I feel really bad for people named Karen due to no fault of their own, as I've met a good amount of adults named Karen and heard jokes passed their way. I think it's extremely unfair that it turned into a meme depicting a caricature of a person. It's not even similar to a "Chad" which in guy-world is desirable to an extent.
Just another casualty of meme culture, but who cares right?
Well I never thought my name would ever rank high enough in popularity to even be on the table (although there are at least two of us on Hacker News) but it apparently dropped by eleven. I'm strangely proud of that.
Funny how many names I'd assumed were common are, evidently, not popular at all anymore. For instance, I would have guessed Melissa (#372) and Brittany (#934) would have been at least in the top 100.
They were probably just popular around my birth year and therefore I've been exposed to them a lot amongst my cohort.
The thing about this is that it shows that its not some other name becoming dominant, but rather that names are becoming more distinct - fewer children born with a certain given name each year.
For example, 1997 (the last year of Michael being the most common boy name) it only had 1.88% of total births - while in 1967, Michael accounted for 4.63% of total births.
Girl name popularity changes more rapidly than boy names.
The other "this is kind of interesting" is that similar names (e.g. names that start with an L) have similar popularity.
You can see the "less common names are more common" with the shape of the graph there since the SSA data is only for the 1000 most common names. That the total is smaller indicates that there are more names beyond the 1000 most common that are becoming more prevalent overall.
That tool lets you clearly see that "Luke" and "Lucas" have a similar shape. Michael and Michelle (F) had a similar peak too.
Another interesting one to look at is the name "Leslie".
I really like that namerology link. It's fun to put in names of aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc and see how accurate it is. Almost all of my aunts and uncles spiked in the 50s (Rich, Mark, Donna, to name a few), which is when they were born.
I, too, thought Melissa was one of the most common names out there. The Wolfram Alpha link helpfully provided below shows that it peaked right before I was born, and is currently almost negligible.
The SSA doesn't group different spellings of the same name so it can cause unexpected results. Example: Sofia vs Sophia, or the numerous spellings of Ashley.
It's going to be even better, we'll get to see situations like Justice Jaxtyn leading the supreme court.
Then again, names change over time. Only a matter of time before some poor kid is getting bullied because his parents named him an ancient millennial name like Steve.
I'm going to take a not completely insane guess and say that it's an odd outcome of everyone going by their personal (usually first) name. Instead of 10 Jasons, each with a different family name, you get 10 different spellings of Jason and never know the family names.
Interesting to see Prince, Princess and Queen on there. In NZ, you're not allowed to use a title as a first name. No Prince, no calling your kid Sir, or Dame or Lady, and no calling your kid Justice.
But as it's only real titles, you go right ahead with Khaleesi.
In Finland, the authorities probably would strike down a good chunk of this list down due to the naming laws.
There was actually a case where the authorities rejected the name "Lucifer" for a person due to its negative affiliations with Satan. It was taken to administrative court and Lucifer won.
I feel sorry for the guy whose name was Jihad, but when he moved to Sweden (seeking asylum I think?) his name got misspelled on the paperwork as Jehad. He wasn't allowed to fix it later because “it might cause suffering to the person bearing the name”.
Interesting article but they do offer up some rather nonsensical "logic".
“We’ll look at family history,” Montgomery said. “If someone else in the family has had a similar name that’s a key one. If their grandfather was called Prince before this law came into effect we’ll look at that and say, ‘Yes, that seems reasonable.’”
The rule against offensive names – in the past, names like Anal and Satan have been refused in New Zealand – was to protect children. Overly long names or those that include non-letter symbols can create administrative headaches and be difficult to pronounce.
The ban on titles and rank was about the risk those names could be used for fraudulent purposes or to mislead the public, Montgomery said.
Well, I'll take some bureaucracy if a kid doesn't have to go through life called Anal, or No. 16 Bus Shelter (after where they were conceived, allegedly). And who can forget Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. [0]
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Why is this not sortable [1]? One table with the following columns: Name, Gender, Rank 2020, Rank 2021, Delta.
[1] (Yes, I know you can copy/paste into a spreadsheet. This presentation is so close yet so /r/mildlyinfuriating.)
Mind you, i have never liked my own names, so what do i know.
Just another casualty of meme culture, but who cares right?
Multiply that by a few million interactions and there is Jaxtyn’s life. Every. Single. New person.
Weird.
My conjecture is that Mason is the biggest YoY decrease (11 -> 18), followed by Abigail and Michael (both 12 -> 17).
The counts elsewhere on the website show:
- Mason: 10,075 babies -> 9,040 babies (down 1,035)
- Abigail: 7,874 babies -> 6,938 babies (down 936)
- Michael: 9,783 babies -> 9,041 babies (down 742)
(IIRC, there are more CEOs of large companies named John than women.)
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
you can look up popularity of any name over the past 100+ years, top names in every year since the 1900s, some modest visualizations, etc
Wonder if k&p had anything to do with that.
(edit: typos)
They were probably just popular around my birth year and therefore I've been exposed to them a lot amongst my cohort.
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Melissa
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Brittany+&assumption=%7...
Or how about the most common male name - https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Michael
Or Jennifer - https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=Jennifer - and if this song is something that is a "yea... I recall that" - https://youtu.be/1nN_5kkYR6k (There were four Jennifers on a small rural school bus that I took to school in the 80s)
edit: This might have been it, trying to find it within edit window https://randalolson.com/name-age-calculator/
Girls: https://youtu.be/qVh2Qw5KSFg
Boys: https://youtu.be/WQv99sEPDsw
The thing about this is that it shows that its not some other name becoming dominant, but rather that names are becoming more distinct - fewer children born with a certain given name each year.
For example, 1997 (the last year of Michael being the most common boy name) it only had 1.88% of total births - while in 1967, Michael accounted for 4.63% of total births.
Girl name popularity changes more rapidly than boy names.
The other "this is kind of interesting" is that similar names (e.g. names that start with an L) have similar popularity.
https://namerology.com/baby-name-grapher/
You can see the "less common names are more common" with the shape of the graph there since the SSA data is only for the 1000 most common names. That the total is smaller indicates that there are more names beyond the 1000 most common that are becoming more prevalent overall.
That tool lets you clearly see that "Luke" and "Lucas" have a similar shape. Michael and Michelle (F) had a similar peak too.
Another interesting one to look at is the name "Leslie".
Man these kids are going to grow up with some stupid-looking names and spending their whole life correcting people on pronounciation.
[1]: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1406/
Then again, names change over time. Only a matter of time before some poor kid is getting bullied because his parents named him an ancient millennial name like Steve.
19th/20th century immigration led to variant spellings as old-world names were recorded differently depending on the ear of the immigration agent.
Yes, Captain?
But as it's only real titles, you go right ahead with Khaleesi.
There was actually a case where the authorities rejected the name "Lucifer" for a person due to its negative affiliations with Satan. It was taken to administrative court and Lucifer won.
Edit: Not to mention Shah and Kaur.
It is not particularly hard to find surnames that are titles: think of B.B. King, and there are plenty of Grafs and Herzogs out there.
Can I at least name my tui lady and my hamster justice?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/124107862/no-wa...
And I'm hoping your tūī is only staying with you as you rehabilitate it after an injury :)
[0]: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/number-16-bus-shelter-violence...