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ArchivesRe: Impact of popular culture on name use
in reply to a message by Mar
I gave two presentations on the topic of the effects of popular culture on American given names at the American Name Society meeting a couple of weeks ago. This dealt not only with movies but with television, popular music, athletes, and other factors.
The short answer to "which movies are most influential" is "those which have characters whose names fit in with the 'different but not too different' sort of names young parents are looking for." A film character cannot cause a big jump in a name which was very common in the generation of young parents or their own parents. Such names are not "new" to them. So a film tomorrow that had lead characters named Michael and Jessica would not have any big effect on the number of Michaels and Jessicas being born. But a film which introduces a name to a wide public which fits in with fashionable sounds and seems "new" can have a major impact. Ayla, for example, boomed in popularity because of the 1986 film Clan of the Cave Bear, and Tristan soared in use in the USA after 1994 because of the character Brad Pitt played in Legends of the Fall.
The short answer to "which movies are most influential" is "those which have characters whose names fit in with the 'different but not too different' sort of names young parents are looking for." A film character cannot cause a big jump in a name which was very common in the generation of young parents or their own parents. Such names are not "new" to them. So a film tomorrow that had lead characters named Michael and Jessica would not have any big effect on the number of Michaels and Jessicas being born. But a film which introduces a name to a wide public which fits in with fashionable sounds and seems "new" can have a major impact. Ayla, for example, boomed in popularity because of the 1986 film Clan of the Cave Bear, and Tristan soared in use in the USA after 1994 because of the character Brad Pitt played in Legends of the Fall.
This message was edited 1/19/2007, 11:57 AM
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Similarly, if you look at the popularity rankings in England and Wales, many names are either new characters in popular soaps like Eastenders (e.g. Demi, Ruby, Alfie) or they are the name of football (soccar) players (e.g. Freddie).
Also, my lecturers threatened to fail us on our dissertation if we use Wikipedia as a source ;) .
Also, my lecturers threatened to fail us on our dissertation if we use Wikipedia as a source ;) .
This message was edited 1/21/2007, 4:38 PM
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Obviously I'm no expert, but I've definitely noticed that name around a lot more since those films came out!
We're always being told not to use Wikipedia by lecturers, because although a lot of the info on there is reliable, there's also a lot of rubbish out there!
We're always being told not to use Wikipedia by lecturers, because although a lot of the info on there is reliable, there's also a lot of rubbish out there!
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