A carryover from my fascination with words is a pervasive interest in names — first names, as well as surnames. I have yet to understand how first names come in and out of fashion, sometimes with a boy’s name resurfacing as a girl’s name. Dare I term them “transgender” names?
In this category are Joyce, Marion, Carrol, Evelyn, Shirley, Madison, Sidney, Vivian, Hunter and untold others. Then there are names that are unisex, in one form or other, such as Pat, Chris, Kim, Jesse, Alex.
Names that are recycled, never seeming to disappear completely include Ruth, Helen, Judith, Barbara, Jane, Nancy, Linda, Julia, Martha, Rose, Claire, Alice, Emily, Joan, Agnes, JoAnn, Frances and Virginia for girls, as well as Craig, Floyd, Lloyd, Jeffrey, Joel, Samuel, Alfred, Arthur, Herbert, Robert, Richard, Donald, Benjamin, George, Scott, Henry, Simon, Luke, Theodore, Jasper, Walter, Oscar, Francis, Fred and Peter for boys.
For my generation, naming a boy Donald or George, or a girl Lucy or Frances, would have stood out, been distinctly odd and a subject for teasing, but at other times were quite popular. What is the reason for this, and is there an approximate lifetime for a name before it becomes unpopular?
Old standbys would include Catherine, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Susan, Sarah, Ann, Grace, Margaret, and Mary for girls, and David, Joseph Mark, Michael, Edward, Thomas, James, John, William and Matthew. These names, while their frequency may vary, never seem to go completely out of circulation.
Of course there are fads in names. French sounding girls names were really popular for a time — Michelle, Monique, Renee, Nicole — but now they have all but disappeared from view. Likewise, Irish or Gaelic names such as Sean, Shannon, Siobhan, Caitlin, Gavin, Griffin, Kelley, Kelsey and Dillon made a sudden appearance in the 1990s.
The “Heather” phenomenon was not at all typical — it appeared suddenly, it had never been a common girl’s name before, and then fell off the radar almost as quickly. It earned the reputation of being a grocery store name, meaning that if you called out the name in a crowded place, you were sure to have more than one respondent. “Tiffany” was pretty much the same way. Where did the name come from, and why were they so popular?
Fortunately, I’m not alone in this interest, as the Social Security Administration actually keeps track of naming trends. Where do we stand now? The top three names for girls were Sophia, Olivia, and Emma; for boys, they were Jackson, Liam and Noah.
During the last 100 years, “Mary” held first place for the 30 years from 1917-1946; it dropped to second place in 1947, where it stayed (second to Linda) for nine years, until 1953, when it resumed first place for another nine years, when it dropped again to second, then fell out of favor completely, starting in 1968. It has not claimed as high as even third place since, in almost 50 years.
For boys, the top three names were John, James and Robert from 1917 until 1953; they gradually lost out to David and Michael. Michael held reign for 38 years — it was in first place from 1954 to 1968 except for one year, when it briefly lost out to David.
The practice of using double names might be associated with the South, but not for girls. You won’t find many “Billy Bobs” in the Northeast, but names such as JoAnn, MaryBeth, Mary Catherine, Anne Marie, Roseann — especially the combinations with Mary — are found more or less everywhere.
Anyone delving into genealogy will encounter some really unusual naming practices among our ancestors. Two names for boys that were common, but today seem strange, were “Pleasant” and “Valentine.” Fairly common names for girls included “Feraby” (“Pheraby”), “Keziah,” “Jerusha” and “Tabitha.”
My prediction for the next set of popular names includes “Siri,” “Alexa” and “Echo,” but evidently much more is read into a name than it would appear.
