# Why don't people name their sons "John" anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648 "2023-03-03T12:10:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/61 "2023-03-05T22:41:11Z")
Aside from one boy in 4th grade that I was friends with even before we went to the same school, the earliest classmate’s name I remember was the girl I had a crush on in 6th grade. From 7th grade on, I remember a few. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/62 "2023-03-05T22:43:48Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As I noted upthread, it seems to have occurred in the 1960s (more or less), as I can’t think of many adult Richards born in the '60s or later who chose to use “Dick” as their nickname, instead opting for “Rich,” "Rick, “Richie,” etc. “Why change Dicks in the middle of a screw? Vote for Nixon in '72!” So it was well-established by the early 70’s, at least. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/63 "2023-03-05T23:49:28Z")
I think dick = penis goes back to the Middle Ages, so I don’t know why we got sensitive about it recently. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/64 "2023-03-06T00:01:03Z")
What is that name? You can PM me if you don’t want to post it here. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/65 "2023-03-06T00:01:56Z")
In the mid 1980s, my parents knew someone who had a baby boy, and my dad said, “What did they name him - Justin, Ryan, or Kyle?” LOL ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/66 "2023-03-06T00:29:46Z")
Do you have any evidence for thinking this? OED says that Dick, as a nickname for Richard \> slang for male person, goes back to at least the Tudor era, so almost medieval; as “male sexual partner” from the mid-1600s; but as a slang word for the penis, their earliest evidence is c. 1890. A [slang dictionary of the period](https://www.google.ca/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_Slang_Jargon_Cant/4Z5BAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=307) calls it military slang. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/67 "2023-03-06T00:30:58Z")
There’s a prominent Canadian member of the International Olympic Committee named Dick Pound. (At one time he was a top candidate for IOC president.) Every time his name appears in news stories the snickering can be heard on the moon. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/68 "2023-03-06T00:36:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Aside from one boy in 4th grade that I was friends with even before we went to the same school, the earliest classmate’s name I remember was the girl I had a crush on in 6th grade. From 7th grade on, I remember a few. I can remember a ton of names from elementary school, but it was a K-8 school, so we were together for a long time. And some names are just memorable. One girl’s name was Bernadette Grandilli. Now, that’s a name. Also, she didn’t want to have her kindergarten picture taken, so her picture shows her with a teary, angry face with an arm holding her in the frame. Memorable! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/69 "2023-03-06T00:43:27Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > In the mid 1980s, my parents knew someone who had a baby boy, and my dad said, “What did they name him - Justin, Ryan, or Kyle?” Yup, that’d be about the right age. In the early 00s, I was teaching college labs, and if you didn’t know a male student’s name, you’d be pretty safe just saying “Hey, Ryan!”. @carrps , when I was in grade school, the usual practice around here was to change schools every 3ish years, and the schools were mostly not geographic, so there was very little correlation from one school to the next. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/70 "2023-03-06T00:45:24Z")
Then, that makes sense you’d not remember a lot of kids. It was a Catholic school, so not huge, which also helped me to remember a lot of them. Some kids moved in and out, but a large core number went straight through. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/71 "2023-03-06T01:32:32Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > A [slang dictionary of the period](https://www.google.ca/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_Slang_Jargon_Cant/4Z5BAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=307) calls it military slang. My slang dictionary is boxed up at the moment; my factoid felt true, but I was hoping I’d get away with pulling it out of my ass. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/72 "2023-03-06T01:35:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > @carrps , when I was in grade school, the usual practice around here was to change schools every 3ish years, and the schools were mostly not geographic, Changing schools every 3-ish years doesn’t seem so strange to me but that bit about the schools mostly not being geographic - were you talking about high schools there or do you mean that kindergarteners wouldn’t necessarily go to the closest school with a kindergarten? ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/73 "2023-03-06T02:29:11Z")
When I was a kid we moved on average every three years so I never went to one school for very long. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/74 "2023-03-06T02:35:38Z")
I remember that Iranian newscasters, and parents too, were made uncomfortable during the 1996 U.S. presidential election, because “Dole” is a Farsi word for “penis.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/75 "2023-03-06T02:38:13Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > There’s a prominent Canadian member of the International Olympic Committee named Dick Pound. (At one time he was a top candidate for IOC president.) Every time his name appears in news stories the snickering can be heard on the moon One wonders if he ever met the late NASCAR driver Dick Trickle. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/76 "2023-03-06T02:42:35Z")
(Keep in mind that it’s been a while, and I wasn’t the one making the decisions, so some details might be off) I think that the setup was that the default was nearby schools, but there were a lot of “magnet schools” that were special in some way, and so parents could choose to send their kid to one of the magnet schools instead of to their local school. K-3, I was in a school a decent ways away, because it was (at least in name) a Montessori school. 4-5, I was at a school close enough to walk to (there were a couple of even closer schools, but I don’t know if they were the right grade range). 6th grade, I went to a 6-12 school downtown that was supposed to be focused on science (but wasn’t particularly). That particular school was a disaster, and 7th-8th I went clear to the opposite side of town for an all-honors junior high school. And then 9-12, I was in Catholic schools. So, all told, the only school I went to for geographic reasons, out of 9 years of public education, was only for 2 years. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/77 "2023-03-06T06:07:27Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > What is that name? You can PM me if you don’t want to post it here. Sure. It’s Raphael, or Raffi for short (as an aside - while most Israelis write the name “Rafael” or “Refael” in English, I, an intellectual, decided to spell it like the Ninja Turtle). It was my father-in-law’s name, and before that, it was his grandfather’s name; according to family legend, the name has appeared every other generation for centuries I liked the name, and I liked him, so I had no problem continuing the tradition. Anyway, when my son was born, we got some criticism for it being old-fashioned, as well as quite a lot of “O, that’s so nice, it’s good to see one of the classic names coming back.” Now it’s the 7th most popular baby name in the country. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/78 "2023-03-07T12:15:35Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > When did Dick (=Richard, right?) … turn into dick (male reproductive organ) … in the wider society? Google says this: “The term “dick” has been a euphemism for the penis since at least as far back as the **19th century**. Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang dates the “penis” sense of the word to the mid-19th century.” Yet, it remained a popular nickname at least until the mid 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/79 "2023-03-12T18:20:27Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > without checking it … my a priori guess is that Mary does fare similarly … While I’ve known many Marys, the youngest Mary I know is close to 40 years old, and she’s the only one I’ve met who is currently younger than their 50s. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648/80 "2023-03-12T18:39:41Z")
The [NameGrapher](https://namerology.com/baby-name-grapher/) that **DSeid** linked to upthread shows that Mary was the #1 girl’s name up through the 1950’s but has fallen dramatically in recent decades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-name-their-sons-john-anymore/980648.md?page=5)