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Wow, my dad would have loved to come across a tool like this. My father, in his infinite genius, devised a clever naming scheme for his children (three of us),

Wow, my dad would have loved to come across a tool like this. My father, in his infinite genius, devised a clever naming scheme for his children (three of us), with the following rules: 1. The middle name must be a fairly rare name, so that we might be the only one among friends/peers with the name, but not so unique or strange that we'd be ridiculed. I'm really grateful for this, and I consider the uniqueness (yet normalcy) of my name a huge gift. To this day I've only ever met one other Simon in person. (It's extremely rare in the US, but very popular in the UK I'm told). 2. The first name must be fairly common, everyday name, named after someone in the family, as a fallback for us. Then, we were all to be called by our middle names. If we grew up detesting that name[1], we could easily switch to our first name as our primary je m'apelle and nobody in our future would think twice about it. John Nicholas was picked for my brother's first and middle as Nicholas was a "good Greek name" that almost nobody in America used. That was 1987. If you look at Nicholas in this tool you'll see just what happened to that name! (in the 1980's it shot up to over 1% of names and remained that way until after 2000). My dad was kind of bummed, and probably would have picked a different name if he had a bit of accessible clairvoyance. (Remember, pre-internet it was hard to even know that you could find this information out at all. I suspect the data he found in the 1980's, if any, was already years out of date) I'm the only child that didn't follow the rubric because Anthony Simon Sarris makes for a slightly offensive monogram, so my parents switched the order (to Simon Anthony Sarris) and I'm the only child called by his first name. [1] My little brother hated his middle name Morgan for most of his life (a girl's name too, some teasing, etc) so most of his friends call him by his first name. After high-school he appreciates both names. Aside- I do think our kind are more predisposed to obsess over names than most: "There are only two hard problems in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things." -- Phil Karlton

Theodores 12y ago
I was almost a 'Simon', however my mum spared me that name. However, it really is a popular name in the UK and has been perennially so. There is the potential for school-ground teasing - 'Simon says...' and 'simple Simon...' are two potential problem areas. As for Nicholas, not sure about kids today in the UK but there were plenty of Nicholii when I was at school, again, it wasn't a 'fad' name. I do find the called-by-second name 'rule' to be tantamount to having a stage name. It is rare in the UK for people to have their 'given' name as their middle name, I have only ever know one British person to do that. Maybe I should get out more, however, that is including the vast hordes of school/university friends/coursemates/party-goers. Personally I am glad I wasn't named after someone who turned out to be somewhat less than wholesome. Whatever happened to those born in the 1930's and given the name 'Adolf'? I did check but 'Adolf' has been erased from Time's databanks.
- ghaff 12y ago
  Interestingly, Adolph was already on a pretty sharp decline before the 1930s (and Adolf, with that spelling, was always very rare--which is interesting and which I never realized). http://www.babynamewizard.com/ http://www.babynamewizard.com/
  - ovulator 12y ago
    I beleive nearly all records you’ll find of baby names online are based on United States data. As such, the decline of Adolph before the 1930’s could probably be attributited to the negative German propoganda leading up to WWI.
    - ghaff 12y ago
      Good point. I was thinking of the obvious correlation but it would be reasonable to expect a drop-off of obviously Germanic names starting around the time of WWI. You do see a drop-off prior to that (which may well be related to US immigration patterns) but then a leveling off. That's followed though by a sharp dropoff around 1914 which you'd probably expect.
- jpatokal 12y ago
  As Louis CK artfully explains here, it doesn't matter what you name your kid, other kids will find ways to make fun of it: http://youtu.be/WNSf-KQORRk?t=1m17s http://youtu.be/WNSf-KQORRk?t=1m17s
- kijin 12y ago
  > named after someone who turned out to be somewhat less than wholesome South Korea here. Lots of Koreans (both South and North) are named Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, or Kim Jong Un. The fact that 20% of Koreans have the surname Kim exacerbates the problem. Of course, Il Sung and Jong Il went into a sharp decline in South Korea as soon as people found out that they were seriously inauspicious names. But nobody had time to prepare for Jong Un's rise to power. Moreover, Jong Un is a relatively common name for girls ;)
Spooky23 12y ago
The beauty of names is that you can pretty much do what you wish. I go by a name that has nothing at all to do with my given name, and I don't ever recall ever being called by my given name. (Fortunately, it shares a letter, making signatures easier.) I'm the third generation doing that with my particular combination of names. It was explained to me that this was relatively common in Ireland in the 19th century when official records were subject to forced anglicization. Whatever the case, it never causes any problems at all. Once in awhile a hard-ass security guard will give me some grief, but I'm high enough up the chain now that it doesn't happen much.
Yen 12y ago
Off-topic, I've often heard the quote: "There are only two hard problems in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors."
- deleted 12y ago
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slyall 12y ago
In the UK Simon used to be very popular (getting into the top 10 boys names in the early 70s). I'm from New Zealand and it was a very common name when I was growing up, it would be common to have at least one other "Simon" in my classes. It is a much less common name these day however. http://www.babynames.co.uk/popular-baby-names#name0=Simon http://www.babynames.co.uk/popular-baby-names#name0=Simon
Fuxy 12y ago
Just pick random European or other foreign names if you want something unique. Make sure it's not a profanity in English and you should be fine. I'm in the lucky position to have a considerably unique name naturally. A goggle search of my name would turn up me and another 2 people max.
- allendoerfer 12y ago
  Do not try this in Germany. There is the term kevinism or chantalism [1]. If you name your child in such a way, it is most likely to decrease his or her chances in life. I guess, most middle class parents in America will not name their "Heaven" or something like that, but in Germany it is even stricter. Germans seem to pay close attention to names and assign you to a social class, based on it. For example, if you get a phd, become a professor or member of a parliament, you are allowed to put a special token in front of your name (Dr., Prof., MdB, MdL), even in official documents like your driving license. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/does-a-lame-name-make-you-more-likely-to-be-a-smoker-with-low-self-esteem/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/does-...
R_Edward 12y ago
I share a first name with my father, so to save confusion, they called me by my middle name. If it were strictly a matter of social convenience, that would be fine. But you can't do anything in the modern world without submitting some kind of form, and the form is what gives me trouble. I can put my first initial in the First Name field, but then some people think that means I want to be called R. Some people, confronted with a single letter in the First Name field, might look at the Middle Name field, but often the Middle Name field is actually a Middle Initial field. So now they have no idea what to call me, and usually default back to R. I could take the daring step of "lying," and putting my middle name in the First Name field, and my first initial in the Middle Initial field, but if they ever try to compare that record to, say, my drivers license or passport, there will be a mismatch, and some uncomfortable questions being asked. This is especially troublesome if the form is something that is likely to be coordinated with other forms in different offices. Ironically, the first time I ever got any pushback for being an Initial-Name-Name instead of a Name-Initial-Name was when the HR department at Burroughs was processing my new-hire paperwork. Burroughs was chaired, at the time, by one W. Michael Blumenthal.

Theodores 12y ago

I was almost a 'Simon', however my mum spared me that name. However, it really is a popular name in the UK and has been perennially so. There is the potential for school-ground teasing - 'Simon says...' and 'simple Simon...' are two potential problem areas. As for Nicholas, not sure about kids today in the UK but there were plenty of Nicholii when I was at school, again, it wasn't a 'fad' name. I do find the called-by-second name 'rule' to be tantamount to having a stage name. It is rare in the UK for people to have their 'given' name as their middle name, I have only ever know one British person to do that. Maybe I should get out more, however, that is including the vast hordes of school/university friends/coursemates/party-goers. Personally I am glad I wasn't named after someone who turned out to be somewhat less than wholesome. Whatever happened to those born in the 1930's and given the name 'Adolf'? I did check but 'Adolf' has been erased from Time's databanks.

ghaff 12y ago
Interestingly, Adolph was already on a pretty sharp decline before the 1930s (and Adolf, with that spelling, was always very rare--which is interesting and which I never realized). http://www.babynamewizard.com/ http://www.babynamewizard.com/
- ovulator 12y ago
  I beleive nearly all records you’ll find of baby names online are based on United States data. As such, the decline of Adolph before the 1930’s could probably be attributited to the negative German propoganda leading up to WWI.
  - ghaff 12y ago
    Good point. I was thinking of the obvious correlation but it would be reasonable to expect a drop-off of obviously Germanic names starting around the time of WWI. You do see a drop-off prior to that (which may well be related to US immigration patterns) but then a leveling off. That's followed though by a sharp dropoff around 1914 which you'd probably expect.
jpatokal 12y ago
As Louis CK artfully explains here, it doesn't matter what you name your kid, other kids will find ways to make fun of it: http://youtu.be/WNSf-KQORRk?t=1m17s http://youtu.be/WNSf-KQORRk?t=1m17s
kijin 12y ago
> named after someone who turned out to be somewhat less than wholesome South Korea here. Lots of Koreans (both South and North) are named Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, or Kim Jong Un. The fact that 20% of Koreans have the surname Kim exacerbates the problem. Of course, Il Sung and Jong Il went into a sharp decline in South Korea as soon as people found out that they were seriously inauspicious names. But nobody had time to prepare for Jong Un's rise to power. Moreover, Jong Un is a relatively common name for girls ;)

Spooky23 12y ago

The beauty of names is that you can pretty much do what you wish. I go by a name that has nothing at all to do with my given name, and I don't ever recall ever being called by my given name. (Fortunately, it shares a letter, making signatures easier.) I'm the third generation doing that with my particular combination of names. It was explained to me that this was relatively common in Ireland in the 19th century when official records were subject to forced anglicization. Whatever the case, it never causes any problems at all. Once in awhile a hard-ass security guard will give me some grief, but I'm high enough up the chain now that it doesn't happen much.

Yen 12y ago

Off-topic, I've often heard the quote: "There are only two hard problems in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors."

deleted 12y ago
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deleted 12y ago

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slyall 12y ago

In the UK Simon used to be very popular (getting into the top 10 boys names in the early 70s). I'm from New Zealand and it was a very common name when I was growing up, it would be common to have at least one other "Simon" in my classes. It is a much less common name these day however. http://www.babynames.co.uk/popular-baby-names#name0=Simon http://www.babynames.co.uk/popular-baby-names#name0=Simon

Fuxy 12y ago

Just pick random European or other foreign names if you want something unique. Make sure it's not a profanity in English and you should be fine. I'm in the lucky position to have a considerably unique name naturally. A goggle search of my name would turn up me and another 2 people max.

allendoerfer 12y ago
Do not try this in Germany. There is the term kevinism or chantalism [1]. If you name your child in such a way, it is most likely to decrease his or her chances in life. I guess, most middle class parents in America will not name their "Heaven" or something like that, but in Germany it is even stricter. Germans seem to pay close attention to names and assign you to a social class, based on it. For example, if you get a phd, become a professor or member of a parliament, you are allowed to put a special token in front of your name (Dr., Prof., MdB, MdL), even in official documents like your driving license. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/does-a-lame-name-make-you-more-likely-to-be-a-smoker-with-low-self-esteem/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/does-...

R_Edward 12y ago

I share a first name with my father, so to save confusion, they called me by my middle name. If it were strictly a matter of social convenience, that would be fine. But you can't do anything in the modern world without submitting some kind of form, and the form is what gives me trouble. I can put my first initial in the First Name field, but then some people think that means I want to be called R. Some people, confronted with a single letter in the First Name field, might look at the Middle Name field, but often the Middle Name field is actually a Middle Initial field. So now they have no idea what to call me, and usually default back to R. I could take the daring step of "lying," and putting my middle name in the First Name field, and my first initial in the Middle Initial field, but if they ever try to compare that record to, say, my drivers license or passport, there will be a mismatch, and some uncomfortable questions being asked. This is especially troublesome if the form is something that is likely to be coordinated with other forms in different offices. Ironically, the first time I ever got any pushback for being an Initial-Name-Name instead of a Name-Initial-Name was when the HR department at Burroughs was processing my new-hire paperwork. Burroughs was chaired, at the time, by one W. Michael Blumenthal.