Ever notice the lists of “production babies” at the end of the credits on CGI movies? Here are a handful from movies I happened to have on my HD at the moment.
I used to substitute teach (and my husband used to live) in Italian-American neighborhoods. Lots of Josephs!
One Italian-American girl I knew was named Stacey, and wished it “meant something”, since she couldn’t find a source for the name. She was thrilled when I explained it came from the name “Anastasia”, which means “resurrection.”
I never heard that term “production babies” before. Interesting that one movie had two boys named Silas and two girls named Vivienne. There was a Silas in my school, and kids made fun of his name year after year. I’m seeing a lot of “Jax” and “Jaxson” now. I suppose from Sons of Anarchy.
Evelyn and Charlotte are currently having a huge resurgence, as well.
I have a three-and-a-half year old niece named Alice.
She’s already growing up in a house full of cats. I can’t wait to start introducing her to Alice in Wonderland, and the great Cheshire Cat himself.
Anecdotally, I, too, notice a lot of Jacksons (and spelling variations) among my 4 year old son’s social circle.
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The book Freakonomics did a part on naming conventions. As I recall, the trend was that the names of the wealthier class tended to trickle down to the lower classes in subsequent generations.
I think, too, that the African American examples of unusual names may be a reflection of a portion of the culture that originally sought to separate itself from slave legacies (of which “Christian” names are one relic).
As for my kid…his first and middle names are from his mother’s family name. His first name is a last name that works as a first name (and is both his great-grandmother’s maiden name and his grandfather’s middle name).
I lived down the street from an Oh, so very Catholic family, where all the kids went to Catholic school, and they had about 11 of them. All the girls (I think 7 of them) were Mary Something. Mary Theresa, Mary Catherine, Mary Bernadette, Mary Josephine &c (I don’t remember them all). Of course, they were Terrie, Cat, Dee and Jo, IRL. Cat and Dee both babysat for my brother and me a handful of times.
My son’s name is John. His Hebrew name is Yochanan. We call him Johnny. He just turned 11, and I keep expecting him to come to us and ask us to just call him “John,” or even “Jack,” but not so far. He is very big for his age, so maybe he likes being a “Gentle Giant,” I don’t know. Or maybe it’s just because he likes The Big Bang Theory, so as far as he is concerned, he has a TV star name.
Anyway, you would not believe how many people compliment us on his “classic” name. He is named after a very old childhood friend of mine, who sadly passed away at age 34, and he was named after his grandfather, but we take all compliments as intended, and smile.
I really appreciate all the responses !
The thing is, judging by the kids in my son’s school, every other child has an “unusual” name nowadays. So it’s not that big a deal. When every name is strange, then none are, and it’s no longer something to be made fun of.
Forget about ever getting a job with a name like that, assuming you stay out of jail long enough to ever apply for one.
(well, it’s true)
My lil’wrekker’s real name is a season and our last name is an object, so she gets double takes on her name all the time, but they are really very common words. Just not names, generally speaking.
The only reason old fashiond names sound old fashioned is because they were popular a long time ago, and the people who have those names are elderly now. There’s nothing inherently old about them. And at the time that many of them were created, they were new-fangled and unusual.
Apparently there was a time when most people were called either Mary, Elizabeth, Henry, or John. You have to start distinguishing yourself then, so you create Rosemary, Betty, Harry, and Jack, or Marybeth, Lizzie, Hank, or Johnny.
Names ideally should reflect character, but they rarely do, even though a lot of times people seem to grow into them like destiny draws them that way. There was a kid I used to know whose name was Arthur Whittleston. Imagine what kind of person fits that name. Yes, that is exactly what he was like.
I don’t have any kids, but I would be tempted to choose a name for them that would be unique enough that there wouldn’t be three others in their class at School, but not so unusual that they would need to spell it out every time. I have a niece named Briar who I think fits that rule very successfully.
What would Johns Hopkins think? Or Salmon P. Chase? Or Cotton Mather? Or even Mathew Brady?
Her name is Spring Spring? Is she a panda?
I have three great nieces (ages ten and under)- Ione, Fiona, and Matilda. Just more names I’d associate with my grandmother’s generation.
The strangest names of people I have personally met have to include Maleria (she said it was pronounced Mallory, but it sure didn’t read that way on her cashier’s name tag), Euretha, and Chimera (pr. Sha-mare-uh).
I hear ya, but some names just sound old. Who would look down at a newborn and say they want to call their kid Gladys? Or Ralph, Agnes or Stanley.
I get it names go through fads and phases. I was born in the early 60s, and I knew tons of Lisas and Teresas. Nobody is naming girls Lisa too much right now, but it will swing back around.
My sister was born in the early 70s when the movie Love Story was popular and her name is Jennifer Lynn. She complains that in her generation there are enough Jennifer Lynns and Jennifer Leighs to fill a dozen stadiums. Alot of people really liked Love Story.
I taught at a Technical College for a number of years, and I encountered 3 girls’ names over and over. Ashley. Tiffany. Brittany. In every spelling incarnation imaginable. Equally popular among various races. I was guaranteed every class was going to have multiples of each.
And despite my own Irish heritage, I do find this latest batch of plays on Gaelic names like Aislynn, and the over-used Kaitlyn and Kayley and Hayley to be just redundant and annoying.
Born in 1968…you know, 9 months after the summer of love:cool:
Would you be surprised to know I went to school with a pair of sisters named…
Rainbow and Sunshine.:smack:
And the made up spelling of names like Kaitlin, Katelynn, Kaitlynn etc, I always thought it was like the metal bands in the 80’s:D
Dragunnzmyyth
Wyld Stallyns
Savatge
Poor Rainyseason Hammer. 
Aren’t those three of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
When a co-worker told us his newborn’s name was Samuel, I had to suppress the urge to say “your wife gave birth to an 80 year old man?” . And it’s Samuel!!NOT Sam! Oh, please :rolleyes: