More on occupations, if not aspirations...
Last week I wrote about the use of high-status professional titles as names in the 19th Century. In fact, occupational first names are more popular today than ever before, with 14 of them among the top 500 names for American boys. But while the boys of the 1880s were anointed Kings and Admirals, 21st-century boys are being named for humbler stations. They are workers and tradesmen: barrel makers, goods haulers, stone workers. Which is to say, Coopers, Carters, Masons.
Here's a graph of 25 familar tradesman names over time:
Unlike the young Judges and Dukes, it's a fair bet these names aren't chosen to be aspirational. No parent of a Carter is dreaming of the day he'll be hauling around a cartload of grain. The occupations shape our impressions of the names indirectly, with several layers of meaning distancing us from the reality of the work.
First off, the fashionable trade names are generally familiar as last names. When you hear Cooper, Carter and Mason, they probably strike you as surnames as much as tradesmen. Those surnames also carry their own cultural resonance, from Gary Cooper to Jimmy Carter to Perry Mason.
Perhaps most important, though, is the fact that they just don't make barrels like they used to. Cooper isn't a likely career path today, any more than Tucker (cloth finisher) or Parker (gamekeeper). The implied physicality of the names is part of their appeal -- these are men of action! Yet that ruggedness takes the form of a rough-hewn romantic glow, born of the luxury of not having to actually do the jobs any more. Ever met a boy named Painter or Plumber? Modern trades are a little too real for comfort.
Rustic or modern, the fact remains that we're naming boys for the lower rungs of of the ladder -- Gunners and Riders rather than Generals and Commodores. A smattering of girls are getting into the act too, most notably Hunters and Taylors. But girls are also increasingly named Heaven, Miracle and Destiny. We're sending our girls skyward, and keeping our boys ever more earthbound.
Comments
Your blog is so informative and insightful. I always look forward to reading the new posts! Thanks!This entry reminds me that I recently heard the name "Tanner" for a little boy. I thought it was unusual and pretty cute. I'm seeing that it's part of the trend described here: certainly very few people actually tan hides these days.
Found something interesting I thought I'd share with you.There was a 2003 BBC News piece about a Nebraska psychology professor who surveyed US social security records for 2000, and concluded that "Americans are increasingly turning to the world of popular culture to name their children.""Professor Cleveland Evans has found that car models are a popular source of inspiration; 22 girls are registered as having the name Infiniti while 55 boys answer to Chevy and five girls to Celica."The professor says seven boys have the name Del Monte, after the food company, and 49 boys were called Canon, after the camera. Two boys are named ESPN after the sports channel. Almost 300 girls were recorded with the name Armani, six boys were named Timberland and seven boys were named Denim.
Okay, just yesterday evening the BF and I were discussing the name Thatcher.
Thatcher is adorable. All of these "occupation" names sound great to me for young men, but sound pretentious for toddlers and young boys.
These names sound wholesome, masculine without being over-the-top, American, and charming. I love the name Porter, which also has celebrity connotations I like (Cole Porter, country music legend Porter Wagoner, the Johnny Cash song "Porter, Hey Porter"). But unlike Cooper and Thatcher, Porter isn't an extinct occupation. Do I really want to name my son after a person who carries suitcases?--Nicole R.
From www.overheardinnewyork.com:My Children Will Be Named Airport and Telephone Guy on cell: What's with all these WASPy names for kids all of a sudden? Don't people know that Carter and Porter are just tradesman's names?...Well, Porter is a guy who carries bags, and Carter is a guy who pushes carts...Well, it hardly aspirational, is it?...I mean, I think I'll name my first-born Cobbler just to stay with the trend.--53rd & 9th
My family has strong southern ties, so last names as given names is nothing new. I do find it rather odd that people with no family connection to these names are choosing them for their children. Also, without the right last name these names are just too jarring. Carter Harris works. Carter Wisniewski or Tyler Marquez do not work.
What are the actual 25 names? The graph is hard to read.
Tyler Marquez sounds kinda cute, actually. What, is "Chico" more apropos? You ARE from the South!
Are parents naming their daughters and sons Bailey hoping they become bailiffs? That the Taylors become dressmakers, the Tylers carpenters and the Masons brick-layers? A Skylar or Skyler a scholar? Actually the only occupation name I would consider is Skyler, b/c I like the meaning. If you want your son to become a barrel-maker but is afraid he'd be teased with Cooper-Super-Pooper, why not name him Kiefer, it means the same thing.I think parents choose these names b/c they find ln-as-fn cool. And then they only go by the sound. Taylor and Bailey sound soft and feminine, nobody cares about the meanings.
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I love the name "Porter" for a boys first name, but what would be a suitable middle name that would go with Porter?
I just want to spread the word that girls, too, are named Tanner. My daughter, who is named Tanner, is named after her great-grandmother.
I'm really surprised to read that names like Taylor and Bailey are popular as girls' names in the US. In the UK they are only used for surnames. Even for boys it sounds odd to my ears; on Desperate Housewives Lynette's boys are called, what, Parker, Porter and something similar? To me they just don't sound like names. The -er ending sticks out like a sore thumb; although the occupations associated with them are all but extinct, the names still sound like job descriptions to me. But I read in a post above that in the American South it is very traditional to name children with 'surname' names, so fair enough, I didn't know that. It's interesting how in the UK the trend just hasn't taken off (at least to my knowledge anyway) whereas it seems to be huge in the US.
My husband and I just named our son "Porter". We chose the name b/c we thought it was not a popular name and we like to be different w/o being trendy. I should have researched it better, I guess. As for the middle name, we chose "Ryan", after my brother. We also liked "Rowan" and "Owen" for middle names.
MY HUSBAND AND I NAMED OUR SON PORTER JANUARY 06' WE WANTED HIM TO HAVE A STRONG "ORIGINAL" NAME THAT WAS NOT POPULAR, I KEEP HEARING IT NOW AND I REALLY HOPE IT DOES GET OVERLY POPULAR! WHEN WE DECIDED TO NAME HIM PORTER NOONE IN OUR FAMILY LIKED THE NAME AND NOW THEY ALL LOVE IT! i DONT WANT IT TO BECOME TO POPULAR LIKE ALL THE MILLION HAYDENS, CAYDEN, PAYDEN, SLAYDEN NAMES : ) SO PEOPLE DONT NAME YOUR KID PORTER! IT IS FUNNY BECUASE HIS MIDDLE NAME IS RYAN LIKE THE PEOPLE WHO COMMENTED ABOVE ME RYAN IS MY STEPFATHERS LAST NAME, HOW RANDOM!
We named our son Porter. He was born in 1996, picked Ellis as his middle name, after a great grandfather. We came to the name by my wife and I keeping a list throught the pregancy, when we got close to the time we would widdle a few names off before falling asleep each night. We ended up with two names for each sex and waited...When we got to meet him, he was a Porter for sure. I had put the name on the list after watching the Mel Gibson movie "Payback" where the main character is named Porter, and is likely the most thick headed tough guy ever on screen. Not sure how much our choice of names had to do with it, But our Porter is thickheaded, and hard to deal with. He is very me, mine, and now, with assosiated fits of anger. Parents be advised, this could happen to you if you choose Porter as a name. I wonder if Porter would be the way he is if we named him Nolan, (2nd choice)....food for thought.
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