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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 f

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 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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 ;)

ghaff 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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 13y 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 ;)