Why Do Baby Names Fall Out of Fashion? | Otherwords

[@ECKohns]

Names like Kermit and Grover used to be popular in the 1800s, but now no one wants to name their kids after Muppets.

[@maxinezook3835]

Yeah the various Muppets shows gave classic names like those a big stigma but it's pretty funny to look at the names in their different shows because on one hand you have "real" names/nicknames like those ones, Bert & Ernie, Oscar etc then you have silly made-up names like Big Bird & Miss Piggy 🤣

[@americasteam2112]

Homer is a name that got tarnished by the Simpsons.

[@daytonmorehead7330]

I’ve known two men named Homer and two men named Kermit. All old men except the one Kermit who was born just before the muppets started. The old Kermit was perfectly happy with his name, the younger man got teased bad in school and hated his name.

[@maxinezook3835]

@@americasteam2112 It most likely didn't help names like Marge & Maggie (though both are nicknames of the very formal name Margaret, makes me wonder if baby Maggie was named after her mom but given a different nickname to distinguish her from her mom), Bart & Lisa either.

[@maddiejoy6619]

Same with Elmo. I've never met a young Elmo... Or a Big Bird.

[@Valdora76]

You don't realize how many people you dislike until you and your spouse have to come up with a name for your baby 😂

[@chelsea5226]

Makes you want to be a better person, a good name ambassador

[@celieboo]

💯

[@juelz4444]

Lol this is too true!❤

[@theorderofthebees7308]

😂😂😂

[@rahileshanbi5551]

Exactly! You’re like “I think this name is nice! Oh.. but I know a [insert name here] who’s awful” lol

[@tonycalabria5592]

I bet the name Karen has taken a nose dive lately

[@janaekelis]

i feel as though karen might take a long time to come back. its been integrated into history and pop culture. meanwhile other words over time that meant the same thing as karen never stuck and switched by generation

[@FrostyGerardo-kr7xs]

It is but still is popular for centuries. Karina,Karen those names have always been popular. Or just go to a another country where is not a Bad word

[@themonsterunderyourbed9408]

Only for those who are terminally online.

[@kcirtapelyk6060]

I always liked the Anglo version Katherine better anyway.

[@beigenegress2979]

I am a BW. A lot of BW named “Karen,” have crossed my path over my lifetime (i am just about about old enough to be ready to retire!).

[@youruniquehandle2]

I laughed way too hard at "newborns are pretty uniformly weak and stupid".

[@pretendtobenormal8064]

It's funny because it's true 🤣

[@merlinthetuna]

Yeah, eat it, babies!

[@likebot.]

So stupid they can only learn a language in 12 months without a teacher. mm hmmm.

[@user-rm9zx7ln9i]

@@merlinthetuna They can't yet! The mewling morons!

[@Vroompire]

@@merlinthetuna Cry about it!

[@avani5907]

When I was a little kid, I wondered why old people's names sound so dated. I thought they had modern-sounding names, as in the ones in style today, and then converted their names into older-sounding ones as they reach a certain age. That was so funny. 😭

[@troin3925]

That’s hilarious and cute.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I mean, there are names you can do that with. Take Bobby -> Robby -> Rob -> Robert -> Bob.

[@afirewasinmyhead]

I love children's logic lol. This is so cute.

[@Sunshine-zm1fx]

Both of my grandmother's were named Eleanor. For many years I thought all grandmother's were named Eleanor.

[@internetuser8922]

Also, photographs and films turn black & white when they get old.

[@joemerl1145]

One of my favorite little factoids is that "Mabel" was out of the top 1000 for decades before 2012. Then _Gravity Falls_ premiered, it jumped into the 700s and kept climbing.

[@slawless9665]

Maybe she's born with it?

[@smurfyday]

​@@slawless9665 LMFAO For the record, the 90s TV show Mad About You named a baby Mabel first.

[@TadeoDOria]

Here in Argentina Mabel (pronounced mah-BELL) is a very common old lady name, it was weird hearing it for a kid in Gravity Falls hahaha

[@ArtichokeHunter]

Also played by Selena Gomez in Only Murders in the Building. I wonder if it's continued growing in popularity.

[@zmaj12321]

"That sounds like a fat, old lady's name." "I'll take that as a compliment."

[@chavamara]

In Ashkenazi Judaism, it's traditional to name your child after a deceased relative, or at least give your child a name with the same first letter as a deceased relative's. There's even a Yiddish insult related to it: "They should name a grandchild after you already!" meaning that you should drop dead.

[@letshuman8985]

The insult made me lol! 😂

[@dima.86]

as a trans guy who's a ''newbie'' to Jewish Ashkenazi culture (I finally have confirmation that my maternal lineage is of Hungarian Jewish Ashkenazi origin; it's a long, complicated story), I genuinely appreciate and I'm truly grateful, cheesy as it sounds, for your comment that I've randomly found (why tf does it feel like it rhymes). I apologise for the overshare, I don't know why this hit so strongly; it's mainly bc I'm in the process of legally changing my name, & I was having doubts about a middle name, but now that I've read your comment (which also adds to my top insults vocabulary), it's made me wanna pay homage to my roots, particularly to my great-great-grandmother, who lived a life worthy of a documentary film. So thank you again, and I apologise if this seems malapropos; you may use the Yiddish saying on me:)))

[@alicek7529]

Yeah, my grandmother was insulted that I didn't name my daughter Bernice, after my deceased mother. Her middle name is Brooke , though (with the "b"). And she has my mother's Hebrew name, so there's that.

[@nevreiha]

Thats very interesting. My dads side of the family mostly have biblical names, i was given my uncles first name as my middle name just because my mother let my dad choose that one. On my mums side its mostly names that people thought sounded nice, theres a whole range of unusual names there

[@blendedchaitea645]

And the flip side: we don't name babies after living relatives. That's why it's very rare to meet an Ashkenazi Jewish person who's a Jr. or a 3rd.

[@AMoniqueOcampo]

This hits different when you're a writer trying to pick names for your characters.

[@Erichwanh]

Just name your protag "Shaniqua Childpuncher" and your book will fly off the shelves, even if it's a non-fiction memoir.

[@Coopsartsandmore.]

FR I am a play writer and this is so hard to do

[@mecahhannah]

Definitely 😂

[@Coopsartsandmore.]

@mecahhannah also name spellings like janice (janis) Ashley (Ashligh) ect

[@gogocrazycocoa]

Real I have a character I'm thinking about naming Ruth

[@jenniferneve2723]

Here's a great example of old names becoming popular again. My grandma and her sister were born in the 1910s and named Evelyn and Adeline. It was rather surreal to learn my coworker has granddaughters named Evelyn and Adeline.

[@07ikkin]

To me, Adeline sounds much more modern than Evelyn

[@spectralight8412]

I’ve always thought Adeline was a beautiful name. It sounds very close to my mom’s name.

[@capitalb5889]

@@07ikkin Evelyn has definitely made a rebound. It is also an example of an androgenous name. Evelyn Waugh was a very famous male Evelyn. The pronunciation was different too - with a long E rather than a short one.

[@07ikkin]

@@capitalb5889 good to know, thank you :)

[@karengrohs4942]

I keep waiting for Edith to come back. I love that name.

[@michaelbillington8737]

I wass born in 1947 and my mother named me Michael because she didn't know anyone else by that name and she wanted me to be unique... in kindergarten I was one of 7 Michaels...

[@grf15]

Oops! Nonetheless, a funny story.

[@literaterose6731]

Aw!! Just a bit earlier than you: my mom was born in 1941, her brother a couple years later. I only realized as a young adult that my grandparents had basically given them the same name: she was Michelle (usually called Mikki), he was Michael (Mike)!

[@85tv12]

In 2010 we named our son Eli thinking it was pretty uncommon. It seems that quite a few other people thought the same thing around that time. Same thing happened with out Zoe a few years later. 😂

[@fredericksmith7942]

Hey, common names are common because they’re good.

[@fugithegreat]

How could anyone NOT know a Michael? 😂 My parents took the opposite approach and gave me the most common name of the year (Jennifer) to counteract the weirdness of my last name. Literally 10% of the girls in my graduating class were Jennifers or Jennys.

[@acerimmer8338]

It's gonna be funny when kids think Aiden, Jayden, Kayden, Braiden, Slaiden are "old people" names. I imagine they'll hypothesize silly things like everyone that's old had to have names that all sounded the same.

[@nlpnt]

They already "sound" more teenage than infant.

[@t.deshawn6519]

Lol! Don't forget Hayden

[@woahbzzz4823]

Ugh glad the Jayden trend is over. There has to be classrooms out there with three jaydens.

[@cultmecca]

I call these the “Ayden” names and I do not like them lol

[@egghamsil]

and then the very kids that are thinking that was weird have names like "kayleigh" or "britneigh" 😂

[@UPerez]

Shoutout to my grandmas Gladys and Theodora. Born to be iconic

[@jacquelinealbin7712]

Love the name Theodora!

[@TaLeng2023]

​@@jacquelinealbin7712she better find her Justinian

[@Nazuiko]

I work with a Theordora. but the real OGs remember ... Theophany

[@dandeleon2764]

​​@@jacquelinealbin7712 Yeah but then the kids will be stealing her backpack and be like, "hey DORA, where's your backpack DORA!" "Whaddya gonna do, say Swiper no swiping?" 😢

[@Sylvainjose-satoyumiyato]

​​@dandeleon2764 That won't last much longer

[@thelocalstumbler]

I bet many parents also choose names based on the possibility of cute nicknames they can think of!

[@geoluhread1565]

That's what my parents did. They made sure all of my siblings and I had names that came with at least one nickname.

[@B2WM]

It does give you something of a test to know if people really know you if, like me and my mom, you have a full name ending in -a that absolutely no one who has been personally introduced calls you ever, and a nickname ending in -y that might as well be the real name to everyone outside the government and spam callers.

[@nixm9093]

​@@B2WMyes, like Nicola 😂

[@teemusid]

​@nixm9093 When I worked at a day care, there was a Nicole, and her family gave her the nickname Coco.

[@American_West]

Mine did the exact opposite. They both go by common nickname versions of their first names, so they feel really awkward when someone uses their full first name. They didn’t want people to incorrectly assume what I went by, so they gave me a name with absolutely no common nicknames.

[@silverjohn6037]

There's also negative associations in pop culture influencing name choices. Not a lot of kids named Elmer since Elmer Fudd hit the scene ("Everyone will laugh at him."). Likewise it's going to take more than a hundred years before Adolph makes a comeback.

[@Kingdom_Of_Dreams]

I just think of Elmer's Glue, which is also going to get a kid bullied

[@davidsenra2495]

I had an Adolph classmate in the 90s. Everyone kept asking what were his parents thinking (and I'm afraid to know).

[@lavenderhuman]

@@davidsenra2495did he go by a nickname?

[@Pafemanti]

Monica. Lots of pre 1990s Monicas. Then ... Monica Lewinsky. Which is really too bad, cause it's a beautiful name and Monica Lewinsky is actually pretty cool.

[@davidsenra2495]

@@lavenderhuman Not that I remember, no. At least not a nickname that reached me (he was not really that close).

[@amb163]

I knew no Walters or Beatrices growing up (of my own age) and saw them as "old people names", but now I know both who are under the age of 8. I knew lots of Jennifers and Dereks my age, but I have not taught a single one in 20 years of teaching.

[@fajaradi1223]

You cant Beat rice, its the most calorie dense cereal on earth.

[@serenegenerally]

I know a Beatrice (shortened to Bea) that’s my age (17)

[@Nazuiko]

Jennifer I think fell out of favor around the time of Friends, ironically; as the show waned in popularity, it took the name Jennifer (Aneston) with it. Though I have 0 empirical data to back this suggestion up

[@zaram131]

I love the name Beatrice! I had a beloved cat named Beatrice!

[@donnadrane4977]

My grandmother born in 1916 had a friend named Jennifer who was her same age. That seems to be an ageless name.

[@jayvillemin]

This video reminds me of a story I read a while back about an Asian American woman named Connie getting together other Asian American women named Connie to meet Connie Chung because her work as a news anchor made such an impact on Asian immigrants to the US, they wanted their daughters to grow up to be as intelligent, full of poise, and as impactful as her. If I remember correctly, that story ended with Connie Chung in tears of joy.

[@ispoilers9535]

A connie-vention.

[@lozoft9]

It wasn't just based on her though. Quite a few names we think of as stereotypically Chinese American were chosen precisely b/c they were phonetically similar to Chinese given names. This happens in reverse too. 2nd gen parents have a English name in mind and find a Chinese name that sounds similar.

[@lozoft9]

On another note, there's a Chinese American actress named Constance Wu. Guess what the common nickname for Connie is....

[@aiocafea]

@@ispoilers9535con-con

[@sillygoosegoose]

we had lots of chinese girls at my secondary school who had all adopted a british name. they were universally called something incredibly old fashioned that sounded very weird to call a 14 year old girl (think mid-century names like janet, judy and cheryl). made me realise how much we have associations and norms with names that an outsider choosing a name they like won’t pick up on.

[@childofcascadia]

So, in 60 years everyones gonna think names like Jayden sound like what we think of when we think of Elmer.

[@TatyanaKosh-ch4se]

Oh Jayden is already pretty much there for me haha. Maybe if they didn’t do overkill with Ayden Brayden Kayden Zayden Macayden

[@daffers2345]

I had a conversation a few months back with someone named Brittany. We are middle-aged. We both agreed that names like Brittany, Courtney, Leeann, and certainly Ashley (and all its weird variations) will certainly be viewed as Old Woman Names in the not-too-distant future.

[@Ethan5I5]

Glue?

[@TaLeng2023]

The conditions in a country also seem to influence the names, or at least how it's spelled. Here in the Philippines parents come up with weird spellings for their baby names. For example "Erica" can become "Ericka" (actually know someone with this name). I believe I actually saw an "Erikha" once. Is there some deep cultural reason for this? No. But the gov't bureaucracy is infamously inefficient, that when you got a "hit" when applying for a gov't clearance (basically someone with the exact name as you has a violation in his/her record), your application get delayed. I, having a pretty common name, has always been delayed ever since I started getting this clearance, even after I've already been interviewed by the police twice. So parents here make up wild spellings for names for kids to reduce the likelihood of them having the same full name as someone with a violation.

[@P4w3]

Interesting

[@motox2416]

How often do you need a government clearance in the Philippines?

[@TaLeng2023]

@@motox2416 the NBI clearance expire within a year so you need to renew it annually if you somehow need it often (for example if you keep switching companies). It's one of those things employers ask to see.

[@broadwaybaby348]

Alexa was a hugely popular girl's name, and then something happened....😂

[@daffers2345]

I know a woman named Alexandra who simply goes by Alex. There were some girls named Alexis when I was a teen, and of course there's still "Alexandria." I think that "Alex" as it is, is becoming more popular for girls though.

[@unacuentadeyoutube13]

​​@@daffers2345Alexis and Alex are 100% male names in Spanish speaking countries. The same with Charlie as a nickname. Pretty strange right?

[@ionaskualexander1255]

maybe it gets associated with Amazon's Alexa

[@sebaschan-uwu]

​@unacuentadeyoutube13 Alex/Alexander as are also male names in English speaking countries, but the female versions, Alexa/Alexandra are also hugely popular

[@bolognivm]

​@@ionaskualexander1255I believe that's the joke 😃

[@chat-arina]

When I was young we often visited Greece. There the name Katarina was considered an old woman name and many older women had that name. So I was very beloved by them and made many friends, especially since my parents often had to yell my name while chasing me across the towns... 😂

[@monimelie]

My father was shocked when I told him that Catherine was now a common name for babies (french Canada); it was a name from his grandmother generation so he always had the association Catherine = Old. I did not really get it till I started to see Kids named Georges or Émile or Brigitte ; to me those are people in their 70's! I'll know I'm old the day Julie makes a come-back.

[@BallotBoxer]

Shoutout to all the newborns named Barbie, Taylor, and Paul Atreides / Muad'Dib / Lisan al Gaib / Kwisatz Haderach

[@kokuinomusume]

The difference with the little Daeneryses (or, in my country, little Khaleesis, which was apparently also popular) is that if you haven't read "Dune" and "Dune Messiah", that's strictly on you.

[@per-c8229]

​@@kokuinomusume to be fair Muad'Dib means desert mouse so not evil perse, same with Kwisatz Hadersch which means They (the original text said he but I think a gender neutral one is better) who guides the way, and as a fan of the books I personally think that Ganima sounds really cute for a child also Fayd-Rauta even tho the character is one of the worst

[@golwenlothlindel]

@@per-c8229pretty sure Ghanima means "trophy" in real Arabic though😬. I love the character of Ghanima too, but yeah... don't name your daughter that. Save it for a dog or cat maybe. At least Danaerys is in a made-up language (and it's not like it means something insulting in Valyrian either: it's just awkward by association with the specific character), and Brienne is just an alternate spelling of Brianne. Tyrion is named after the real world ancient city of Tyre, and Arya is an alternative form of Harriet (originally from French, so the "h" wasn't pronounced). Margaery is GRRM being a bit clever: it's technically Valyrian, but it's also just an alternate spelling of Marjorie. Thankfully, with House of the Dragon out we'll probably stop seeing Danaerys and start seeing Rhaenyra, which is a much better character to be naming your child after. Nobody used my personal favorite name from the series though, Irri. She's funny, has the best catchphrase, is actually heroic and that name is just adorable.

[@thehomeschoolinglibrarian]

Thankfully Barbie is actually short for Barbara and Paul and Tylor are not new or odd the others however should not be legal.

[@per-c8229]

@@golwenlothlindel I didn't know Ghanima had an Arabic meaning I thought it was the shorten version of Ghanimedes the one that was kidnapped by Zeus for been so beautiful, but It makes sense since in the book also means trophy especially the one gained by war, thanks for the info!

[@brianarbenz1329]

I did not go to school with any Mildreds, but I came home to one. My mom, who went by Millie, was named that. And she was born 100 years ago this month. I’m thinking about Mom a lot right now. I appreciate hearing you bringing up her name.

[@Meilk27]

I know someone named Milagros who goes by Milly also

[@MissCellania]

I'm way over 60, and I went to school with none of the names you started out with. Those are from my parents' generation. My classmates were all named Karen, Susan, and Debby.

[@MissCellania]

And Steve and Gary.

[@alicek7529]

And all those Marks, Sharons, Amys, Cheryls, and Davids

[@luciem5372]

And Linda

[@BonaparteBardithion]

​@@luciem5372 I'm wholly convinced Linda is the female Mike of that generation. So many Lindas.

[@film9491]

I'm 30 and I swear me and half my friends all have at least one aunt Susan.

[@corrinestenman5683]

Fascinating I wonder how self-chosen name trends (i.e. someone who changed their name as an adult, teen, or older child) compares to trends in names given at birth.

[@cuttlefishonfire7502]

I've noticed a lot of transgender and nonbinary people I know who've changed their names have a tendency to pick more unusual names. I think that's because unusual names can be controversial (some parents hesitate to name their child something too weird because the child might not like having a weird name) but if you're picking your own name you have a lot more freedom. And since most names are so gendered, a lot of nonbinary people I know just name themselves after nouns, even ones not commonly used as names (I know people who named themselves Rue, Phoenix, Sox, and Aether). Some people choose a name that sounds similar to their given name but with different gender associations (like Samuel->Samantha). A lot of people also choose a name that has personal meaning for them, or after a fictional character). I've also noticed a trend towards nature names (in addition to the ones I mentioned before, I know people who named themself Jasper, Iris, Ash, Rye, and River). I do also know a lot of people with common names though (including myself; I named myself Alexander). It's hard to find actual data on the subject of chosen names, just a lot of anecdotes

[@corrinestenman5683]

@cuttlefishonfire7502 that tracks with my own community, but I didn't want to take it as a representative sample off the bat. I'm kinda odd in that my current name is more common than my dead name, but that's partly because I took up my "almost name," and partly because my dead name was super uncommon.

[@Skootfairy]

I know many people who changed their name for transitioning purposes. I one instance, my friend took the first letter of the name their parents give them at birth and chose from among the top names of the letter in the year they were born. In another instance, my friend just feminized their masculine name. Yet another chose a biblical name (again starting with the same letter of their birth name). It seems to me that ppl take similar queues for coming up with a name as they do for naming babies. These are all folks who are academic professors, high school teachers. The people in my circles don't stand out as queer in a flamboyant or obvious way, and their name matches that. I am not familiar with trans folks who are in the queer scene, where i presume it will be more likely to find unique names. My thoughts are it depends on where you want to belong. Like, Kate sounds like a professor name and Ayden sounds like a student name. The main advantage is now you know what all the ppl in your cohort are named so you can choose not Michael if everyone you know is named Michael.

[@snazzypazzy]

@@cuttlefishonfire7502 I've heard a few non-binary friends joke about the trans and NB "tradition" of naming themselves after things in nature, like trees, shrubs, bodies of water, etc. And I have met quite a few of them indeed. I'd love to see this studied, how cool would that be!

[@sorreldislikespotatoes9882]

​@@snazzypazzyMy sister involves herself with a lot of non-binary people and she knows two named Oak and Moss

[@kimberlyterasaki4843]

Reminds me of that one John Mulaney bit about how Catholic Church services are an hour of stories about guys with weird names whose wives have normal names like Rachel.

[@quiestinliteris]

I wonder why that's as gendered as it is. Obviously there are exceptions - I've only met one Tziporah in my life - but after a quick flip back through , it does seem like most female Biblical names have reached common enough usage in the Anglophone world that you're likely to at least have heard the name before even if you've never set foot in a church. But comparatively few of the male names. You even have some that have acquired cultural connotations that probably mean NOBODY will be using them in the foreseeable future. Like Jethro as shorthand for "hillbilly" in the US, or Jedediah or Hezekiah or Obadiah being seen pretty much exclusively as "Puritan" or "Cowboy" names. Jezebel and Delilah are really the only women's names that have picked up similar baggage. It's hilarious but also really interesting.

[@iamdanieloliveira]

@@quiestinliteris That's mostly because you're focusing on the weirder male names. Peter, Paul, John, James, Matthew, Andrew, Philip, David, Daniel, etc are all from the bible and became so mainstream that many people don't realize their origin. Also, there're a lot more male characters in the bible than females, so of course there would also be more "weird" male names than female ones.

[@quiestinliteris]

@@iamdanieloliveira I did not focus on any names, actually, just took a random sample and compared the popularity of each over the last four centuries. If you consider some weirder than others, you may have a cultural bias that skews your analysis, exactly as I pointed out.

[@iamdanieloliveira]

@@quiestinliteris I put "weird" in quotations exactly to point out this bias. We find them "weird" today because historically they weren't as common, and today they're not as common because to us they sound "weird". It's not something inherent to the name. And on your previous comment you said that comparatively few of the male names reached common usage in the anglophone world (as opposed to female ones), despite them being historically THE most commonly used names in the west. A quick look at the most common names in the US over the last 100 years shows 7 out of the top 10 are from the bible. I can only assume you reached your conclusion that male biblical names aren't as common by forgetting/not knowing the origins of all those extremely mainstream names and remembering mostly the more obscure ones.

[@meganofsherwood3665]

​@iamdanieloliveira Those are all New Testament names, though. "Sarah", "Rachel" and "Rebecca", "Hannah", "Ruth" and even "Abigail" are all Old Testament names. But despite the insane number of Old Testament male names, very few of them have become so common/are currently as common. You might know a "Zeke" or a "Zach" (Ezekiel, Zachariah), but I don't know the last time I met a Hezekiah or Habbakuk

[@Respectable_Username]

Maybe it's just an Australian trend, but I also think it's interesting how a lot of extremely stereotypically anglo names are given to second generation Aussies born to Asian parents. If you hear a name that sounds super traditional or even slightly old-fashioned, it's more likely to be from somebody of Asian background here, I assume because immigrant parents want to play it safe to avoid discrimination for their kid, as opposed to white parents who are more motivated to make their kid stand out. Which means the demographics of _who_ has what name also shift over time as our populations evolve! Just thought it was an interesting trend I've noticed, at least amongst folks in a similar younger-Millennial/older-Gen Z age range. Another comment made me think to bring it up, as they said they hadn't seen anyone named "Jennifer" in a couple of decades, while I know several "Jennifers" in that age range! It's just that most of them aren't white, as would be more typical for older generations of "Jennifers".

[@pyroclastic8924]

that's a thing that happens in the americas too! i think that reasoning extends pretty far

[@fourleafclover2064]

I noticed something similar with immigrant Latino families in the US; they will name their kids common or historical last names like Anderson, Jefferson, Erikson, Everson, Franklin.

[@arquentur6226]

When I was in elementary school on the mid 90's Riley was a boys name. I knew a handful; all boys. Now it's such a common girl name it throws me off when I meet a male Riley.

[@Kingdom_Of_Dreams]

I think the spelling Riley was the feminine form, but the original male form was Reilly, because it was a last name (O'Reilly). I could be wrong though.

[@BonaparteBardithion]

​@@Kingdom_Of_Dreams I don't remember that rule for Riley, but I did learn a similar rule for Kerry/Carrie.

[@skurinski]

​@@Kingdom_Of_Dreamsno the spelling Riley was always male

[@dandeleon2764]

Kinda sad that they keep taking the cute boy names. I felt Billy was so securely boyish, but all the new Billies are girls now.

[@gretahoostal8565]

Riley is a surname anyway. Surnames don’t make sense as given names.

[@mildlycornfield]

As a Millicent born in 2000 (named after my great-grandmother), I've often had people surprised that my name is so 'old-fashioned'. Milly/Millie is making a comeback, but from what I've seen it's trendy for it to be a nickname for Amelia right now, which I never would have imagined.

[@createtoserve]

I’ve noticed this with my students too. Nicknames that I’d assume were short for one name are actually short for something completely unexpected, but that still has some sense to it.

[@m1997]

born in 2000? were you perhaps named after the new millennium? Millicent is a beautiful name

[@kimkimsan]

Amelia is another formerly 'old-fashioned' name that made a comeback.

[@francesatty7022]

I was born in the early 00s and I've known multiple Milly/Millies in school, most of them short for Amelia

[@kcirtapelyk6060]

At least there weren’t a bunch of Millicents in your class. These classical feminine names will never go out of style in my opinion.

[@AA-wc3tw]

I had a boyfriend whose mom told me she named her sons "names that would look good on a plaque on an office desk." (Not that everyone wants an office job, but the point of her statement still stands PLUS she was considering THEIR future.) I see a lot of parents naming their kids cutesy, childish-sounding names while seemingly not considering what impact the name will have on their child as an adult.....which kinda makes it look like the baby is a novelty instead of a future adult. But hey, I don't have kids, so that's not my problem. When I was in elementary school in the early 80s, I had a (female) classmate who's first name was Skeeter. That is the name on her birth certificate. Not cutesy or childish-sounding, but c'mon...................

[@EyeDee98]

I used to have a friend who was named Zuzu by her parents. Classic example of a name that is cute for a baby but becomes less and less fitting the older they get. It sounds more like a nickname than a real name. She also doesn’t like her own name for exactly that reason.

[@Kingdom_Of_Dreams]

I have a Jack in my preschool class. His parents call him Jack-Jack, and they get surprised when I just call him Jack. If they ever ask me directly to call him Jack-Jack, I would tell them that I don't baby children. I treat them with dignity because I want them to see themselves as capable of many things. Calling them baby names will only hold them back.

[@salemsmith7085]

ok sorry but skeeter is such a cool name and is defos mature (for me) (im 28). to me it sounds like a really cool professor lady who teaches but is also someone who skateboards and works with animals.

[@juliaboskamp9666]

Yeah we need to bring that standard back. I used to work with kids and these are some of the legal names parents gave their kids; -Spring (like the season) -Webbel -Cyber -Bubbels -Tiffany but spelled like they wanted their child be be bullied -Red -Ingram (they wanted it to be instagram but they weren't aloud to name their kid that) -Falcon -Vesper -Charlie but with a K To all people who want to use those names (or anny uniek name). Just get a pet, they don't have to deal with getting bullied because of their name.

[@KasumiRINA]

My mom deliberately picked a male name for bro so it won't get shortened, as everyone has shortened names here.

[@Bluestar1079]

One factor they didn't mention in the naming decision was how other people would react to the names, specifically children. When thinking up a name for my child I immediately disregarded any names that could easily be rhymed with any insulting words a child would know. No Danny Fanny or Scot full of snot.

[@roecocoa]

Never underestimate the creativity of a young bully.

[@Fyrmer]

I heard of a couple who deliberated at length to try to find a name for their daughter that bullies couldn't rhyme with anything unflattering. They eventually decided on "Danae." The kids at school called her "Decay."

[@kalliste01]

"Let's see... Bart, Cart, Dart, E-art... Nope, can't see any problem with that!"

[@robynzelickson6164]

My parents had friends (Mr and Mrs Durkee) who loved Snoopy's World War I flying ace's plane - the Sopwith Camel. Not wanting to name their son Sopwith, they named him S.Camel Durkee.

[@Convoy00X]

There's also the other end of that. When these babies grow up to adulthood and have unusual names like a child at the school I work at named "Jurnee."

[@TheZinmo]

After (Kevin) "Home Alone" Kevin became a really popular name in german speaking countries like Germany and Austria. BUT that was specifically in less educated parts of the populace, leading to the saying "Kevin is not a name it is a diagnosis". It's not that extreme these days, but first names are still strongly correlated with education and class of the parents, and since education is strongly herited, perception of the education of the child in the future.

[@tomhalla426]

It is really ominous to have someone named John Wayne whatever in the US.

[@sweetsandcharades8383]

@@tomhalla426and his real name was Marilyn!

[@hisham_hm]

​​@@sweetsandcharades8383 Marion! (I had to look it up!!)

[@rainpooper7088]

The odd part about Germany is that designated idiot names are really nothing new here. "Alpha-Kevin" is literally a repackaged "Vollhorst". Thing is, in other places, it's more commonly women's names that are turned into insulting descriptors (like "Debbie-Downer" or "Karen") with a male version never catching on, but in Germany it's usually reversed. Though to be fair, at least most people who know what a "Kevin" is will also know what you're talking about when you bring up a "Chantal" despite its comparatively rare usage(I blame Fack ju Göthe), unlike "Kyle" or "Kenneth" or whatever the male version of a Karen supposedly is that no one actually uses.

[@tomhalla426]

@@sweetsandcharades8383 Marion Michael Morrison

[@henkeliezen4983]

I'm Dutch and a biology teacher in the Netherlands. In the last 20 years I've seen soooo many names and among them many Erica's. We tend to bring the etymology of the name back to plants and flowers, however. Erica (or Erika) is an old name for what the Dutch now call "dophei" (Heath in English, where your "Heather" comes from). Plants and flowers are still popular as girls names, like Fleur (French for flower), Lelie/Lily, Roos (Rose), Madelief (Dutch for Daisy), Margriet (also Dutch for Daisy), Linde (linden-tree), Yasmin/Jasmine, Iris, Viola, Camiel (Camomille, also for boys), Aster, Marjolein (Dutch for oregano), and so on. Also English names, like Willow and Daisy I've seen a lot. The one I like most is actually an Irish name (and also the name of my God daughter), which is Ryleigh, meaning "field of rye". So if you want a more feminine or gracious explanation for your name; what is prettier and lovelier than a flower and more sturdy and resilient than a plant :D ?

[@KasumiRINA]

Margriet, much like Margaret, Margot and Rita, all come from Greek name meaning "pearl", so it's flower (daisy) named after a woman, and not the other way around. Same way as Mercedes wasn't named after the car.

[@Ælfgifu-1]

I love that!

[@mathewfinch]

I remember reading that after the Civil War, a trend among freed slaves was to pick names from Classical, Roman Republic-era history. That's why you have a number of names like Julius, Hannibal, Cassius, Octavia, Marcus, Darius, etc, from that time period.

[@thepinkestpigglet7529]

That was common in that era in general. People were becoming disenfranchised with the industrial revolution and romanizing past eras.

[@Themystergamerr]

A certain film character ruined Hannibal

[@jandm4ever716]

@@thepinkestpigglet7529haha sounds familiar

[@thomasdevine867]

Tyrone is an ancient Irish name. The movie actor Tyrone Power was popular for a long period in the mid-20th century. When the name became associated with African Americans, I don't know. Fun fact, I knew a young black man named Donald. I made his day when I showed him his name meant "black warrior." He was a boxer and loved the coincidence.

[@SophiePerry-no8rx]

Tyrone likely became popular with African Americans thanks to soul singer Tyrone Davis who had a number of hits in the late sixties and seventies

[@sodakk17]

Surprised to hear that. In parts of Brazil Tyrone is a name associated with gypsies. I have no idea why.

[@AnneDowson-vp8lg]

Bet the name Donald isn't as popular as it once was. A shame for all those splendid Highland warriors.

[@eiPderF]

My son has a name I associate with (white) authors and a Bible character. My mom said it sounded like “an old Black man who smokes Camels.” 😂 “That’s too specific, mom… I think that’s all you.”

[@Meilk27]

The Irish guy I know is Donal (no D at the end)

[@Volundur9567]

I noticed a lot of Germanic, Russian or Nordic names were considered "old timey" growing up. Olga, Gertrude, Wil(hel)m(in)a, Helga, Hildegard, Brunhilda or Alþea.

[@karengrohs4942]

My Swedish grandmother was named Olga Wilhelmina. She hated her name.

[@gretahoostal8565]

St Olga is one of my favorite saints but my husband didn’t go for the name. We went with Emma Maria for that baby. Maria after the Virgin Mary. Emma was an old lady name until maybe 20 years ago. We got to the trend late, because the baby before that seemed to not an Emma but an Anna Catherine (named after the mother of the Virgin Mary and St Catherine of Alexandria), which since Anna means grace and the grace of God is the Divine Energy, in a roundabout way, her name means pure energy, and she is. 😅 Anna was kind of an old lady name. I had a great-grandma Anna who died before I was born, and one who went by that maybe because Anastasha was hard to spell. And before her it had been a really long time until we could have a baby. The baby before that we named Inga Saskia. Those are 2 rare names. All of them have a vowel initial then a consonant ini, 2 syllables in the 1st name, 3 in the middle, and names that fit in in a lot of cultures.

[@DogFoxHybrid]

All of those are Germanic or Nordic. Olga is of Scandinavian origin but was adopted for use in Russia.

[@Friggsdottir]

Yes we need to bring back names from our own culture

[@jetblackjoy]

Olga is not not considered old-fashioned in Russia

[@katnicole7274]

My mom is a staunch atheist and yet gave every single one of her 6 kids a saint name: Catherine , Elizabeth, Thomas, Patrick, Benjamin Nicholas

[@KasumiRINA]

Eli in Elizabeth (or well, any other Hebrew name, from Elijah to DaniEl) literally means God too...)

[@katnicole7274]

@@KasumiRINA wow I didn’t know that. That’s actually a pretty cool random fact, now every time I see a name like that, that info will be on my mind 😅

[@kcirtapelyk6060]

You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the timelessness of religious names.

[@ladylove34]

I know a woman who named her son Panther because she loved the "Black Panther" movie....The movie was full of great names and she chose that!

[@ZachJersey]

That's what I named my cat, but... well, he's a cat.

[@ladylove34]

@@ZachJersey exactly!! and honestly that is a really cute name for a cat

[@theorderofthebees7308]

Well it could have been Kilmonger - so we grateful for some choices over others

[@ladylove34]

@@theorderofthebees7308 hahahaha true

[@theorderofthebees7308]

@@ladylove34 😂😂

[@katiegee4150]

There is an interesting naming trend in Southern African countries with first names like "Learnmore", "Bewell" and "Luckgood".

[@Punyulada]

Also names on the vein of Blessings, Godspeed, and Precious!

[@sorreldislikespotatoes9882]

I knew a girl named Marvellous.

[@capybar42]

I knew a boy named "Divine Success"

[@MeigsmerlinMeigsmerlin]

I love that

[@jaeoskyldig]

Nigeria had a president named Goodluck Jonathan

[@SheliakDragon]

Otherwords is hands down my favorite PBS series. Can we clone Dr Erica so we can have more videos without overworking her?

[@pdzombie1906]

Don't give them ideas for AI!!!!

[@grf15]

I don't want a clone, I just want to see Dr. B do more videos.

[@howdy4504]

"babies are uniformly weak and stupid" finally someone said it

[@moo422]

Stupid babies need the most attention!

[@silverjohn6037]

That and they look like Winston Churchill.

[@smurfyday]

I agree with weak. Stupid they're not. Uneducated, uninformed, ignorant, certainly, but knowledge doesn't equal intelligence.

[@lelandgill3631]

is true. I've beaten many babies in chess AND hand-to-hand combat

[@inari.28]

conscious orlando four seasons baby begs to differ!!!

[@wilcoxchar]

One of my favorite examples of this is the name Gary. It pretty much didn't exist until aspiring actor Frank Cooper, knowing there were a lot of other Frank Coopers at the time in Hollywood, changed his first name after his hometown of Gary, Indiana and became Gary Cooper. The name took off with his celebrity becoming one of the most popular names in the 50s and 60s, but by now has died out again.

[@golwenlothlindel]

Yes, although the town was named after a person: Gary was his surname. It's not clear where the surname comes from. It could be from "garret" as in the top of a tower, or it might come from the Irish patronymic O'Ghara. So it might come from an Irish given name, though it's possible the origin could be more obscure than that too. In any case, it's definitely a strange journey for a name to take. Idk if "Gary" as a nickname for Gareth or Garett came before or after Gary Cooper also.

[@robynzelickson6164]

The only 'Gary' I know is a horse. 🐴 😊

[@chaddevlin8545]

He was gay, Gary Cooper?

[@rainpooper7088]

@robynzelickson6164 The only Gary I know is a snail 🐌

[@karenryder6317]

@@chaddevlin8545 probably bi-sexual

[@lisahopkins9117]

My grandma was named Mildred Maude and she was born 100 years ago this year. So this checks out. 🤣 She hated it too and went by Mickey as soon as she went to serve the WAVES in WWII. I miss her so much!!!

[@kijekuyo9494]

I wrote a book for which I had to come up with over 50 women's names in a certain age range. I learned a lot from that task.

[@dextro_whatever]

I love coming up with women's names for my stories. Men's names are so much less fun for me. My family hates that I get creative with the names though, and often criticize when I pick an uncommon name for any gender of character. On the other hand, my brother's name is Atticus and not Aiden so what does that say about our parents?

[@Kiraiko44]

It's funny because my parents picked my name based purely on just liking the sound of it but the meaning fits me perfectly and I didn't learn it until I was an older teenager

[@FullmoonPhantom-dn2sr]

That’s great! I’m glad it worked out. My name meaning is pretty boring. I have always loved my name and being unique. I’ve never been one for common names, which is, the complete opposite from my brother who has a very common name and prefers older more familiar names. He is also the third generation (III) with his name. Grandfather, father, then my brother. Still, though I like my own name, seeing the meaning of it was disappointing. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t “plain.” Actually, the name means a “field”. The name is the very same as the witch in Soul Eater or that horror documentary style movie. It doesn’t matter that much though because I’ve been complimented plenty and even had some say they named their kids or siblings after my name. They liked the sound of it. People often comment how pretty it sounds. I find it interesting that seems to be the common reaction people have. I also find it interesting characters in media with the name often seem to be witches. It’s such an uncommon name, too, and yet it has a meaning, associations people have made towards it, and has somehow shown up in multiple forms of media. Also, I was shocked to hear many others with the name as a last name and a few people having it as a first name when I went to a graduation ceremony in another town. It’s actually supposedly a unisex name, although, I have no clue how that’s determined. It’s just what I’ve been told all my life and along with the meaning, unisex was mentioned online as well. Also, even though people around me usually think of it as a feminine name, in school as a child, my family often tells me teachers would usually expect a boy when they had only seen the name on their class list at the start of the year, but hadn’t yet met me in person. In a way, I suppose, it does fit. I live in The Great Plains. If I’m honest I’m a pretty plain girl even though my father apparently liked the name because she was a beautiful girl in a movie. (Less Than 0 movie). I haven’t seen the movie.

[@robertfindley921]

One thing I've noticed is that the teen heartthrob names will become the most popular baby boy names 10 years later. It used to be Jeremy and Joshua after Here Come the Brides. Later it was Brandon and Dylan after 90210. I'm sure there are more examples.

[@Axqu7227]

Edward/ Jacob (or Robert / Taylor after the actors) from Twilight. Dean/ Sam (Jensen/ Jared) from Supernatural I’m guessing the Degrassi, Glee, and High School Musical crowd also have representatives but I don’t know anyone personally who was into those

[@jsraadt]

"And, Lo! Religion begat popularity, and popularity begat popularity, and popularity begat resentment, and resentment begat individuality..."

[@jsraadt]

And individuality begat personality, and personality begat fame, and fame begat followers, and followers begat religion...

[@mrmadness2699]

‘Amen,’ I say to you!

[@DustfeatherOfFire]

Regarding gender, one thing I've noticed is that a lot of names which are considered feminine in the US are regarded as masculine in the UK, such as Ashley and Morgan. I recall it once took me several chapters to realise that the (first-person) protagonist in a book was female, as her name was Elliott which I'd only ever encountered as a male name!

[@Imreallyboredsick]

I know plenty of Ashleys and Morgans. Though they are both unisex, I haven't come across any men with those names.

[@davevanfunk8917]

When I was a teenager in the sixties , the name Tracy all of a sudden became a girl’s name. In the eighties, I noticed that parents were giving their surnames for first names: Taylor, Logan, Tiffany, Winston etc. One article hypothesized that since we don’t have in the US, it might have a way to assume a fake, elevated status.

[@maxinezook3835]

I had seen 2 prominent Tracys in my life, the younger daughter in The Partridge Family tv series was named Tracy & later on I had an elementary school homeroom teacher who was a man with the first name Tracy. I quietly wondered why my teacher had a girls name but he & later on several male entertainers also named Tracy or Trace helped me realize that Tracy has really become a gender neutral name like Dana, Robin, Dale etc. 😊

[@dandeleon2764]

Tiffany has incredibly ancient origins, Theophanes

[@capitalb5889]

Winston Churchill was a trend setter, in that case.

[@tracyhardyjohnson1315]

I'm a female Tracy, but born in the mid 1950s. It was my mother's maiden name. Tracy as a name started becoming popular when I was about 10 years old. At that time, when my family took a summer vacation, the souvenir shops that had personalized items never had a Tracy. Now I can always find something.

[@maxinezook3835]

@@tracyhardyjohnson1315 I can understand that! I have a hard time finding personalized items with my name too! More likely to find items with the boys name Max (my grandpa's name who I'm a namesake of) than my own name 😊

[@tchaika222]

As a non-native English speaker, I would love a video on English nicknames. How does that happen? When does that happen? Who gets to "decide" that little Robert goes by Rob or Bob or Bobby? Or that Rebecca goes by Becca, Beck, Beckie or Reba? And I'm still not over the fact that Bill is short for William.

[@Finnleigh.Jackson4141]

Bill stole the "B" from someone at it is not even near William. He always wanted to be Billiam.

[@Toobenator]

Roberts also go by “Robin.”

[@brianarbenz1329]

Character actor Edward Andrews had a one-time appearance on Bewitched as Elizabeth Montgomery, pregnant in real life, played the expectant Samantha. During a break, Montgomery said writers hadn't chosen a name for the fictional baby to be. Andrews mentioned that his real life daughter was named Tabitha, and Elizabeth immediately loved it. The name of Samantha and Darren's on-screen little girl caught on rapidly with viewers, so millions of Tabithas are out there today -- all thanks to the daughter of a character actor.

[@guyfaux3978]

Hell, before Bewitched, I had never heard the name "Samantha" and damn few Darrins, and I was middle school age.

[@jenniferburns2530]

When I had my daughter, her father and I gave a lot of thought to uniqueness and nicknames. We have a very common last name and would run into situations where it was an issue (he served with another person with the same first name, middle initial, and last name on his ship while in the Navy!) and I was one of a huge group of Jennifers, when it was common to have 2-4 of us in a classroom. We also wanted a name that wouldn't be routinely shortened, but was still common enough that most people would be able to spell and pronounce it. Finally, we also gave her a middle name with endless possibilities (Elizabeth) in case she hated her first name.

[@cannibalbananas]

I grew up where everyone had the same name & you "fought" over who got to get called by their nickname. Example: my birth name was Nicole & I preferred Nicki, but so did the other Nicole's. And there were several Johns, Mikes, Natashas, Joshs, etc. So when I named my daughter, I went for unique, but not so unique it can't be easily spelled, and no family/friend duplicates.

[@RockinFootball_23]

It’s funny cause when I started school my class had 2 Daniels and were called with their last name initial attached. For the rest of their primary school career, they both were always referred to with their last name initial, never just “Daniel”. It’s also quite funny because they also became best friends too. For the other common names like Jason, the kids were referred with the whole last name unlike the Daniels who ended up with a nickname (which started out of convenience). Edit: About names, for some reason there were 3 Graces in my high school year of 120-ish kids. It’s such an old person’s name.

[@gullinvarg]

My mom was the same way. Her given name is Katherine and when she was growing up her teachers were determined to call kids by different names and other girls got the Kate, Katie and Kathy variations so she was stuck with her full name.

[@cannibalbananas]

@@gullinvarg I feel her pain. Even some nickname of Nicki would have been preferable to being called by my full first name 😞

[@eiPderF]

My son had Andrew S, Andrew G, and Drew. Apparently nobody wanted Andy?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

5:14 Like how Lady Diana didn’t want to name her sons ‘Alfred’ and ‘Arthur’ like the Former Prince of Wales wanted.

[@golwenlothlindel]

"Former Prince of Wales" 😂😂😂😂😂

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@golwenlothlindel I didn’t want to acknowledge his name lol

[@Illjwamh]

Too bad they didn't go with Arthur for William. We could've ended up with a real king Arthur finally. Third time's the charm

[@lightsideofsin8969]

Isn't the English royal family restricted to only a short list of baby names that they're allowed to give their children?

[@Kaede-Sasaki]

Waiting for a Ralph.

[@aperson7151]

A lot of these names are pretty common in Nigeria even today. I'm 19 and went to school with a lot of ppl named Doris, Mildred, Gladys, Winifred, Gertrude, Margaret etc. I feel like the concept of dated names doesn't apply everywhere. I only noticed it in America after I moved here

[@ghostofabulletproducciones5748]

It has to do more with trends being different in different countries. I’m pretty sure that if you ask people in Nigeria what do they think are old fashioned names they will have their own answers

[@limalicious]

There's a set of teen twins where I work named Deborah and Dorcas, and even I kind of scratched my head at those. But even my name was one my mom was told was a grandma name--and turned into one of the most popular names of the 90s. So sometimes things come back around like Hazel is.

[@LymanPhillips]

Deborah and Dorcas are lovely Biblical names. I when people asked me what we were going to name my daughter (and usually no matter what name I told them, they invariably had to tell me about the worst thing that happened to a person with that name), so I'd tell them Dorcas and watch them squirm trying to think of something nice to say. My wife says I'm evil.

[@roecocoa]

Biblical names are great because the reference material is so accessible and yet so widely ignored. "My daughter, you shall be named for the prophetess who walked ahead of her nation's army, and saw her enemies thrown into confusion and routed." "My sister's name is awesome! What about my namesake?" "She made underwear and died twice." "..." "We could have called you Tabitha, but, eh."

[@limalicious]

@@LymanPhillips Deborah is just old-fashioned, Dorcas is hard to not think of how mean kids are. I wouldn't choose them, but I was forbidden from ever using Gertrude.

[@alicek7529]

My daughter (a millennial) thought Hazel was a beautiful name. I (a boomer) couldn't think of Hazel except for that 60's sitcom about the maid with the Joisey accent! Good thing my daughter never had a baby

[@LymanPhillips]

@@alicek7529 I coached a now 6th grader and she's named Hazel. I remember the show, but I think it's a lovely name.

[@CZedby]

Met two Enids at a bus stop once: an elderly pensioner, and a student from Hong Kong 😊

[@sheren_b]

"newborns are pretty uniformly weak and stupid" took me out🤣its true of course! I also wonder if gender neutral names/neutralizing male names comes from an economic angle, ppl believing their kid will be set for economic/societal success without a perception of gendering (or if the initial perceived gender is male). the 100 year rule makes sense tho as there is a trend of "vintage" older names becoming more popular. Also, love this video's content and I really like Dr. Brozovsky earrings, look like smiles/mouth shapes

[@PokhrajRoy.]

3:23 I know someone who wanted to name their cat ‘Daenerys’ but chose ‘Arya’ instead. Just in time lol

[@kutukan2219]

Okay, i find those justifiable on pets but on your own children? Don't they know kids are mean?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@kutukan2219 And usually, we don’t ask kids what they’d like to be called

[@SheliakDragon]

It's kindof cute thinking of a feline Daenerys contemplating the fiery deaths of humans while spitting up hairballs

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@SheliakDragon Hahaha

[@alicek7529]

My daughter said she wanted to name her son Tyrion, if she had one. Good thing her husband had a vasectomy and put an end to that

[@woodencoyote4372]

When I was pregnant with my daughter, there were already SIX girls named Ellie/Ella just on my street - and one dog! So we wound up not choosing that name, even though it was after a beloved aunt.

[@Kingdom_Of_Dreams]

Not even for a middle name? I think it is pretty for a middle name :)

[@73honda350]

I'm a 1950's boomer who grew up in the midwest in area that was heavily settled by german immigrants. Even into the 1980's and 1990's it wasn't uncommon to encounter old guys named Adolf or Adolph. To paraphrase, it seems one rotten Adolf does spoil the name.

[@Friggsdottir]

How was he rotten?

[@Idkpleasejustletmechangeit]

0:29 this also exists in other languages. For German, names like "Wolfgang", "Herbert" or "Friedrich" sound like extremely old, almost dead people.

[@Friggsdottir]

Beautiful strong names

[@Phrigmeat]

“Madison” was not a girl’s name until the movie Splash came out. It even has “son” in the name and somehow has become a name given exclusively to daughters!

[@TheLordOfNothing]

I’ve seen it more for a long form of “Maddy”.

[@capitalb5889]

I used a very simple rule when naming the kid: 1) choose something classic - it will not go out of fashion 2) choose something that is not absurdly old fashioned either 3) choose something that is easy to spell 4) don't choose a silly name that says more about your own self-absorption that the good of the child. I ended up choosing "Anna"

[@Solitaire001]

A rule I've heard for naming children is if your last name is extremely common (such as Smith or Jones) then choose a slightly unusual first name. Good fictional example (Lost in Space): Zachary Smith.

[@CAstrawberrygirl]

My grandmother's name was Evelyn and now I'm seeing it pop up again with some babies so it's cool that it's being revived :-)

[@Aboz]

In the mid 70s, every 3rd grade classroom had a half dozen Jasons. I blame that Argonauts movie.

[@jam-the-hologram]

fair enough I say, that movie is great

[@fiberpoet6250]

When I was in HS, seemed like every other girl was named Jennifer and every other guy was named Jonathan

[@KasumiRINA]

Heavy Rain made it really unpopular. I never played that game, all I know of it has a dedicated "JASON" button to shout.

[@rosameryrojas-delcerro1059]

I have been doing my own genealogy since 2005. And names are actually on a "popularity pendulum". (People being named after a relative are the exceptions.)That is, once the population gets "sick of" a name the popularity drops and swings to nearly nothing. Then as all the oldsters that have that name begin to pass away it starts to swing forward a bit and eventually after 75-125 years usually when most of the Aunt Gertrudes and Grandpa Magnus' have passed away and thier great-granchildren (or later) are looking for something different for thier kids. Those old names that they were not hearing all the time do become attractive at that point whether they remember that thier great-aunt Sophronias house smelled like mothballs or thier Great Grandpa Montague went to prison for running rum during Prohibition. One example is Stella. The last time that was popular was WW2 and it has been gaining popularity in the past few years. Another name Keith, was popular in the 1950's and 1960's and very few boys in the USA have been named Keith in the past few years. So Keith is at the bottom of that swing right now and Stella is at the other end, heading towards popular again.

[@milic5749]

I used to visit baby name boards a lot for character naming and interest in language, and one of my biggest annoyances was how many people would say everyone naming their kid (insert modern trendy baby name here) was awful for making that kid's life hard because nobody would take an adult with that name seriously and it would sound even more ridiculous on a grandparent. But it only seemed that way then because there weren't any adults with that name *yet.*

[@phantomkate6]

Some names are so wild that it will be interesting to see if they remain oddities in the nursing home or if we will have dropped all semblance of any social norms by then 😂

[@tonytins]

Don't worry. I'm not in any rush to name anyone, not even a fictional character, "X Æ A-12".

[@IISheireenII]

It might be a decent name for an android or an alien.

[@raerohan4241]

​@@IISheireenII Yeah, but then I'd feel sorry for the actual kid named that

[@Solitaire001]

@@raerohan4241 There was a character in Peanuts named 555 95472 ("5" for short). His father was concerned about numbers taking over and this was his way of giving in. All of his family members have numeric names and "95472" is their family name.* *Source: Wikipedia

[@aspiraal]

How do you even say that...

[@Solitaire001]

@@aspiraal It is likely that people would have to be told how to say it, or the child would receive a nickname to use instead (such as Zay [since the first letters look like Z A E]).

[@porschebridges9521]

Brittany is about to be an old lady name😂

[@NewMessage]

HA! Take that, newborns. * narrows eyes * You know what you did.

[@vihakingwhimsicalflame]

is it just me or is this a frisk reference - _ -

[@SiKedek]

Did you ever hear that Reddit AITA story about a mother who wanted to name her kid "Ghiuliyette" (i.e., Juliet gone haywire)?

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

This post has big Fry energy.

[@rikrikonius1301]

I wonder how long running pop cultural characters affect these trends. With DC alone, you've got Clark, Bruce and Diana in the public consciousness for almost a century. I wonder how much that effect boosted those names, and how much it suppressed them ("we're not naming him 'Clark' after your uncle. Everyone will think he's named after Superman!")

[@BonaparteBardithion]

Conversely, I wonder how much names that were common during the writer's youth affect which ones get put back into pop culture. Marvel has used Peter at least 2-3 times.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

As a person with a unique name, I have no intention to be disdainful of equally complex anthroponyms.

[@maitecaceres6585]

Wen i was little my mane was very unique, now i hear it almost every were.😐🫤

[@gabor6259]

Are your parents, by any chance, Star Trek fans?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@gabor6259 No

[@hackman-hackman]

@@PokhrajRoy.are they Indian?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@hackman-hackman Yes

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

There was a baby name book released around the time I was born that listed my name. My parents got my name out of that book. You can tell when it was published because there’s a tiny spike in the popularity of the name starting in the year after it came out. It’s an incredibly rare name. It’s about 10,000th in popularity now. I like having a unique name.

[@maugos]

My sister and I are pretty good examples of two different extremes. My parents are Catholic and named me after St. Paul. Meanwhile, when my sister was born they hadn't picked out a name and randomly decided to give her the name of the drop zone my military father had just come in from, Jessica. I always found it funny they put all this thought into my name, but none into my sister's. We also like to joke that we were named after one of my mom's favorite books, Dune. If you get it, you get it.

[@jjjsalang]

Maybe you could have been named Paul and Alia?

[@twocents7509]

I know a girl whose mom named her “Caitlin” in the 90s, thinking it was really unique. Fast forward a little bit and there’s several Katie’s, Caitlin’s, Kate’s, and all sorts of variations and nicknames of that name that people have today.

[@isabellaspangher1734]

One thing that would be interesting to explore more is the big increase in certain nature based named (Aurora, Ivy, etc)

[@literaterose6731]

My granddaughter is named Ivy! It’s also the name of one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite books when I was a kid, in the early 1970s: The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. It seemed really exotic then, but as it was published in 1970, it makes sense considering the infusion of “hippie” names!

[@Kingdom_Of_Dreams]

I want to name my future daughter Willow, but now that I am dating a Korean, the name Willow doesn't sound the same in Korean so I may not use it. I also like the name Fern, but there isn't an F sound in Korean, so that's also off the table lol.

[@xerk2945]

I live in an area with a really high Hispanic population, so there are all the Hispanic names your would think of, but another thing I've noticed is that names we would consider "old person" names are at different generations in different Hispanic countries. For example, it's not weird for me to meet another millennial named Edna or Elmer. I'm just interested why that is. Maybe because US media hit the countries they're from later? Like, are there going to be babies in the U.S. with Korean names because of how popular Kpop is right now that would be very out of date in Korea in 20 years?

[@rose2divine956]

Lol yes. My mom’s name is Flor de Maria & my name is Rossy (Rosie) named after my grandma Rosa, brother’s name is Douglas and my youngest sister is Genesis. Lol each name is so dated

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

Well, names are basically the biggest memes.

[@rebasack21]

When it comes to naming a baby there is one major thing my parents considered that honestly more parents need to consider, and that was how might bullies use a name to hurt us? This was why many names were tossed out and eventually we got fairly common names but that were extremely hard to mock. Having been a bully magnet growing up at least my name was never used against me.

[@thepinkestpigglet7529]

Eh, in my experience that's pointless. My name is Scot. Normal common name. Kids bullied me by calling me scoot. Started going by my first name. Rosalyn. Rahzalyn. Kids started calling me rose to be mean because I was always correcting people that it isnt pronounced rosealyn.

[@KasumiRINA]

​@@thepinkestpigglet7529 it's much easier for bullies when the name is easy to mock, though.

[@CiaraTheGreatest1024]

It doesn't matter. I have the most common female name in my country. Middle school bullies used my last name for jokes

[@KatS-q1t]

@@rebasack21 also be careful to check what the child’s initials might spell. Our last name starts with an S. Cue first baby on the way. Boy. I love the name Andrew Steven. Till my husband is thinking about it one day and suddenly shouts we CANT name him that-look at what his initials spell. Yup, we had to rethink that and he got a different name. I’m

[@jeromemckenna7102]

My mother's family were immigrants from Polish speaking parts of the Russian Empire. All my great aunts were named some form of Mary. All of them were called 'uncle xxx's wife'.

[@skyden24195]

I've long noticed many girls born in the 90s have the name "Jasmine." I speculate this being attributed to the princess from Disney's "Aladdin." Speaking of princesses from films, my brother named his daughter "Jozlyn" after the "princess" from "A Knight's Tale."

[@Jcremo]

I’m an older Jasmine (80’s baby) and I grew up with that trope of “where’s Aladdin?” Needless to say I agree with you. I feel too old for my name because I’ve met so many jasmines who are in their 20’s and I’m here pushing 40. Haha.

[@toomanyopinions8353]

I would argue “Alex” and “Cameron” are very much still androgynous names and non female dominant

[@skurinski]

Same with Charlie

[@jljordan1]

I went to school in the nineties with a Michael that was a girl

[@magnusengeseth5060]

I think she used "female dominant" to mean that more girls are given the name than boys. If that's correct, it's not really subjective, just numbers.

[@aiocafea]

@@magnusengeseth5060 you can be subjective with numbers depending on the exact title above them is alex male or female dominant in the UK too? how about non-english-speaking countries? Alex is usually a boy's name where i'm from of course you can say she means 'female-dominated (in the US at the moment)' but if she'd say Maria is female-dominated and you asked what country or what timeframe, you'd look like a lunatic; we assume broad definitions if something isn't specified (also in some places, Maria is not a totally crazy name for a boy, though it remains a mainly female name)

[@fizzigigsimmer6090]

​@@aiocafeaall this to push back on a statistic that you have no context for and doesn't hurt you. If anything it's a curious *fact that I would just verify myself before repeating to anyone. Why the debate?😂

[@shaider1982]

CGP grey did a video on the name Tiffany some years ago.

[@grf15]

If Dr. B posted a video three times a day, my bet is they would all be interesting and informative. Otherwords has quickly become one of my favorites.

[@AlexBarracuda]

This was legit the coolest video about names I’ve seen, it was so rich with information!!

[@elizabethramsey9295]

25 years ago I when I was high school teacher’s aide we had five girls named Crystal in our classrooms. I always thought it was funny no two girls spelled her name the same way 😂

[@lampyrisnoctiluca9904]

My parents gave me the feminised version of my father's name. It was very popular at the time, which they did not take into consideration. In highschool out of 30 students in my class, 3 of us had the same name. All three of us were left-handed and individualistic. Everyone I ever met with my name was individualistic. I don't know if this was because we have such a common name, or because the type of parents that believed that individuality in children should be nurtured had for some reason a liking to the name. Also, when I was in the hospital, when the nurse asked me about my name and date of birth she said there are so many others with the same name and a surname as me in the system. I just said: I have meet 2 of them.😂

[@KattMurr]

Another male name that's become more popular for females is Aubrey. A close friend of mine is an Aubrey and when I asked his mom why she picked that name, she said the meaning of it is "king of the elves" and when my friend was born his ears were a little pointy and he had noticeable hair on the tops of his feet and hands and she thought he looked like an elf...lol...

[@skurinski]

Still a male name in the UK

[@PleasedTown]

i believe that is Drake's real name

[@fruzsimih7214]

I've seen the 100-year-rule applied in my lifetime here in Austria with names like Maximilian, Leopold or Ferdinand. In my youth in the 1980s and 90s, we only knew them from history books. But now, every other 12-year-old boy is called Maximilian and the other names are gaining popularity as well. On the other hand, no-one names their child Barbara, Claudia, Alexandra or Martin anymore, which were the most popular names of my generation. (I have like four colleagues called Martin, but no-one in my son's school is called like that.)

[@turquoisewitch.wild-owl]

I used to think that about Charlotte, then lots of people started using it again for their babies.

[@Kingdom_Of_Dreams]

I love that name, but I wouldn't use it because it's trendy, like you said.

[@despinasgarden.4100]

​@@Kingdom_Of_Dreamsi feel the same about the names Mary/Maria and Sofia, lovely names, but they are so common where i live that i wouldn't like to use them. I meet at least, 4 Sofias, i have the feeling that it will become an old lady name in my generation.

[@blackwolfdragon1705]

There's a whole city with that name

[@bby_gigi]

These days most parents opt for Charlotte solely for the “Charlie” nickname

[@Kingdom_Of_Dreams]

@@despinasgarden.4100 Did you ever grow up knowing several kids in your class with the same name because it was trendy? That was me with the name Jessica when I was in elementary school 😂 I am so glad my name is a) uncommon and b) not pretentious.

[@vindelanda]

I have a name that was in the top 10 in the 20s but was very unpopular by the time it was given to me in the 90s. When making online bookings for stuff, I am frequently mistaken for a senior and it leads to a funny moment when a younger person arrives for the appointment. I think the 100 year rule is spot on, though, as I’ve now seen several businesses with my name. That makes me think it’s getting trendy again, who knows!

[@halfsourlizard9319]

Um, it's currently the '20s ...

[@michaelpytel3280]

Rare baby names like Medusa, Tiamat, Gozzer the Gozarian and Zuul.

[@ThisGuy76]

There is no Dana, only Zuul.

[@L0rdOfThePies]

Where i am from atleast “Goz” means mouth snot :-) Gozzer would be a truly unfortunate baby name in that situation

[@quiestinliteris]

​@@L0rdOfThePies Mouth... snot? Like, saliva? Or post-nasal drip / phlegm?

[@gullinvarg]

Some friends of mine have cats named Zuul and Vinz Clortho Keymaster of Gozer (usually just called Vinz).

[@L0rdOfThePies]

@@quiestinliteris phlegm, not saliva. Like a loogie

[@AxelQC]

Dorothy was the top girl's name at the beginning of the 20th Century because of the Wizard of Oz book. It stayed popular for 50 years because of the Judy Garland film. By the late 80s, it was an old lady's name like Bea Arthur's character.

[@Soulus101]

A lot of people I know will give a family name as a second (middle) name, so they are still giving a nod to the past, but they'll get a new first name. We have a couple of feminine family names in my family, but opted not to use them when choosing my daughter's name; I think the most important considerations were 1) will my child be bullied for the name, and 2) do I have any negative feelings towards anyone with this name? I think knowing someone we didn't like with the name would turn us off a name, but knowing someone we liked was not a factor in giving it. Sidenote, I managed to convince my wife that if we had a son we'd name him Jason; I did not tell her that this was because it was the name of the red Power Ranger...

[@diamond3749]

names really do matter! There are names that mean wish and hope in my language and it is said to not name your children them cause they'll always be reaching for a wish or dream... i loved the meaning of your name and i think it took part in why you're such a successful and strong confident woman!

[@Mibs-Mibby]

This reminds me of that one video where a kid was telling her mom that Justin is an old person name because everyone named justin to her was like her mom’s age

[@AnvilPictures]

Although there are some pretty awesome names. Wolfgang, Hannibal, Dorian, Zeke,

[@fugithegreat]

In the not-too-distant future, we'll have nursing homes filled with Brynlees and Kinzees. 😂

[@laceisaverb]

My brother (born in the 80s) was named after our uncle, who was named after our grandfather, and now that he has kids, my brother and his wife gave one of their daughters a name similar to this old family name. I love the tradition of naming kids after older relatives!

[@EmnM2010]

6:22 Charlie suddenly becoming VERY female-dominant in the last couple of year? Huh. I wonder what could have caused that...? (squints at Vizzy Pop)

[@ed3tun]

I haven’t yet meet another person named Jimmy in my 38 years of living.

[@macko8626]

I thought Jimmy/Jim was just a nickname for James?

[@cannibalbananas]

My dad's name was Jimmy.

[@roecocoa]

Born a generation too late to meet Jimi Hendrix, you may have missed your chance with Jimmy Carter, but you can still get tickets for Fallon and/or Kimmel.

[@L0rdOfThePies]

I have a friend called james who is call jimmy :-)

[@toyaJM]

Jimmy is my god daughter’s nickname she was named after her great grandfather, I think it really suites her as well.