It's so silly how names in the US come and go like fashion. When I was a kid there were so many Michelles and Jennifers and now they don't even make the list at all. My sister has two girls. Abigail and Hayley (not Hailey.. maybe you could include that as an alt spelling?)... both unsurprisingly on this list. And a boy Jacob, which is I think the most trendy boys' name right now. People are such sheep...
I'm from the era of Vicky, Carol, and Debbie. You don't see those names anymore, either. Today they seem to prefer the longer versions, Victoria and Carolyn, and I suppose Deborah is completely off the charts. I have a friend whose granddaughters are named Melody and Symphony.
Deborah is from the Bible so I suppose it will always be a possibility as some people prefer to use biblical names, but it may be a while before Vicky and Carol come 'round again. I've noticed that the pronunciation has changed for Deborah, though. In my day the accent was on the first syllable which led to the nickname of Debbie or Deb. Nowadays when I do hear the name it has the accent on the second syllable. How was your friend's name pronounced, Kalb?
I don't understand why we're so judgmental when it comes to how others name their children. Just seems like an odd thing to have such a strong opinion about.
strong likes or dislikes for a name, sure. But bashing or judging the parents for it, or projecting all sorts of prejudice on it... no.
There are SOME names that simple go beyond common sense. Other than that it is simply taste (and yes the amount of times you have heard a name plays a role in that) That name that one person finds horrendous the other finds charming. So one might say parents that name their kid Abigail are horrible people while others think how on earth could you name your kid Carla, they must be ... "insert a random group of people/character trait etc" (Rich, dumb, hippies etc).
I do agree that it is surprising how a name can be so in fashion, if you know like 10 aidens personally... why name your kid that aswell? Classes with a quarter of the kid the same name... Well I guess to counter that, there is the "unique"spellings.
My parents named my sister Lucy because they liked the name, apparently entirely unaware that a ton of people were naming their children Lucy at the same time... fortunately/unfortunately I ended up with a name that hasn't been popular since the 1940s
I don't have a problem with unusual names so much as ordinary names with unusual or alternate spellings. I really wish every name had just one universal spelling and that's it. Do you know how many times in my life I have been asked "Is that Eric with a 'c' or a 'k'?" I'm so sick of that. And it's only got to be worse for all the Gynnifers and Katelins of the world.
I dont mind alternate spellings persee. As long as they make sense and are not purely to be fancy. Like nancy spelled as nhancihi or something with way too much letters. Stephen or Steven, no problem. Zhstiefhan... yes...
I worked with a woman that went out of her way to give her children unique names, I told her spelling a normal name in a ridiculous manner doesn't constitute a unique name.
Her boys' name was spelled Zeaqquett but was pronounced Steven.
Her girls' name was spelled Zeaqquette but was pronounced Sarah.
Huh what? Haha. Well there is this thing where fish is spelled as ghoti (if you haven't heard of it, look it up). But even using that method I can't end up with Stephen and Sarah. .
On the contrary, people are far less predictable today than past years, at least when it comes to naming their children. In 1950, only 5% of parents strayed out of the Top 1,000 names when naming their child. In 2012, 27% of parents went weird and left the Top 1,000. The top 10 names used to command a huge percentage of all births, but it is much lower today as people go for "unique". If it hasn't been posted yet, the Baby Voyager site is really interesting. http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=&sw=both&exact=false
A handful I never would have gotten, since I think of them as male names - either usually, or at least interchangeably. Examples of 'male' names on the list include Aubrey (maybe folks are confusing it with Audrey?), Avery, and of course Addison and Madison (which mean 'son of Adam' and 'son of Matthew' respectively).
Aubrey is definitely a male name. If you're giving it to a girl, you're basically just misspelling Audrey. Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone would do that - Audrey is a much more euphonious name.
I feel like it is more biased towards the gender of the person that you meet first, like I see Aubrey as a girl name because I meet a girl named Aubrey when I was in elementary school
I am not really familiar with either.. but if you would have asked me which of this is the boys name and which is the girls name, I would ve said, audrey is the male name and aubrey the girl. Audrey looks like andrew amongst other things, aubrey... I dont know, maybe it is the bri (brie not bry) like in brianna.
Audrey used to be pretty big in France for people of my age. Not only one girl with that name, I've come across. It's making a new coming in other countries (yes, I checked). Apparently it originates from Æðelþryð which was a name for a strong and noble princess. Always been female.
Aubrey, to me, sounds like someone is pleasantly surprised at finding a chunk of cheese. It turns out to be unisex nowadays and originally it's Alberich or Alberic, which is a man's name from German mythology. One very mighty king of the dwarfs.
I think names are a funny thing. Especially how Tv/social media influences our life. I was born in the 70s One tine a lady told me in a hospital what year i was born by the spelling of my name because there was a popular tv character that year or two that spelled it that way. She told me, everyone she had ever seen with that name and that spelling was around the same age due to the tv show. This included the women's own daughter. I think we hear a name on tv or see it in a magazine and think how great the name is, not realizing millions of other people are thinking the same thing. I have an Emily, never realizing it would be so popular. Had no clue. However if i would have had her 10 12 years before I probably would have name her Alexis or Paradise, so Im grateful for my maturity.
That's great! Probably easier for you kids since all your classmates have these sorts of names. Us old folks kept typing in names that aren't popular any more. :-)
I just have one question. Why are the names Emma and Olivia popular? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love common names like Mary and Ava. It's just that Emma and Olivia are TOO common for me. I don't know why I don't like those names, I just feel like they are not the best names.
It's the middle name of my 6-yr-old granddaughter, and is also her mother's middle name which I think may have come from her mother or grandmother, and on it goes. It's a biblical name.
The only time names really bug me is when parents intentionally make them noteworthy because of the surname. I grew up hearing about Texas Gov. Hogg's daughter, Ima. My grandfather knew a girl named Belle Ringer. There was an attorney in the old courthouse books of our area named Madden Looney. All of those would be fine first names, but to pair them with their surnames seems cruel to me.
There was a gynecologist at the hospital where I worked named Harry Beaver. If you google it now he's become so notorious that he's even got a snopes page about him.
Interesting how the names of both of my sisters (Emily and Ava) are still relatively popular. Especially Ava. I only knew like two Avas growing up and now they seem to be everywhere.
Got a bunch, then resorted to typing "Hortense" and "Harriet" and "Mavis" because fashions are so random you never know. On a wild whim, I even tried "Margaret." If I had a girl, I swear I'd name her Jane. (Warning: our granddaughters will all be called Shirley and Lois.)
I heard a young girl once say she wanted to have five daughters when she grew up and name them Zoe, Chloe, Ione, Leone, and Phoebe. I asked how she spelled "Foby" and she spelled it the same as Phoebe "Feeby".
One of the worst names I've ever seen for a young girl was "Onastie" - Mom thought she was being clever by respelling "Honesty." But if you pronounce it phonetically, as most of us teachers do when reading unfamiliar children's names aloud, "O Nasty" can really open a kid up to cruel jokes. Some people just shouldn't have children ....
Grandmas did. My daughters will likely be naming their daughters Michelle, Melissa, Jennifer, etc., thinking that those names are old fashioned and classy. It's the circle of common names that goes round and round forever.
In my opinion the whole reason for a middle name is so that kids get one boring name and one awesome name. You want to name your kid James? Fine. James Tyrannosaurus Smith. Call him Rex for short.
There are some really great names for kittens and puppies in here! (In fact, the AKC says Luna is the #1 name for dogs in 2022, with Lucy and Willow also in the top 10.)
There are SOME names that simple go beyond common sense. Other than that it is simply taste (and yes the amount of times you have heard a name plays a role in that) That name that one person finds horrendous the other finds charming. So one might say parents that name their kid Abigail are horrible people while others think how on earth could you name your kid Carla, they must be ... "insert a random group of people/character trait etc" (Rich, dumb, hippies etc).
I do agree that it is surprising how a name can be so in fashion, if you know like 10 aidens personally... why name your kid that aswell? Classes with a quarter of the kid the same name... Well I guess to counter that, there is the "unique"spellings.
Her boys' name was spelled Zeaqquett but was pronounced Steven.
Her girls' name was spelled Zeaqquette but was pronounced Sarah.
I’m stealing it!!
Why, just why?
At least they weren't named Lobelia(Sackville-Baggins)!
Pretty names though
Aubrey, to me, sounds like someone is pleasantly surprised at finding a chunk of cheese. It turns out to be unisex nowadays and originally it's Alberich or Alberic, which is a man's name from German mythology. One very mighty king of the dwarfs.
Super surprised about Evelyn, Eleanor, and Harper being on the list