I got an invented name, and the only other females I know in the world with such a name, I think one lives in Venezuela and the other one is either also from Venezuela or else from Panamá (I’m from PR). We’re all around the same age, IIRC (from doing a facebook search a while back). In fact, I think one of this days I may contact them, as I wonder how the hell their families pick up their names.
In the event I ever have female girls, I already have the names picked out. They’ll probably want to kill me when they grow up, though, as their names will sound exactly like characters out of a Gabriel García’s novel. But I’m planning on naming them after my great grandmother and grandmother.
If I have boys, they won’t be spared… they’ll end up with obscure family names… That is, a name found in the family, but not used often (and not used in a couple of generations already).
In the UK, it was number 14 in 2006 and 12 the year after, so your son would meet tons of little Georges his age over here. This list of top boys’ names in the UKis a mish-mash of Grandad names, modern innovations, and different spellings of Mohammed (although a lot of kids with the first name Mohammed are never actually called that - they’re M. Faisal Hoque, or whatever).
That’s altogether not surprising, since we know that names always go in generational cycles, not from grandparent to grandchild, but great-grandparent to great-grandchild. (If my daughter had been a boy, he might have ended up being another little George, after my Grandad). Some people name their kids after their grandparents, names of that generation become popular, and soon people are giving their kids grandad names just because they like them.
What’s more unusual is that girls’ names are recycling more than they used to. Apart from a few traditional names and some recycling, there were always tons of innovative names for girls - it was less common for women’s names to be passed down, so they never came back into trend as much as boys’ names did. I like to think that granny names coming back more than before is because women are getting more recognition.
It’ll take about 20 or 25 years, but then those baby boomer names are going to be so popular you’re going to get confused walking down the street. Course, you’ll be ancient by then, so that’ll probably happen anyway.
Hey, that’s usually what I tell him anyway. He’s my big brother, so I’m pretty much required to say that often, even if we are both old enough to think about retirement funds and arthritis!
No, seriously, I understand his dislike: There are some nicknames that are just. plain. wrong. Not because they’re awful, but in context. People who don’t know me well often shorten my name to “Rach.” It’s a familiarity that I hate. I don’t mind that people who know me well often call me “Rae,” but I hate the false familiarity of “Rach.” Ick. And people who were introduced to my brother as “Bobby” would often shorten it to “Bob.” Not cool. If you don’t know someone, you certainly shouldn’t randomly abbreviate the name by which s/he was introduced to you.
Actually, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to baby names lately, anyway. My fiance is childless, and we’ve discussed the possibility of maybe having a child after we marry next year. I don’t mind naming a boy after my fiance’s middle name, but I just don’t think I could saddle an innocent baby with the future Mr. Matata’s first name… Alvin! (Even my fiance doesn’t use that name. He uses a diminutive of his middle name.) Other family names that won’t make an appearance on a theoretical future birth certificate: Maurice, Fanny, Aquila (?!), Grady, Clifford, Mittie, Beulah, Bertha, or Gertrude. There are a couple of other “old-fashioned” family names, though, that I kind of like: Addie, Henry, and Lily among them.
My name was somewhat popular the year that I was born, but has shot up to the top 40 in the past couple of years. The diminutive was much more common among the girls that graduated with me.
Of my great-grandmothers’ names, 3/4 are now in the top 50, two of them in the top 10. The great grandfathers, 1/2 are in the top 50, one of them in the top 10.
A girls’ name that you still don’t hear much, even with the resurgence of granny names, is Ruth. I always thought that I would like to name a daughter that.
I know at least six Karens. My mother, my aunt, and at least four people related to my work. Every single one of them, as far as I’m aware, is in the same age group.
My mother and two of her sisters married men named Harold, and I had a giant crush on a little boy named John Harold when I was about five, and went through school with a guy named Harold who thought it was an old-fashioned name and Hal would be a good nickname.
You never hear that name anymore. (Hal, yes; Harold, no.)
My first name started off around 150 in 1960, peaked six years after I was born and is now ranked around 110 today. I guess word got out that I’m the best and to name any others after me would just make them… inferior somehow.
My grandmother’s name is Pamela, a lovely name that has fallen off the map as far as popularity goes. I’m pretty sure that it was cutting-edge when she got the name. Her mother was Marguerite. My mother almost named me after her but just couldn’t saddle me with it. Instead I am Elizabeth, which is probably the most timeless female name next to Mary. And I married a man with an incredibly common last name, so there are approximately 20 of me registered to vote in my county alone.
I’m 38, and there was a Joan in my class growing up. It was a bit odd. Not bad. Just unexpected. I really like the name, and I’m looking forward to its comeback, which I predict will be in full swing in about 20 years.
Drain Bead and Savannah–I didn’t know you were Elizabeths. Me too. It’s one of the few female names that has always maintained a base level of popularity over the years. Others would be Sarah, Anne, and Victoria. Mary would have been another if not for its recent (and surprising) disappearance.
My wife and I both have unusual names. Mine is rare enough that it would identify me. I went to College in a large state school with over 23,000 students. A friend found my contact information by searching my first name since I was one of two. (This was back in the early to mid nineties when universities put all the students contact information online)
My wife’s name is similarly unusual. My son’s name is no 46 on the list and climbing. We wanted a name that wasn’t too common but that could be easily spelled and pronounced.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be called Ruth - I hated my own name. More recently, I thought I’d use that name if I had a second daughter. Alas, it was not to be…
I’m 21 now, but there were several Michelles and Jennifers in my grade or at least at high school with me, and a few Melissas too.
But they weren’t as common as Ashley. I don’t think I ever had more than one Michelle or Jennifer within the same class period, but I had a few classes with multiple Ashleys.
No, I was leaning towards some of the other longer, older, classical names. Like the minor character named Santa Sofia de la Piedad. I don’t have a middle name, I wish my kids have one.
We have the same name! And I too like it; it’s not too obscure, but totally non-trendy. (Watch Rachel become trendy in the next ten years now that I said that. sigh) Nobody’s ever called me Rae but I’m sure I wouldn’t like it. My coworkers call me Rach but I deal with it because it’s far too late to correct them.
And don’t call my brother Dave on pain of death. He hates it.
But I’m planning on naming them after my great grandmother and grandmother.