# Old sounding baby names in your part of the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-sounding-baby-names-in-your-part-of-the-world/563692 "2010-12-10T19:33:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-sounding-baby-names-in-your-part-of-the-world/563692/41 "2010-12-14T00:42:08Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > One of the interesting points mentioned in that Freakonomics chapter nentioned above is that it isn’t so much celebrities’ baby name that are influential. It’s upper class baby names. When people hear what rich people name their babies, they give their own babies those names, hoping to capture that success. But then the names start to feel middle and lower class, so the upper classes stop using them and move on to other names. That’s how the cycle works. Donald Trump’s kids by wives 2 and 3 are ‘Tiffany’ (back in 1993) and ‘Barron’ (more recently). I will make no further comment except there’s a difference between upper class and rich. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-sounding-baby-names-in-your-part-of-the-world/563692/42 "2010-12-14T05:21:24Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I went to school with someone named Ivan. It’s no big deal, and soon enough won’t be any problem for you to accept, I guarantee it. > > One of my best friends as a kid was named Dirk, because his family were Dutch. That’s a name that is sort of cool, but nevertheless inspires comment. I went to high school with 3 Ivans in the early '00s. Two were Ukrainian or Russian immigrants (and preferred to be called ee-vaan), but one was born in America (eye-vin). I feel like most American kids these days go to school with at least a few kids with unheard-of names from different cultures, and ‘creative’ names have been on the rise since the 80s (whether they are old-fashioned, trendy, or just made-up). I never noticed anyone being bullied or looked down on for a having an unusual name. While my high school was majority white and most kids had pretty standard names, I can remember kids named Yulia (from Ukraine), Giulia (parents from Italy), Love (American girl with siblings named Hope and Victor), Gurdeep (parents from India), Princess (American - there were like 10), Ming (parents from China), Gyasi (from Ghana), Attaché (American), Namir, Talia, Yoel (there were a lot of Israeli kids in my class), Diamond (American), Yu (parents from China), Dhani (American but his parents are weird Hari Krishna cultists), Jean-Paul (from Canada) and I can’t remember anyone making a big deal about their unusual names. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-sounding-baby-names-in-your-part-of-the-world/563692/43 "2010-12-14T06:27:20Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > I went to high school with 3 Ivans in the early '00s. Two were Ukrainian or Russian immigrants (and preferred to be called ee-vaan), but one was born in America (eye-vin). > > I feel like most American kids these days go to school with at least a few kids with unheard-of names from different cultures, and ‘creative’ names have been on the rise since the 80s (whether they are old-fashioned, trendy, or just made-up). I never noticed anyone being bullied or looked down on for a having an unusual name. While my high school was majority white and most kids had pretty standard names, I can remember kids named Yulia (from Ukraine), Giulia (parents from Italy), Love (American girl with siblings named Hope and Victor), Gurdeep (parents from India), Princess (American - there were like 10), Ming (parents from China), Gyasi (from Ghana), Attaché (American), Namir, Talia, Yoel (there were a lot of Israeli kids in my class), Diamond (American), Yu (parents from China), Dhani (American but his parents are weird Hari Krishna cultists), Jean-Paul (from Canada) and I can’t remember anyone making a big deal about their unusual names. I guess it depends where you live, but it’s certainly true around here. My wife is a first grade teacher in a suburb of San Francisco, and it’s practically a United Nations around here. It’s difficult to laugh at “unusual” names because unusual names are the majority. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-sounding-baby-names-in-your-part-of-the-world/563692/44 "2010-12-14T14:11:00Z")
That really is true. And once you get to know the person attached to the name, it becomes _them_ and doesn’t seem weird at all. Of course I’m not supposed to be talking about this at all, considering what I named my son. (An old family name that absolutely no one else in America has, besides his father and grandfather.) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-sounding-baby-names-in-your-part-of-the-world/563692/45 "2010-12-14T14:19:30Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > That really is true. And once you get to know the person attached to the name, it becomes _them_ and doesn’t seem weird at all. > > Of course I’m not supposed to be talking about this at all, considering what I named my son. (An old family name that absolutely no one else in America has, besides his father and grandfather.) WELL? Tell us! I promise that I, for one, will not hunt you down to point and laugh! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-sounding-baby-names-in-your-part-of-the-world/563692.md?page=2)