Name Inflation, Scrabble Style
You see a car drive by with a metallic avocado finish, and you know you're looking at the pride of 1973. You see a blouse in neon chartreuse, and it's 1999. As colors are to fashion, letters are to baby names. They sweep in and out of fashion, alone and in combinations. The hot letters today sound quirky and exotic, the kind of letters that beg for individual attention.
But how do parents know which letters are most exotic? No problem. That question was answered generations ago by an unemployed architect named Alfred Butts, who invented the game of Scrabble. Butts chose point values for letters based on popular usage of the time, with the workhorse letters (vowels, l, n, r, s, t) worth one point, and the rare birds far more.
Those depression-era value assignments remain an intuitively accurate portrait of letter "exoticness." The letters that jump out from a rack of Scrabble tiles -- Z and Q (the 10-pointers), X and J (8), and K (5) -- also catch the eye in a name. They're beloved by the brand-name consultants who've coined such names as Exxon and Verizon, and they're the first stops in the alphabet for parents who want to give their children's names punch.
Here you see the percentage of American babies whose names include at least one high-value tile, either as the first letter (blue) or anywhere in the name (green):
Since 1900, the rate has nearly doubled. American parents' instinct to avoid the "ordinary" has created a name-scoring explosion.
A few points to ponder about that graph -- first, note that the first letter of the name accounts for more than half the occurrences of high-value letters. The exotics, fittingly, don't mingle with the commoners. Letters like Q seldom venture into the middle of a name, unless it's a foreign import (Jacques, Enrique) or an African-American invention (Tyquan, Laquita).
Second, consider that J is a great leveling factor. It's rare in common English words, with their Anglo-Saxon and Greco-Roman roots. But names more often have Hebraic roots, making J a common naming letter. A handful of biblical standards like John, James and Joseph were enormously popular a century ago, and their frequency swamps the growth of names like Xander and Quinn. If you look only at the rarest, most aggressively exotic letters, the trend is far more dramatic:
To Be Continued...
09/22/2004, 4:18PM
Comments
ohhhhhhhhh this is so exciting :)-shawn
Wow. My parents made up my name: IZETTE (female form of IZAK/ISAAC - biblical) - I've only found 2 other Izette's ever and I've never found the exact spelling in any 'baby name guide'! And for a bonus I've got a Z in it!!
It's strange how increasingly popular quentin has become over the past 30 years, but similar names quinton and quinten have declined.
So the most valuable name would be something like... XyQyzjyk? (Zuh KWIZ jik)
I've met someone with the last name Izette, although I can't remember how it was spelled.
If you look at the Saints of the Church, you'll find plenty of "exotic" names that people are known to use if it fits their faith. Take Xavier for instance. It comes from St. Francis Xavier with I think is cool!
I have a friend who's name is Zheng, Qiong. By your theory, the name must score high, at least score 20.Don
My daughters name is Abrina and i have yet to this duplicated. She is now 14 and loves her name. I feel it has made her very popular.
this site sucksJoan
My friend has a theory: if you're 32 years old there is a 5% chance your female name is Carey. Or the same name with a different spelling. My cousin split from his wife for a trophy wife 20 years younger. When I heard her age, I said, "I bet her name is Carey." I was right, and the wager paid me $32--her age. Any Carey you meet will be 32 give or take a yr.
iv eyt to met any one named adina,it very unpopualr
Does V count? I'm using Violet for a girl and also love Sylvia, Virginia and Evelyn.
Hey, thanks for the idea, kjones! When I have a daughter, I'll name her XyQyzjyk!
But she can go by Carrie.
I am looking for a name for a new male pup which is an akbash a cattle protection dog from Turkey and he will have a sister which is already on the farm her name is Maggie.
my name is adina and in my country it`s very popular...
causes as the like fluctuations in that of all other commodities. The frequent loss of those Before the reformation of the gold coin, the price of standard gold bullion in the market had,
Wouldn't surprise me. Wasn't Mr. Xypq. . .(something of other, I don't remember his fullh name), an impish opponent of Superman in some of the early comics?
Great Article. I personally love this name Xavier :)
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My friends was expecting this year :)
Let's hope that this chart can really help him and her wife!
Pray for her!
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