topic Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names... in Community Chat

Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

Oznell — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 18:05:10 GMT

The Baby Name Wizard has a contest every year for people to predict which names are rising and falling in popularity the fastest. This doesn't mean they ARE the most popular or the least popular-- just that they are moving the fastest.

The apparent overall winner this year is getting a Master's in applied linguistics, and used her vast knowledge of stats, cultural trends, etc. to come up with the winners:

Fastest Rising: Adeline (f), Everly (f), Finn (m)

Fastest Falling: Alexis (f), Kadence (f), Jase (m)

Another top winner for the "falling" names came up with: Brandon (m), Alexis (f) Kaitlyn (f)

A contestant for just boys' rising-in-popularity names won with "Kylo" (m).

I'm a bit confused by the various winners, but my take-aways are that "Alexis" and "Kaitlyn" (including all its variant spellings) are definitely not going to be surging in popularity in the foreseeable future. I love the newly popular traditional name "Adeline", so hope it doesn't become overly common...

I've encountered all these names in real life, but so far I do not know any little new-born "Kylo's", which is supposed to be zooming in popularity...

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

blackhole99 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 18:09:38 GMT

The falling names have been around since the 80's so maybe people are over them. I gave my son a simple Bible name and he has thanked me for it many times. I think he saw how kids who have unusual names were tormented in school.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

Silver Lining — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 18:33:26 GMT

"Kylo" sounds like J-Lo (or however it and the others like it are spelled). Ugh!

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

patbz — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 18:36:42 GMT

We have a long and often mispronounced last name. Therefore a nouveau first name wasn't a consideration; we combined DH and my name's (Patrick Paul).

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

Mz iMac — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:17:07 GMT

@blackhole99 wrote:
The falling names have been around since the 80's so maybe people are over them. I gave my son a simple Bible name and he has thanked me for it many times. I think he saw how kids who have unusual names were tormented in school.

Depends on how unusual the name is. Not all children w/odd names are tormented.

Myself, my daughter & grandson have unusual names. None of us were teased, tormented or bullied.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

CANDLEQUEEN — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:20:35 GMT

@Mz iMac wrote:
@blackhole99 wrote:
The falling names have been around since the 80's so maybe people are over them. I gave my son a simple Bible name and he has thanked me for it many times. I think he saw how kids who have unusual names were tormented in school.
Depends on how unusual the name is. Not all children w/odd names are tormented.
Myself, my daughter & grandson have unusual names. None of us were teased, tormented or bullied.

I have an odd name too, and while I wasn't tormented by it, I had to spell it constantly and it was so annoying. Now that I am much much older, I love my unique name and receive many compliments on it!

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

SeaMaiden — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:33:55 GMT

I wonder if the good ol' 50's names will ever be popular again?.....Joan, Nancy, Debbie, Laurie, etc? They are pretty plain. Here is a list of them

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1950s.html

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

JaneMarple — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 20:09:14 GMT

My new granddaughter who is due in less than 3 weeks will have a very old fashioned and old english name.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

faeriemoon — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 20:42:10 GMT

Adeline makes me think of the song, "My Adeline", which makes me think of Lucy receiving a glob of shaving cream in her mouth.

Not crazy about the name.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

VanSleepy — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 20:49:33 GMT

@blackhole99 wrote:
The falling names have been around since the 80's so maybe people are over them. I gave my son a simple Bible name and he has thanked me for it many times. I think he saw how kids who have unusual names were tormented in school.

Ha - my son, who has a very common first name, used to tell me he didn't like it because no one else in the whole school had that name!

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

chickenbutt — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 20:51:27 GMT

I have an old-timey name that seems to be having a resurgence. It's interesting how, even with all kinds of new types of names, there seems to be a constant circulation bringing back names with which many of us are very familiar.

I remember, back when I was in school, it was Debbie and Linda. Nothing wrong (at all!) with those names, of course, but it was amazing how many people would have those names. Kathy was always a popular one, too. Now another layer is that a lot of familiar names have many additional spellings.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

faeriemoon — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:02:08 GMT

I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

JaneMarple — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:11:28 GMT

@faeriemoon wrote:
I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.

Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

faeriemoon — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:22:51 GMT

@JaneMarple wrote:
@faeriemoon wrote:
I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.
Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

To the rest of the world.

@JaneMarple wrote:
@faeriemoon wrote:
I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.
Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

To the rest of the world.

I remember when my son had a classmate named, Brandeen. How would you pronounce that? Just about everyone who didn't already know him pronounced it

@JaneMarple wrote:
@faeriemoon wrote:
I think you should choose whatever name you love for your child, but for heaven's sake; don't make up some whackadoo spelling.

Frankly, it makes you, the parent, look ignorant.
Look ignorant to who @faeriemoon?

To the rest of the world.

For example, when my son was a kid he had a classmate named, Brandeen. How would you pronounce that? Anyone who didn't already know him pronounced it "bran-DEEN". Well, his name was what we would spell as, Brandon. Both the mother and the kid became very indignant when it was mispronounced.

Parents need to get a clue and give their kids a name that is spelled as something recognizable. And yes, that mother looked like a moron.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

faeriemoon — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:24:08 GMT

@JaneMarple Sorry for the posting weirdness. I think my computer needs medication.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

JaneMarple — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:28:15 GMT

@faeriemoon I have a young nephew who is 3 years old and his name is Zakary, his parents pronounce it Zachary but chose this spelling on purpose. I admit that it's different but not ignorant.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

faeriemoon — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:32:21 GMT

@JaneMarple wrote:
@faeriemoon I have a young nephew who is 3 years old and his name is Zakary, his parents pronounce it Zachary but chose this spelling on purpose. I admit that it's different but not ignorant.

@JaneMarple No, that's not ignorant at all. I just think conventional spellings grow with you as you age; even if your name is not particularly conventional.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

Oznell — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:36:28 GMT

SeaMaiden and chickenbutt, to your interesting posts,I think the Baby Name Wizard (who is really Laura Wattenberg) has a theory that it takes a full, hundred year cycle for especially over-used names to come back.

She might have mentioned that the Baby Boomer names, which I think she has a cute title for, like "Surfin' USA" or something-- the names like Susan, Linda, Bob, Debbie, Bruce, Rick, Kathy, Brad, (and their long forms) etc. etc. will cycle back, but not now. That's because many of the bearers of those names are now mature, solid citizens, and young whippersnapper parents don't think of them as exciting potential children's names. (The one exception above is the long form of Kathy, Katherine, which remains popular.)

But at some point, the bearers of those names will be gone (not for a LONG time I hope) and the names will seem fresh again. Look how old time names like Violet, Ruby, Oscar, Roman, Daisy etc. have seen a revival with so-called "hipster" parents.

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

Oznell — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:52:16 GMT

That's interesting, JaneMarple, I like your nephew's spelling-- it is similar to the spelling of one of the Lithuanian forms of Zachary, which is something like "Zakaras". Certain other languages use the 'k" instead of the "ch" form in their versions of Zachary, like Hungarian and I believe Arabic.

Sometimes what seems like unusual spellings to us is what is the name's version is in other languages. For example, "William' is Gwilym (or is it Gwylim) in Welsh.

Of couse, even Zachary is a variant of the original Hebrew name "Zechariah"-- it is just the most usual one in our language at this time...

Re: Baby Name Contest Predicts Fastest Rising and Falling Names...

september — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:53:14 GMT

@JaneMarple wrote:
My new granddaughter who is due in less than 3 weeks will have a very old fashioned and old english name.

That's what I thought about both names that were chosen for my twin granddaughters just over a year ago. Now I see that one of those names is now very "popular". The younger generation has never known anyone with these traditional names, so now they're different and getting attention.