A frivolous poll.

[rivka]

The Social Security Administration, bless their hearts, keep a record of baby name popularity by year. That's how I know that my personal baby name preferences ranged in 2003 popularity from #1 (Emily) to #388 (Genevieve) on the girls' side, and from #12 (Ryan) to #231 (Miles) on the boys' side.

That's also how I know a lot of things about Americans' preferences in baby names that I would rather not have known.

Is there an actor or athlete or singer or something named Jayden/Jaiden/Jaden/Jaydon/Jadon? There must be a reason why a name I've never heard of inexplicably appears half a dozen times in the top 500 baby names. Is there any rational reason to name your baby Jazmine or Jazmin? Is everyone who names their baby "Tatum" a Tatum O'Neill fan, or is there a darker explanation? How come "Annie" is more popular than "Anne?" How come "Bailey" is more popular than "Lisa?" What keeps "Matthew" in the top ten when "Edward" has dropped down below "Landon" and "Tristan?"

I couldn't resist turning this whole mystery into a poll. All questions are based on the 2003 popularity of baby names for boys and girls. No fair looking it up. I'll post the correct answers tomorrow night, with popularity rankings.

[Poll #352842]

Comments

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Is there an actor or athlete or singer or something named Jayden/Jaiden/Jaden/Jaydon/Jadon? There must be a reason why a name I've never heard of inexplicably appears half a dozen times in the top 500 baby names.

Probably, though I don't know the answer to this one...

Is there any rational reason to name your baby Jazmine or Jazmin?

Rational? no. Explicable? unfortunately, yes - I'm sure lots of young mothers really liked the Disney movie Aladdin, and thought that putting a "z" in "Jasmine" would be nifty... or maybe didn't know how to spell it correctly in the first place.

Is everyone who names their baby "Tatum" a Tatum O'Neill fan, or is there a darker explanation?

I suspect a darker explanation, and can only hope desperately that it doesn't have anything to do with "taters."

How come "Annie" is more popular than "Anne?"

Little Orphan Annie is more popular than Anne of Green Gables.

How come "Bailey" is more popular than "Lisa?"

Um... "Beetle Bailey," maybe? Or, haha, the number of conceptions that happened under the influence of Bailey's Irish Creme...

What keeps "Matthew" in the top ten when "Edward" has dropped down below "Landon" and "Tristan?"

Matthew Broderick, probably.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Will Smith's and Jada Pinkett-Smith's baby is named Jaden. Born 1998; I don't know if they started the wave or simply surfed it.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Aigh! Can I kill all these people now? I spent so much time biting my tongue and sitting on my hands back when I was hanging out on the expecting boards.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

My friend Larry did some research on naming trends over time based on driver's license data from the State of Michigan. It was fascinating to see his graphs on which names picked up when, and how the really popular ones would drop off completely within a decade or two while others stayed steady. I *really* like the four names you mentioned, by the way: Emily, Genevieve, Ryan, Miles. (As someone who was born a Jennifer, though, I'd encourage you not to pick the very top names of those! :-)

I know a woman who wants to name her first girl child "Jezebel." I hope she either never gets around to getting pregnant or has only boys!

-J

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I *really* like the four names you mentioned, by the way: Emily, Genevieve, Ryan, Miles. (As someone who was born a Jennifer, though, I'd encourage you not to pick the very top names of those! :-)

I love the name Emily so much, but I think you're right - it would be unkind to give a child the very most popular American baby name. Alas.

I don't think Michael's crazy about the name Miles (something about it being bad luck when birth defects already run in the family), but he does like Emily, Ryan, and Genevieve. Alexander, Alexandra, Rachel, and (moving towards the esoteric) Annika are on both of our lists. On my list, but not Michael's: Madeleine.

I don't know whether he has a secret list of names that aren't on my list. He might.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/index.html

I love this woman. It's hilarious. It's also a pretty good insight into what might make someone see your kid's name and go "Whaa?" (Not to imply that *you,* personally, would have or cause this problem; your name choices are classic and lovely.)

[perigee.livejournal.com]

That is hilarious. Thanks for the chuckle.

[camfangrrl.livejournal.com]

I went looking through ancestry.com, the 1920 census, and found 13 people named Jaiden, with the earliest person with that name having a birth year of 1851, so it's been around for a while. Let's see...another 3 from the 1920 census by the Jayden name, again with the earliest birth year of 1851. 48 with the Jaden variant (earliest birth year 1834). 4 with Jaydon. And 18 with the name Jadon. So, without looking at the actual census forms themselves and seeing how many children each of these named people have, it seems reasonable to figure that there are many, many people out there who would pick up on that name for their own because it came from their family background or from someone they know.

In the 1930 census, 73 people have the first name of Tatum, way before Tatum O'Neill was born, so that name's current use can't automatically be credited to a pop culture reference.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

it seems reasonable to figure that there are many, many people out there who would pick up on that name for their own because it came from their family background or from someone they know.

That does seem reasonable, and it's interesting to know that the name has been around so long. But it's become dramatically more popular in the last ten years - in the "Jayden" incarnation, for example, it didn't breach the top 1000 baby names until 1994, and it's climbed steadily up the list ever since.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Might "Tatum" be a family name that's suddenly become popular as a first name? I know there's a Tatum Blvd. in Phoenix, that's been there since LONG before Tatum O'Neil.

[lissamc.livejournal.com]

"What keeps "Matthew" in the top ten when "Edward" has dropped down below "Landon" and "Tristan?""

Probably because Matthew is a biblical name, and so has the advantage.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Mark, to pick the next gospel over, is less popular than Landon - although at least it beats out Tristan.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I am the proud parent of an Ellen born in the early '90s, so I know it's a rare name.

If you pick the right traditional name, you can wind up with a name that is both familiar and uncommon. There's only once been another Ellen in her class, while she routinely has two or three Tiffanies, Brittanies, etc. On the other hand, she can't find her name on miniature license-plate racks, engraved mugs, and so on.

On the other hand, our son William's name is omnipresent, as is the nickname we chose; we'd yell "Will!" at the playground and several little boys would look up.

One of my nieces is named Sydney. Oog. And she has a very ethnic last name that is NOT British, so it's an interesting mix.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

My mother had a good (female) friend named Sydney (Or Sidney, or some spelling); she'd've been born sometime around the early 50s, I think.

Tatum

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I have a cousin who had a baby last year, and they named her Tatum. Behind their backs, we refer to her as "The Potato". Her sister is named Sloane (grandmother's maiden name) (last name), and so we call her "The Law Firm," or "The Accounting Firm."

Yes, we are cruel people. But I would suggest that they were cruel for naming their children this way, so they deserve it.

*************************************

Yes, naming babies is hard. So is coming to agreement with one's partner. :)

Re: Tatum

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Tatum and Sloane? Tatum and Sloane? Good heavens. What was your cousin thinking?

Yes, naming babies is hard. So is coming to agreement with one's partner. :)

Yeah, there's no way I'm letting you get away with a cryptic comment like that. What names are you considering?

[papersky.livejournal.com]

The mis-spelling question on the poll actually made me groan aloud. I think it was Alivia that did it.

Most of my baby name books are staid and British, but I recently picked up a copy of "4004 Stupid Baby Names" which I thought had all the ridiculous names anyone could ever want, but no. Jayden isn't in it, in fact of all my books only appears in "Trendy But Dumb American Names".

I recently had a weird experience when I heard that some friends of mine in Wales had called their baby "Teleri", which is an uncommon but perfectly sensible Welsh name, equivalent to maybe Tristan in terms of being literary, unusual but totally recognisable. Except to me, seeing it written down, in email, and thinking first of the Silmarillion and actually imagining for an instant that someone would name a baby after a branch of the High Elves.

[kuangning]

I'm looking in from my friendsfriends page, and just have to say some of the names made me cringe -- and still do. But the mention of Teleri caught my eye -- it's my daughter's middle name. I named the boys Garrett Logan and Jiordan Connor ("Jiordan" and not "Jordan" deliberately to soften the pronunciation) and my daughter is Arianne Teleri.

[eeyorerin]

It's funny to look at my rosters each year and see the clusters of names that were popular 18-20 years ago. Right now the most popular names in my four classes are Michelle (four of them) and Brendan or Brandon (2 of each). There are also a lot of Sarahs and several Vincents. One semester I did have a student named Buffy; that was her actual given name. She was blonde, but missed class due to bronchitis rather than due to needing to kill vampires (or so she told me). Haven't hit all the Skylers, Mikaylas, Jaydens, and Baileys yet.

Genevieve Emily sounds like a nice combination to me, if you want to give the Lil' Critter the name without making it a first name. Actutally, Emily would go well with any of the names you're considering.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

the only Buffy i've ever met in person was a black lady i worked with who had 5 kids with her childhood best friend who became her husband. she was great. but no vampires.

n.

What I don't get

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

is why the name "Madison" is so damned popular. I looked AFTER I took the poll, and it's all over the place for girls. I don't watch TV, so I'm totally ignorant of popular culture. It's a dreadful name with no reasonable diminutive except for "Maddy". EEEEEE!

Re: What I don't get

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

It comes from the 1984 movie "Splash", with Darryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, and directed by Ron Howard. It's a funny, sweet, "Little Mermaid" story for grown-ups. The Mermaid's name is Madison.

This name was intended to be a joke in the movie. The mermaid calls herself "Madison" because she is standing on Madison Ave. in New York when someone asks her her name, and she looks at the street sign and reads it off. She could have been called "Park" or "Houston" or "Fifth", for that matter. It was a joke name!

But the movie was very popular with teen and pre-teen girls, who loved Madison the Mermaid. Twenty years later they are having babies -- the rest is history.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

As a 26 year old Emily, I find it very strange to be in a store and have a mother yelling "Emily, put that down" or "Emily, get back here". My immediate thought is "What did I do?" followed quickly by "Do I know you?" and only then by "Oh, you're yelling at your daughter, not at me."

I never had the problem of having other Emilys in my classes when I was a kid, so this naming surge really weirds me out.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Heh. My given name is Kylee, so I know what you mean. "Kylie" is now at #50, and there are two other spellings on the list. I've only heard of one older American with my name, but there are armies of youngers. People have slowly gone from "what?" to "I have a niece named that!" when I tell them my name.

Diminutives

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

Another thing to think of...make certain that the name has a good diminutive. I know a "funny" story about parents who hated them, and who named their daughter Amber because they didn't want her to have one. One day, they found their older daughter hanging over the crib crooning to her adorable little "Amburger". Even if you hate them, kids will make one.

I hate my given name and only use it at work, on credit cards, legal documents, etc. I really ought to change it.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I wrote, in a work-for-hire arrangement, "35,000 Baby Names" by Bruce Lansky.

Naturally, I have many things to say about baby names and naming, but no time at all to do so.

I'll just note that I favour names like Helen and Marjorie and Charles these days. Strong names for tough times.

K.

[ailbhe]

There's a whole bunch of young whippersnappers with my name. It used to be very rare, now it's all over the show. Most irritating; very few of them can spell.

[gloriajn.livejournal.com]

I'm so fortunate to be named Gloria. I was always the only Gloria in school and in the workplace. I'm glad it never became trendy. At the same time, I know you'll never find a bunch of Glorias in nursing homes.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

I've always liked that name. My aunt Gloria (now in her 70s) says it was popular when she was born because of Gloria Swanson.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i answered these questions based on my trivial pursuit method: "what is the stupidest possible answer to this question", which is then nearly always right.

yet another reason to not name the critter miles: my gf's son is named miles. she claims it's not after the books, but i don't believe her.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

i answered these questions based on my trivial pursuit method: "what is the stupidest possible answer to this question", which is then nearly always right.

You're only at 60% here; I'm a tricky one. But I don't blame you for latching on to that as a sensible strategy.

How the heck do you decide whether Madisyn is stupider than Emely? Given the choice between the two of them, I think I'd shoot myself.

Rambling about names

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

One of the problems of teaching for a long period of time is that eventually there is a negative association for just about every possible name. Also, the creative spelling makes me nuts.

The father of my sister's children wanted both boys to have part of his name as theirs. His name is Karl, theirs are Erik (the 'k' for Karl) and Kyle. My sister got to choose the middle names, which she chose to honour their grandparents.

Neither my sister nor I have middle names, our parents both having middle names they hated. Both of our names are sufficiently unusual on this side of the Atlantic that I always swore I would give my children as plain and simple names as I could. David or Paul or Jennifer (I don't think I'd ever thought of another girl's name).

[shaktiqueen.livejournal.com]

My mother named me Persephone in 1970 while living in a small town in Michigan that the hippie generation never reached. It was a compromise between her and my father. She wanted to name me aphrodite, he wanted to name me Andromeda. I got Persephone Irene.

I named my children
Alexander Patrick
Sara June
Rowan James.

My tubes are tied now...but Adoption may happen one day. If by chance another girl child enters my life that I get to name...Her name will be Sofia Rose.

[flyfreeizzie.livejournal.com]

Its interesting hearing names.

My real name is Issadora... but ussualy spelled as Isadora and people seem to love it.. those that can SAY it correctly... grrrr

a name I heard once that I like is Rifkala.... sounded pretty if you have the same pronunciation that I have in my head.. haha.

The problem with my name is people always give me nick names.. and im not much of a fan but I put up with it

[rivka.livejournal.com]

a name I heard once that I like is Rifkala.... sounded pretty if you have the same pronunciation that I have in my head.. haha.

That sounds like the same name that I would write as Rivkeleh. (Rivka is also sometimes spelled Rifka.) It's not really a name, per se, it's more of a nickname - the "-eleh" ending in Yiddish is an affectionate diminutive, so "Rivkeleh" means something like "darling Rivka."

It's something that only a very few people are permitted to call me. :-)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

As bad as "Brooklynn" is, I certainly hope that it's more popular than "Ryleigh". A misspelled version of where Ben Stiller is from has got to be better than a misspelled version of where Cthulhu is from.

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

>better than a misspelled version of where Cthulhu is from.

Aauuuuggghhh! [hooting with laughter]

HLC (apologetically returning to lurker-dom]

finding names

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations Rivka, and all my best wishes for the baby otter

Names arouse great passions, but as anyone who has actually named someone will tell you, within minutes, it just becomes that person's name, and loses all independent aesthetic qualities. It is never just a name again.

The names you like are nice -- in Australia, which is a slightly different naming culture, they are also popular. May I humbly suggest 'Emma' as an alternative for Emily -- less popular, and you can call her Emily if you want to. (Of course I'm biased).

My eldest is Rosa Lucy, named for Rosa Luxemburg, from my revolutionary period, but it has turned out to be a wonderfully versatile and dignified name, and has suited her from babyhood (Rosie) into senior high school.

Then I had twins, and when they turned out to be two boys, rather than the predicted boy and girl, had to find another boys name on the spur of the moment (it seemd awful to have one son named Evan, and one named 'Baby 2'). I chose Samuel, and he has always had several other Sams in his classes at daycare and school. Even when you think you are immune to the zeitgeist...

Then there was Michael, named for a picture of an archangel we saw in Italy, and because the name we gave the bump 'Mickey' just stuck. Beware your baby doesn't end up just Critter!

My last child (now 10 months) is Lillian Julia, and I found Lillian by reading the death notices. There are many elderly Lilians and Lillians who appear there. As they are near the birth notices in my newspaper, I know there aren't too many of those. Finding out what was popular and pretty 80 years ago is a good way to be ahead of the coming name fashions, which seem to run on about a 95 year cycle. I speak as a 43 year old Emma, with sisters called Harriet and Martha (all weird in Australia in the 1960s, but not so weird now. Except Martha, which is still weird, though beautiful).

cheers

Emma

Re: finding names

[rivka.livejournal.com]

The names you like are nice -- in Australia, which is a slightly different naming culture, they are also popular. May I humbly suggest 'Emma' as an alternative for Emily -- less popular, and you can call her Emily if you want to. (Of course I'm biased).

"Emma" is actually the second most popular name for girls in the U.S., so it wouldn't really solve the ubiquity problem.

The top ten are: Emily, Emma, Madison, Hannah, Olivia, Abigail, Alexis, Ashley, Elizabeth, Samantha.

"Emma" really is a lovely name, though.

[tangleofthorns.livejournal.com]

It's sad how many of the answers to these questions I knew. I have such a name thing. I have the best babyname book, from the late 80s, called "Beyond Jennifer and Jason", and it's categorized by everything but meaning and alphabetical order. Truly a delight. Did you know that Sam is a "New Manly" name, and Adriana has "intellectual power"?

Recently I have become obsessed with the idea of naming a boy Finnegan.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Recently I have become obsessed with the idea of naming a boy Finnegan.

Well, you certainly wouldn't have to worry about SIDS, then, would you?

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

I really want to believe that people aren't naming their daughters (or sons) Brooklyn (any spelling). Not because it's a borough (though, you never hear about anyone called Bronx.) (I should not have said that...) but because that was my dog's name.

Maybe I should name futurebaby Ol' Yeller.;)

Both Mum and I gave our daughters names we reallyreally liked that, when we picked them, weren't hugely popular, and when we gave them were either #1 or somewhere in the top ten. Mum playing with the spelling made mine unique...and I've always been grateful that she didn't go with her alternate, Gennifer.

Gessi