Am I unknowingly caught up in a baby name trend?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband and I decided on a name for the baby boy we are having, due in early April: Nathaniel Thomas. I was browsing the web tonight and came across two instances of the name being used: once in a little joke animation, and once in a Newsweek article on choosing baby gender. “Can you make sure you have a Natalie and not a Nathaniel” type thing. Now I am worried that I’m getting caught in a similar trend as the one I was caught in. (My grandmother’s first name was Amy. She hated it and went by her middle name. When my mother found out her mother’s real name, at age 13, she resolved to name her first daughter Amy. By the time I came along seven years later in 1970, half the women on the freakin’ planet had decided it would be great to name their daughters Amy as well. )

I hated having such a common name-- I was always Amy Lastinitial. It never ends, either. Last month at the OB, I was referred to as Amy Lastinitial because there was another Amy in the waiting room. Nathaniel is only about 70 on the SSA baby names list, which is about what I would like-- not common, but not weird, either. I’m afraid that somehow tons of pregnant couples have decided in the last year to name their baby boys Nathaniel and he’ll always be Nathaniel Lastinitial. Is there a sudden rash of baby Nathaniels? How can I find out?

2

I don’t know that you can find out. I do know, however, that I have at least one friend who thinks Nathaniel is a dandy name for a boy…and she’s likely to get pregnant in the next year or two. Everyone but me loves the name, so I get a distinct feeling it’s on the cusp of popularity. If there aren’t a ton of them in his class, there are likely to be a ton in the classes right behind him.

As for where the name is on the list, that seems to be the trend with popular names. People start looking for stuff that’s not common, but not too uncommon either, so they start looking in the 50-80 range, and there’s a rash of those names. Other names, however, just tend to hover in that range perennially. They’re never really popular, but they’re never really unpopular, either. Of course, it’s damn near impossible to figure out which the name is going to do.

3

I was in a similar situation with both of my children. I wanted names that weren’t too common but not weird or difficult to spell or pronounce. I decided on Joshua for my son and Gabrielle for my daughter.

All was good, until preschool. There are a lot of Joshuas and Gabrielles that are in my kids age range now. It’s happened to a friend of mine too.

I know of at least one expecting couple who plans to name their child Nathanial.

4

For decidedly personal reasons I fully support ‘Nathanial’ for a boys name (note my Mom’s alternative choice for penultimate letter).

I agree that it’s sweet to go through life with a unique name (or at least so unusual that there’s no confusion). I very much identify as the diminutive of my first name than any last name stuff. I think that would be different if I was a ‘Dave’ or ‘Chris’ or somesuch.

I think I’m actually shocked to see it climb into the top 100. I’ve only ever bumped into 3 other guys with my name and most of them used an alternate short-form.

5

I understand your concern and I remember going through the same thing. My advise is to forget about it. Forget the lists, forget what other people are naming their kids. You are only going to be able to name this baby once. Don’t base the decision on what you want the name NOT to be. Base it instead on positive associations.

Some people, like your mother, like to honor an ancestor. Some people like to honor a great person. Use what ever criteria are important to you.

As far as weird goes most people probably don’t have Wesley or Colon or Franklin or Lyndon on their short list but Clark, Powell Roosevelt and Johnson seemed to do just fine with them. Winston was actually on our short list for boys names. The only reason we took it off was because most people associate it with the cigarette instead of Churchill. Personally my favorite name ever is Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to Jimmy Carter.

Stop worrying about all that external nonsence and choose a name that you like and find meaning in. Even if it turns out there may, at some point, be someone else in the same class with the same name.

6

It’s just that all of the Moms want their kids to grow up and star in The Producers or The Bird Cage. Ok, different spin on the long name, but you get the picture. Seriously, there does seem to be a sudden influx of Nate/Nathan/Nathanial/Nathaniel going on lately. Trying to steer clear of trendy names is a difficult thing at best. I named my son for an author whose short story I liked years ago. Now the name is kind of trendy, with at least two B level celebs sporting it. I’d never ever met anyone with that name in my life. C’est la vie.

7

While I think Nathaniel is a perfectly lovely name, I do think you’re right to worry that it is becoming much more popular lately. There are two in my sons’ daycare (one pre-schooler and one infant) and I have a 1-year-old cousin Nathanial as well. But, I do agree with Degrance somewhat, if this is a name you absolutely love and you can’t imagine a son named anything different then there is no reason you can’t use it. However, if you are serious about avoiding the trends and coming up with something unusual then I’d be careful. Old fashioned names are the new “Tiffany” and “Jennifers” and it will be a while before that blows over.

Objectively speaking, “Nathaniel” has risen from #85 to #65 on the SS lists in just the past ten years. At the same time “Nathan” has risen from #43 to #29. That’s a lot of little Nates running around. Maybe it’s already peaked, but it’s impossible to be sure and the steady rise on the charts is ominous.

8

21 years ago we picked a name we thought would be different, but not too different. We just liked the way it sounded with our last name, which is very uncommon. Our kid’s name remained a fairly unusual choice until this year.
I notice it is suddenly in the top 5 names for boys. I still love the name, and our kid wears it well.

Incidentally, I had really wanted to name the kid Nathaniel, but spouse rejected it for being too long, and likely to be reduced to Nate, a nickname he detested.

I agree that one shouldn’t worry too much about externals.

9

You might be surprised at how few children you encounter with your child’s name. My daughter’s name is Samantha, which was the 7th most popular name of the 1990s (at the time not my choice–Dad gets the blame–though the name suits her perfectly). She is now in first grade and since starting daycare at 16 months we have only had two other Samanthas at her schools. One was a teacher and the other was a little girl in one of the other kindergarten classes.

Go with what you like.

10

Remeber that the SSA site lists each spelling of a name as a separate entry. So, in order to get a clearer picture of how popular a name really is, you should check to see how common the variations and alternate spellings of a name are, then add up the numbers, and see how popular that is. It’s also probably worthwhile to add in other names that are similar and/or likely to have the same nickname.

And example: During the Caitlin trend, the name Caitlin was deceptively low on the SSA list. But if you added together the Caitlins, Katelynns, Caitlyns, Kaytlins, etc, you realized that if they were listed together, Caitlin would be one of the top names.

So, if you’re worrying that Nathaniel might be too popular, definitely consider the popularity of the name Nathan.

I’m a big watcher of baby naming trends, and here is my assessment: Nathaniel is a bit trendy, but it’s trendy in the “classic name that is back in style” sense, so it’s not annoying. Belladonna’s research shows that Nathan/Nathaniel is becoming more common, but suggests that the trend may have peaked. I’d argue otherwise–“old person” names are the latest naming trend, and a name like Nathaniel is certainly old-fashioned, but not too outre. It’s trendy, but not risky. Therefore, it is set to become way more popular. That said, if you like it, definitely use it. It’s a very nice classic name. You may want to consider “Nat” as a nickname rather than “Nate.”

As I said in another thread recently, I accidentally gave my kid a trendy name. We named him Arthur, which seemed impossibly clunky and old-fashioned, but it was a family name. Anyhoo, as I said, old person names are in like Flynn…at least we are on the very beginning end of the trend.

If we have a another baby, and she’s a girl, I think I’ll give her a name that’s sure to be unique in this day and age: Jennifer. :slight_smile:

11

We used to joke that we should name a daughter Jennifer, in honor of every friend I’ve got. What we did do was name her Emily without consulting the SS index. Sigh. But she was so obviously an Emily, and we don’t actually know any others.

12

Nathan is going to get more popular mainly because of Nathan Lane. He’s done pretty well on Broadway with The Producers, and if the impending film does half as well his moniker will get broader recognition.

If you’re worried about abbreviations, it typically gets shortened to ‘Nat’, not ‘Nate’.

13

I know one way to check…ask your OB. An OB will know what was really popular the last year…but won’t be able to tell you if you are the start of a trend.

(Mine told me he thought I was nuts when I named my daughter, but made me feel better by saying I was the first of a trend. She has an unusual nickname however.)

(Nate/Nathan/Nathanial is popular at my kids daycare. There is a Nate in my son’s room, a Nathan in my daughters room…and there have been times when there have been more than one. Pretty trendy at my daycare. Then again, so is Jack and Anna - two names I don’t think of as being trendy.

14

I like the name Nathaniel. I was actually thinking of naming my future baby boy that. (Don’t worry-we’re talking wayyyy in the future.) Whatever you do, just don’t name him Michael. All of the kids my friend babysits are named Michael. They’re 2-3 years old.

15

I knew old person names were kind of trendy… but Arthur being old fashioned and clunky?! Nu uh I never thought that… I get visions of King Arthur in my head… that and one of the coolest people I knew… my Grandfather who passed away a couple years back.

I named my son for him (born this past December) so I hope not to see a ton of Arthur’s running around!

I myself have an old persons name as my first name, with the dubious distinction of it being made fun of on Friends only I got it long before the whole old names being fashionable… Only thing good about it is that no one else has it! I still go by my middle name which is slightly (but only slightly) more common.

16

Ok, if we have a kid, I’m naming him Errol.

17

I admit this sort of is throwing me.

I like being the only ‘Nate’ around.

All you guys just stop it right now!

18

We named our daughter (born in 2002) Ava because we liked the way it sounded with our last name and because it was in the “different, but not weird” camp.
Now, of course, I seem to see that name everywhere. Course, it might be because I’m looking for it too, but still.
Oh well, I’m a John and I managed to get through school w/o climbing a clock tower.

19

Nathan/Nathaniel is one of the most popular baby names in America.

Now, Nathaniels in 2002 were outnumbered by Jacobs and Michaels about five to one, by Nicholases about four to one, and even by #31 Kevin and #32 Gabriel about two to one.

Unfortunately, NATHAN, which is pretty much the same name, is #29. I don’t think you can seriously argue that the superfluous -iel makes them two substantially different names; either way he’s gonna be Nate. Combined, the two would rank about 12th, a hair behind William and just a tick past Anthony. Furthermore, both names are rapidly increasing in popularity. Nathan has gone up the list every year since 1993, climbing from 44th to 29th; Nathaniel has slipped a little in the last few years but is still well up since 10-15 years ago. (The number of people spelling it Nathanial isn’t very significant; only 304 misspelled in 2002!) Given Nathan’s steady climb, I’d say it has a good shot at being a Top 10 name by 2005 or 2006.

So, actually, yes, you’re walking right into a trendy baby name. Sorry!

I recommend “Richard.” A classic name, sounds good, and has been steadily shrinking in popularity, dropping in the rankings every year. Also, it’s my name.