PM

I've encountered people who either were named for or chose a name in honour of a friend or an aunt... and the friend is usually close to the parent's age... A lot of Kims were born in the 70s and 80s as well (I don't know the Cdn. stats that far back, but we have a lot from both decades). According to the popularities listing, it was #5 in BOTH decades (oodles of Kims when I was in school) and then dropped to #17 in the 80s and hasn't left the top 100 since then. It crept into the top 100 in the 50s though... May be different in Europe though.
At one time I knew a gal who'd been named after her mum's best friend and wound up being Jeopardy. (that's right... like the game show) A friend of mine stuck her sister's name in as an mn for her first daughter.

This message was edited 1/19/2009, 10:48 PM

- Joan-Ay +7

1/18/2009, 1:53 PM

Yes I noticed that, that is very strange too. The only Kimberly's I know are my age and up. To meet a little Kimberly would probably be baffling to me. It's so very popular in my age bracket.

- molly +6

1/18/2009, 2:08 PM

Kimberly has its fans [m]

They're mostly not on naming boards, though, lol. I believe its current popularity is mostly among Hispanic families. Same thing explains the staying power of Jessica, Ashley, Stephanie...

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +5

1/18/2009, 10:25 PM

I think that's correct, and it is a common phenomenon among first generation immigrants. Immigrants often want to give their kids "American" names to help them fit in, but they are not acculturated enough yet to be affected by the same trends that native born American parents are, so they choose "American" names from among the names of adults that they know. They don't realize that by doing so they are usually -- especially when it comes to girls' names -- giving their kids names which are now "out of date".

Immigrants from China, Korea, and Vietnam do exactly the same thing.

You can see this if you look at the New York City top names for 2007:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/popular-new-york-baby-names-2007/

And of course even the "White" list for NYC is very different from the national list because of the very large Jewish population there.

- Joan-Ay

1/19/2009, 10:18 AM

That's very true

I have a friend who is Filipino, him and his siblings have what some would call "out of date" names.

Their names are:
Wayland
Janet - I graduated with her
Reginald Cedric "Reggie" - My friend
Ashley
Aileen
Sheldon

With the exception of Ashley, they all have unusual names for their age groups

- number1212

1/19/2009, 9:51 AM

that would explain it

I know a lady from Vietnam with a preschool aged daughter named Joyce.

- Lily8 +1

1/19/2009, 9:02 AM

oh that happens a lot in Germany. Polish immigrants give their kids German names but aren't familiar with naming trends and choose something really dated. I've met Polish girls named Dagmar, Beate, Agathe and Susanne all of which are really dated here.

- abbasdaughter

1/19/2009, 10:51 PM

Beate (if pronounced be-ah-tay) is one that's actually kind of pretty... I've only ever met one in Canada though (and she was young). I like it better than Beatrice anyway. It's not common in Canada at all.

- abbasdaughter

1/19/2009, 12:18 AM

Yes... I've met my share of Fannys, Cindys and Glorias who were from Asia... Actually, with Fanny, I pretty much expect to hear a Chinese family name with it... and hope the poor woman never winds up in England or Australia, poor dear.

For boys, it's frequently Chris, Matthew or Daniel, it seems... but those are more long-lasting.

This message was edited 1/19/2009, 12:19 AM

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