After I described a trend toward long, lacy names, some thoughtful readers wrote in...
"Lillie" noted that in practice, the long-and-lacy often turns into the short-and-sassy: "Melissa gets called Mel, Jessica becomes Jess, Samantha is Sam and Alexandra is Alex. Often these stick enough to become the person's day-to-day name." "Melissa" agreed with that point, but added "I also see a bit of a trend towards using the full versions of names."
Nicknames can definitely turn a name's style inside out -- there's a world of difference between Gertrude and Trudy. And sure enough, many parents today are rejecting traditional nicknames. (See "The new formality.") But some parents are taking advantage of the style contrast to let them have it both ways. Alexandra/Alex is sumptuous and boyish. You get two names in one, which part of the name's soaring appeal.
The 2-in-1 hook is even more popular in the other direction. Consider two classic presidential surnames: why are there thousands of little girl Madisons, and no Jeffersons? Is it the ultimate triumph of Federalism? What it really shows, of course, is that even adventurous parents would rather call their daughters Maddie than Jeff. We embrace androgyny gently, with an escape valve.
This is perhaps the single hottest sub-genre of names in America -- agressively modern, androgynous surnames that contract to cute girlish nicknames. That 2-in-1 allure has turned some unlikely candidates into hit girls' names. Here are some from the current top-1000 chart:
Addison (Addie)
Campbell (Cami)
Cassidy (Cassie)
Emerson (Emmy)
Madison (Maddie)
Using the same formula, here are some rare choices which could be contenders for the same crown:
Camden (Cami)
Carlsen, Carlin (Carly)
Connolly (Connie)
Ellery (Ellie)
Emery, Embry (Emmy)
Harlow (Harley)
Jansen (Jan)
Jensen (Jen)
Kimball (Kim)
Linden (Lindy)
Marlowe (Marley)
Sheridan (Sheri)
Over the next several years, I expect to find a few of these adding their half-dose of androgyny to our name pool. Which brings me to another reader, "Maria," who said in dismay: "I hope you don't have anything against frilly and feminine things Laura"! Nope, I certainly don't. I appreciate the lush romance of Anastasia and Arabella as much as anyone. In fact, I don't think there is such a thing as a bad name style. But that's a tale for another day.
Comments
though you quite consciously chose names for your daughters that could not be nicknamefied! reminds me of the fight we had over naming our second... we had agreed on Isaac, though my husband said that the abbreviated Ike, sounded like Yuck in his native British English. So i said, let's name him Isaac and call him Isaac. To which he replied, I know if we do that, you and your family will just call him Ike. :)
You mentioned androgynous names like Carlsen, Carlin shortened to Carly. The newly-ousted head of Hewlett-Packard was named Carleton Fiorina, aka Carly. Her parents were ahead of their time! My guess is that Carleton was her mother's maiden name, or some other family name.
Hmmmm...I wonder...if the mermaid in Splash had been named "Jefferson," maybe "Madison" wouldn't be popping up at the top of the list, and there'd be a crop of little girls nicknamed "Jeffi" running around?
There's some actress who already has a daughter named "Harlow". Patricia Arquette maybe?
Perhaps "Roosevelt," which shortens to Rosie? (Which seems to be a big strike against it as a boy's name.)
Thanks for being so kind Laura. I'm always being teased cause i like pretty dresses and perfume and pink and so on - been told im "yukky girly" or "ultra feminine", both of which hurt. "lacy" and "ultra-feminine" (a term i hate) should not be seen as bad by these people - the loss of femininity and its replacement by today's world of unisex and androgyny is not a good thing in the long run in my opinion. Keep up the good work!
From personal experience, long and lacy names tend to get shortened, at least during childhood. Growing up, I was always "Stacey", not Anastasia, and even though I introduce myself as Anastasia now, people end up calling me Stacey eventually.
I wonder if the mermaid in Splash called herself Fred....would we have thousands of little girls going by Fred? Madison, is purely and completely a masculine name. I am personally shocked by how easy it is for people to be influenced by Hollywood. I was on the T, in Boston the other day. This nice lady was asking Madison, to be a nice little girl and sit down. ...my Wife, spoke up and with a smile said, "My husband's name is Madison and so was his Grandfather's."
It's possible to get people to call you by the long name. My mother had always wanted an "Abigail" but they called me "Abby" while I was growing up. It's one of those impossibly inevitable nicknames -- kind-of like "Dave" or "Mike." But after grade-school I got tired of being called Crabby, Gabby and Flabby, so I started going by Abigail. I just correct people every time they say "Abi," sign all my e-mails "Abigail," and eventually, most of them get the gist.Of course, there's no hope for the family members, most of whom still write "Abby" (though I've signed enough post-it notes "Abi" that at least my immediate family spells it right). Also, a few people call me Abi due to the misfortune of early internet screen names, when "Abi Short" fit into ten characters. Incidentally, my mom had never met an Abigail in 1981, but the name has now, to my dismay, cracked the top 10 in the U.S. I appreciate such a classic, feminine name gaining popularity, but I liked being unique. Now the pressure's on me to do something fabulous! :)
I am one of the many Jennifers from the 80s, and no one calls me that. I am 'Jen', even though I always introduce myself as Jennifer. My parents won't even call me by my full name, and they chose it.I plan on avoiding popular names for my children. It was not fun being one of four Jens in grade school - especially since my last initial was P ;)
My friend Joanne promised our professor once that she would name her first born child "Ellery" after him, no matter the child's gender.I always thought it most humourous. Now I kind of like the name.
I loved the comment about the Federalists winning out. I was in a restaurant one day and noticed a couple of women with cute little girls and asked them their babies' names. I was told that this one is Madison and that one is Taylor. With equal measures saccharine and sarcasm, I clapped my hands together and exclaimed, "Oh, how cute! You named your babies after Presidents!" They both glared at me as if to say, "No, you idiot! We're yuppies!" Wannabe yuppies was more like it.Anne
Sigh...my wife and I knew this was going to happen, we just didn't think it would come so soon. When we named our daughter Ellery in October of '04 the name hardly even came up on any of the internet baby-name sites. Now, 10 months later, it's showing up on the short lists of "cool new names". Oh well, at least she was unique for a few months.
My daughter has the name Embry and she goes by Embry. It started out as a surname than a boys name but her grandmother and great grandmother also were given the name Embry. I think it sounds more feminine than masculine.
Embry is kind of gross...it reminds me of embryo
I'm a newcomer to this blog, but wanted to comment that a co-worker of mine has three girls: Madison, Bailey, and Peyton. All seem to me to be masculine-sounding surnames, but I guess that's the trend.
I think Embry is a beautiful boys name.
I think Embry is a lovely name for a girl as well.
My Name is Carlin and my parents called me Carly as a nickname. I was reading everyone elses comments and i laughed when i saw Kellie Oleson comment about Carleton Fiorina. and i thought it was ironic because my older brother is named Karleton. I never knew there would be any connection.
Madison to me sounds more like a girls name, sorry. But maybe it's because I've only noticed it since it's become so popular as a girls name - or 'Maddie' as a nickname.
'Jefferson' is terribly adorable. Even for a girl.
I think the name Embry is beautiful and very different. Sounds very very feminine
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