# Estimate an American's age from their first name **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 15, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098 "2015-05-15T12:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/21 "2015-05-15T20:16:50Z")
I was born during the first and most precipitous drop in my name’s popularity in the record; it was less than half as popular as at its peak a few years earlier. (It’s declined more steadily since, and is now at its lowest ebb in nearly a century.) ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/22 "2015-05-15T20:31:04Z")
Wow, look at [Brittany](http://rhiever.github.io/name-age-calculator/index.html?Gender=F&Name=Brittany). [Debra](http://rhiever.github.io/name-age-calculator/index.html?Gender=F&Name=Debra) is similar, but a generation earlier. Friends of ours picked their kids’ names by looking at the SS data and choosing “old people” names that they liked: Matilda and Walter. It looks like Matilda is on the rise again, though, but Walter remains pretty flat throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/23 "2015-05-15T20:31:40Z")
My name peaked somewhere in the early 20th century. Of course, I was the third generation in my family to carry it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/24 "2015-05-15T20:44:42Z")
My mother was born in 1928 but the chart says her name peaked in popularity in 1990. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/25 "2015-05-15T20:51:50Z")
My (real) name peaked in the 1920s. I already knew this because 2-3 times a month there’s an obit of a 90-ish woman with my first name. Hmmm…“Thelma” peaked in the 1020s, too. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/26 "2015-05-15T21:18:50Z")
Mine’s close - I was born in '68 and the peak year is '69. Wendy ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/27 "2015-05-15T21:23:08Z")
I’m probably 10 years older then I am. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/28 "2015-05-15T21:34:36Z")
It got me and my partner right. I’m surprised because we both have very common names with broad peaks. I guess our parents were very susceptible to suggestion. My son’s name has three equal peaks, which really screws up the algorithm. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/29 "2015-05-15T21:50:47Z")
The two names I input had interesting results: Asa was the name I gave my son in 1999. Since the graph goes back only to 1900, it doesn’t show the peak it reached in the late 1800s, when the name was as common as John. (At least in New England.) Instead it shows the name rising with a bullet a few years after I chose it. Oh, no, just what I didn’t want! Which brings us to my name and why I didn’t want a name growing in popularity for my son: Jennifer. I was born in 1960 and knew no other Jennifers until I was college age. Then suddenly every little girl in the grocery story had a parent running after her yelling, “Jennifer!” Even worse, it became the “sex” name in the 90s and is only now just losing popularity because, presumably, of its popularity. I sure hope Asa doesn’t become a dime a dozen. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/30 "2015-05-15T21:55:40Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > … I sure hope Asa doesn’t become a dime a dozen. I think you’re safe on that one. And not just because I’ve never heard of it before your post. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/31 "2015-05-15T23:30:37Z")
Pretty close with me and my eldest daughter. However, not even close with our youngest who is named Charlotte. As that name has been creeping up in popularity recently (and expected to creep up even further with the birth of Princess Charlotte) I expect that will change. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/32 "2015-05-16T00:28:50Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > My (real) name peaked in the 1920s. I already knew this because 2-3 times a month there’s an obit of a 90-ish woman with my first name. > Hmmm…“Thelma” peaked in the 1020s, too. Running a close second to UlfNjalsDottir… ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/33 "2015-05-16T01:19:17Z")
My name doesn’t appear. I’m immortal… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/34 "2015-05-16T05:18:03Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Wow, look at [Brittany](http://rhiever.github.io/name-age-calculator/index.html?Gender=F&Name=Brittany). [Debra](http://rhiever.github.io/name-age-calculator/index.html?Gender=F&Name=Debra) is similar, but a generation earlier. Look at [Miley](http://rhiever.github.io/name-age-calculator/index.html?Gender=F&Name=miley). It’s trajectory looks like the Mercury space capsule. From boom to bust even faster than Brittany (no pun intended). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/35 "2015-05-16T05:40:36Z")
I’m Douglas, and my name peaked maybe 3 or 4 years before my birth. The thing is it’s almost a perfect normal distribution with four decades on each side. FWIW I was named in Scotland, where I was born. Cheers! Doug ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/36 "2015-05-16T11:16:39Z")
I was named 21 years before my name peaked. On the other hand, had my folks named me Roxanne like my dad wanted, I’d have been part of the peak. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/37 "2015-05-16T14:27:31Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > The two names I input had interesting results: > > Asa was the name I gave my son in 1999. Since the graph goes back only to 1900, it doesn’t show the peak it reached in the late 1800s, when the name was as common as John. (At least in New England.) Instead it shows the name rising with a bullet a few years after I chose it. Oh, no, just what I didn’t want! > > Which brings us to my name and why I didn’t want a name growing in popularity for my son: Jennifer. I was born in 1960 and knew no other Jennifers until I was college age. Then suddenly every little girl in the grocery story had a parent running after her yelling, “Jennifer!” Even worse, it became the “sex” name in the 90s and is only now just losing popularity because, presumably, of its popularity. > > I sure hope Asa doesn’t become a dime a dozen. That’s why my mom wanted to give her children vaguely unusual names. She was one of the multitude of Lindas born in the late 40s. The only time she messsed up was with my middle sister who was one of the Great Wendy Boom of the early 70s. My name peaked in the 60s, twenty years before I was born. My oldest sister’s name has _just now_ started peaking. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/38 "2015-05-16T15:58:08Z")
When did [Jasper become a thing?](http://rhiever.github.io/name-age-calculator/index.html?Gender=M&Name=Jasper) ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/39 "2015-05-16T16:01:32Z")
Hmmm, more [LeBrons in the past](http://rhiever.github.io/name-age-calculator/index.html?Gender=M&Name=LeBron) than I would have expected. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098/40 "2015-05-16T19:01:40Z")
Pretty accurate with me. Far off with my wife’s name, as well as both our sons. With younger son’s name there was a huge spike the last few years (he’s almost 15). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/estimate-an-americans-age-from-their-first-name/720098.md?page=3)