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My 18-month-old daughter's name is Evelyn (though we often call her Evie for short). Her name comes from two totally different places. First, she is named after

by jscheel 12y ago

My 18-month-old daughter's name is Evelyn (though we often call her Evie for short). Her name comes from two totally different places. First, she is named after my grandmother who passed away shortly before she was born. I wonder if this is part of the reason the older names are popular again. Secondly, she is named after Evie from The Mummy, which is one my wife's favorite movies (the 1999 version). Also a reason certain names become popular. Her middle name, Grace, comes from the fact that it was only by the grace of God that we were able to have her. We were really blessed with me getting some amazing freelance work when we were trying to figure out how to finance our IVF. I'm guessing that's a pretty common reason for Grace though. Well, anyways, we've done our part to influence the standing of Evelyn in the names race.

cschmidt 12y ago
Our daughter is Evelyn/Evie as well. She's 7, and we were ahead of the upward swing. (I was a big Social Security baby name geek). Our pediatrician said, "what an unusual name, there isn't another in our practice." Now there will be many to follow. I guess names just sound like their time has come, and everyone things so at the same time.
- ovulator 12y ago
  I think there are two main factors to why we see the popularity of certain names surge. One is what society finds important in a name. Right now in America that is representing uniqueness in the individual, which is why parents get dismayed when they see that they named children like many others, it makes their choice feel much less unique, and by extension, their child. The second part is that is has to sound like a name, if we wanted truly unique names you could name your kid “Ubizalan” and probably nail uniquness, but fail pretty miserably in sounding like a name. This is why we get phenomenon like: Aiden, Brayden, Jayden, Caiden … all very popular names and because of their spelling are “unique” but sound very similar, and therefore like a “name”. I think it is this second phenomenon that results in peaks for certain names. My daughters name is Scarlett, named after one of the colors of the University where my wife and I met. But had it not “sounded” like a legitimate name we wouldn’t have picked it. We certainly didn’t consider the rise of the popularity of the actress Scarlett Johansen, but having subconsiously heard her name in the media, it could have cemented the name as a “legitimate name” and made us more likely to pick it than a name which has faded into more obscure use.
  - gknoy 12y ago
    Most of us have also had Scarlett O'Hara as a literary figure for longer than our lives, and so the name will seem "valid" for our parents, and any peers. So, you are more likely to get a "Oh, neat, I haven't met anyone named that" than a "What the heck!?" response.
  - ghaff 12y ago
    I would have assumed that Scarlett O'Hara (i.e. Gone with the Wind) would have legitimized it, but I see it was very rare until recently.
coldpie 12y ago
> First, she is named after my grandmother who passed away shortly before she was born. I wonder if this is part of the reason the older names are popular again. Yeah, naming after grandparents is a major reason for name cycles. As the article says, names drop in popularity once they become popular, as people want relatively unique names for their children. So as the third generation grows up, their grandparents' once-popular names are now rarely used and seem unique again. Add the sentimental meaning on top of that, and you've got a name cycle inspired by grandparents. There's lots of sources for more information about the psychology of child naming. My main source was Steven (look at the popularity cycle of that name family in the chart!) Pinker's "The Stuff of Thought."

by jscheel 12y ago

cschmidt 12y ago

Our daughter is Evelyn/Evie as well. She's 7, and we were ahead of the upward swing. (I was a big Social Security baby name geek). Our pediatrician said, "what an unusual name, there isn't another in our practice." Now there will be many to follow. I guess names just sound like their time has come, and everyone things so at the same time.

ovulator 12y ago
I think there are two main factors to why we see the popularity of certain names surge. One is what society finds important in a name. Right now in America that is representing uniqueness in the individual, which is why parents get dismayed when they see that they named children like many others, it makes their choice feel much less unique, and by extension, their child. The second part is that is has to sound like a name, if we wanted truly unique names you could name your kid “Ubizalan” and probably nail uniquness, but fail pretty miserably in sounding like a name. This is why we get phenomenon like: Aiden, Brayden, Jayden, Caiden … all very popular names and because of their spelling are “unique” but sound very similar, and therefore like a “name”. I think it is this second phenomenon that results in peaks for certain names. My daughters name is Scarlett, named after one of the colors of the University where my wife and I met. But had it not “sounded” like a legitimate name we wouldn’t have picked it. We certainly didn’t consider the rise of the popularity of the actress Scarlett Johansen, but having subconsiously heard her name in the media, it could have cemented the name as a “legitimate name” and made us more likely to pick it than a name which has faded into more obscure use.
- gknoy 12y ago
  Most of us have also had Scarlett O'Hara as a literary figure for longer than our lives, and so the name will seem "valid" for our parents, and any peers. So, you are more likely to get a "Oh, neat, I haven't met anyone named that" than a "What the heck!?" response.
- ghaff 12y ago
  I would have assumed that Scarlett O'Hara (i.e. Gone with the Wind) would have legitimized it, but I see it was very rare until recently.

coldpie 12y ago

> First, she is named after my grandmother who passed away shortly before she was born. I wonder if this is part of the reason the older names are popular again. Yeah, naming after grandparents is a major reason for name cycles. As the article says, names drop in popularity once they become popular, as people want relatively unique names for their children. So as the third generation grows up, their grandparents' once-popular names are now rarely used and seem unique again. Add the sentimental meaning on top of that, and you've got a name cycle inspired by grandparents. There's lots of sources for more information about the psychology of child naming. My main source was Steven (look at the popularity cycle of that name family in the chart!) Pinker's "The Stuff of Thought."