As I research names I'm constantly poking into dusty corners of data and compiling arcane charts. Most will never see the light of day, but one has grabbed me so hard I just have to share. So strap on your helmets, we're going data mining!
For background, I'm convinced that that the whole baby-naming enterprise has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. Part of what I'm trying to do is to demonstrate that this change is real and get a handle on what it means. One natural place to look is in name endings. As I've discussed in the past, endings do a lot of the work of giving a generation of names its trademark sound. (See the posts called "It's how you finish," parts one and two.)
So here is a graph of boys born by the last letter of their given names, back in 1906:
Only 11 letters were in common end-letter use, led by a clear "Big Four" that memorably spell ENDS (think George, John, Edward, James.) Now let's leap 50 years ahead and chart the same data for boys born in 1956:
It's hard to compare the graphs in this format, but the changes are relatively modest given the 50-year time span. The exact same 11 end letters dominate as in 1906, and the Big Four ENDS all rank among a new Big Five. This is the fundamental conservatism of the English men's naming stock, the immovable core of Johns and Jameses that endures across generations. Or did, at least. 'Cause take a gander at 2006:
Ladies and gentlemen, that is a baby naming revolution.
More on this in the months to come...
Comments
Funny!
I liked Emmett and Evan for my son - DH liked Emmett so we went with that. . so we did buck the trend but jsut barely. Wonder what the girl graph looks like we just had a baby girl we named Erin. so she got the N but he didn't. . .
his class is:
boys:
Neimeiah
Aiden
Bryce
Brycen
Eli
Emmett (him)
girls:
Hannah
Telucia
they kind of buck the trend it seems. . .
good article.merci az aksaye kheili ghashangetoun va saç ekimi merci az comment mirzakhan
BP az sedaghate ankara nakliyat mohsen namjoo estefadeh kardeh .. hagh har kassi ke be in saç ekimi concert miyad ine ke betoune namjoo ro bebine, baraye emza Cd, chera bayad 50$ ezafeh bedeh?? shayad kessi nakhad sham bokhore..
moteassefaneh namjoo va evden eve nakliyat amsale ou majbour hastan ke ba in adama kar konan va gar na khode namjoo besiar adame ankara nakliyat khaki hast va motmaenan mikhast ke taraftarasho baad az concert bebineh , mesle concertash dar europe ke kheili arzountar boud va hame ham tounestan ke namjoo ro dar akhar bebinand ...
gheyr az in ma hame asheghe ankara evden eve seda va music namjoo hastim .. 100000 shaghayeshe normandie baraye ou evden eve nakliyat evden eve nakliyat hizmeti verilir.
My fiance and I are thinking of boy names and having a hard time coming up with any. His last name is Shannon, and we don't like anything TOO common or TOO bizarre. We are thinking of Pierce Arthur Shannon. Any opinions?
It has a lot to do with the fact that boys names aren't clumping at the top as much anymore:
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/2006/namecount.png
And, in case anybody's still paying attention, here's the same thing for the first 1000 names, normalized so you can compare the tails properly.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2575/namecountsnorm.png
Also, it's not just the frequencies of various names; the makeup of the top 1000 names has also changed. Here's what happens if I say one boy had each name:
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3188/namecountsflat.png
Question: I was wondering what would happen to the distribution if you were to break down the ends-in-"e" names according to the terminating sound? George, for example--do people really choose the name based on the ending "e," or the ending "j" sound?
Allira,
Your mom and her friends must've heard of this research about boys' names reported on Time .
Another reason why the N names are so popular could be all the many ways to spell each name. I'm not sure if this graph counts Braden, Brayden, Braydon, Braeden, and Braeden as separate names. However, if it does, it makes a lot of sense why N's are so popular.
Also, I have 4 nephews with one on the way. They're names are Braden, Justin, Nathan, and Carson. The names my pregnant sister is considering are Jackson and Jason. So, I think this graph is probably right on.
that's shocking and is it wrong that i'm slightly appalled? not because it's just looks like utter conformity but i'm not one of those classic name haters, i think there is (was i guess) something enduring about them and this is a real loss of that.
We were going to actually name our son with the mn Trey just for that purpose...to honor him being a third without actually using the identical name. But he came on grampa's birthday so got James instead.
-to Christiana-
We were going to actually name our son with the mn Trey just for that purpose...to honor him being a third without actually using the identical name. But he came on grampa's birthday so got James instead.
Truthfully, although constructive criticism can help you weed through choices you are unsure about, when you find a name that you have fallen in love with - go with it.
Eight years ago, my "gut" told me in no uncertain terms that the baby inside was a "Hazel." Many friends and family questioned the kindness of "saddling" an infant with such an "old-lady" name.
Guess what? I stuck to my choice, and I'm so glad I did. She is her own unique brand of Hazel, strong and sweet, energetic and friendly. Sometimes the belly knows best :)
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