# What happened to my name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 9, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-my-name/528271 "2010-02-09T13:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-my-name/528271/61 "2010-02-12T14:14:33Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > And I forgot the “-or” suffix for boys. > > Connor, Caylor, Taylor > > I really should make those dice. I could make a fortune! In Atlanta, it’s “-son”. Harrison, Emerson, Jackson, Jamison, etc. It’s so bad that I almost laugh when I hear it 24 times a morning at my child’s school ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-my-name/528271/62 "2010-02-12T15:11:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > According to [this handy dandy Java doodad](http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=PAUL&ms=true&sw=m&exact=true), the popularity of my first name, Paul, has plummeted from when I was named (in 1969) from 18th most popular, to 155th. > > The drop is so sudden and steep, it makes me think there was some reason behind the abandonment, especially as it is a tried and true, widespread, internationally adapted, even Biblical name, that had great popularity through the first half of the 20th Century. > > Did someone famous called Paul do something really bad in 1971 or something? Surely Paul McCartney, Paul Newman, and Paul Simon would have kept it in the public eye and in favour. > > Admittedly, there haven’t been too many popular Pauls in the 80s and beyond (Paul Reubens. Paul Reiser. Um… Pope John Paul. Paul Rudd, I suppose. Paul Walker, at a stretch). But that’s a symptom, not a cause. > > Please explain. Whiner. My name was \*\*NUMBER 1 \*\*in the 1930s and is now number 49! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-my-name/528271/63 "2010-02-12T23:48:05Z")
Just for the record, because a few people have made this assumption, I wasn’t _complaining_, I was just wondering what caused it. And there have been a couple of reasonable explanations proffered, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-my-name/528271/64 "2010-02-13T00:36:14Z")
Holy crad, look at the chart for “Unknown”! What’s going on there? ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-my-name/528271/65 "2010-02-13T19:43:42Z")
Try ‘Mary’… When I was a kid, this had to be the most common girl’s name ever. The fact that I went to a catholic school did not help. It was so common that it was normal to tack on the middle name to try to differentiate. Mary Lou, Mary Ann, Mary Ellen, Mary Sue, Mary Jo, etc… I avoided that name when my own daughter was born. I shouldn’t have. If I had named her ‘Mary’ in 1972, she would have been unique (and would still be unique in her age group!). Instead she was just one ‘Lisa’ of the half dozen in every class… :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-my-name/528271.md?page=3)