Huh. The full spelling of my first name doesn’t even make the charts until the early 1960s…it’s an unusual spelling. Even then it never goes above 70 per 1,000,000.
The standard spelling does better. It still spikes lately.
I wish we could filter for race. My name is much more popular among black folks. It’s caused me some confusion in the past.
Phoebe, Monica, and Rachel had a spike in the 90s.
Gee, I wonder why…
I’ve always known that Mom and Dad weren’t very creative in naming me, now I have proof. I was named right as my name peaked at number 2 for girls. :rolleyes:
And my middle name has been in the top ten for the entire time charted.
It’s interesting to look at just first letters. As Hooleehootoo points out, “O” has a dramatic dip around the 50s and 60s. Other letters were very popular and now are less popular (E, F, W). And some were almost unheard of and have spiked lately (K, Q, X). Very few are steady throughout (C, J). I think it is a pretty clear reflection of people’s search for a unique baby name in the last few decades.
Cool site, Hooleehootoo .
[QUOTE=Marley23]
Jordan got really popular in the early 90s. Is His Airness to blame perhaps? I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bunch of little Lebrons sometime in the future.
[QUOTE]
See “Kobe”
As far as Benjamin goes, in my case popularity never entered into it. I’m named in honor my Great-Grandfather and my sister is named in honor of our 2 Grandmothers.
Madison & Chelsea are two other “spikey” names.
This one is part of an explaination a co-author and I gave about the spelling of one of our character’s names:
It seems pretty clear to us, anyway, that Paige is only common now because of the TV witch.
Anyway, I can’t get Name Voyager to work(is my java broken?), but I bet if you enter my name - Shannon - it spiked in popularity after the summer of 1976…when Henry Gross had a hit with the annoying song of the same name. 90% of the other Shannons I’ve met have been born within 3 years of that song becoming popular.
Soap opera characters really effect what kids are named (around here at least). A few years ago I was wondering why so many students at my high school had this strange name. I found out it was the name of a popular character on one of the telenovelas, about fifteen years ago.
Right now, a bunch of kids have improbable names ending in -th. Taking attendance makes me sound like Sylvester the cat and if I find out who put this idea in parents’ minds… Well, I’ll lisp all over them.
The fact that it could also be Beverly Hills Copmakes me feel slightly better about that.
Samantha, I think, got popular partly because of Grace Kelly’s character in “High Society” and partly because of “Bewitched.”
Wonderful film. Lovely film. Watch it! You won’t be disappointed, I promise.
Logan was #336 in the 1880s, then dropped out of use entirely during the 1950s and '60s. The name began a steady climb in the '90s and in 2004 Logan was #27. I think the X-Men movie from 2000 is at least partly responsible for introducing the name to a wide audience. Logan (Wolverine) certainly gave the name a heroic, rough-and-tumble image that probably appeals to prospective parents.
Not to highjack, but rather than speculations about why a name is popular, I’d like to hear from parents on why they chose any particular name. I almost became a father, and if a girl, I was set on Lizabeta (after Lizabeta Ivanova). I was thinknig that the girl had various possible nicknames (Lisa, Betty, Liz, etc.), so it was practical as well as unique.