What causes name fashions?

[Rainatnight]

I'm really interested to know how name fashions and trends take hold. It seems to me that it can't be as simple as calling your kid something because everyone else is. It seems more that there's something in the ether.

I was really struck by this in the playground the other day. We've just named our first DD. For context, I've become a mum much later than my friends, don't know anyone with babies at the moment, so haven't at all mixing with babies, toddlers or anyone naming children. So we didn't directly get the idea for the name from somewhere else. Nor is it particularly in the media or anything.

But in the playground there were two other little girls with her name! A few years older, but still.

So what causes it?

It amuses me that people who are so desperate for their child to be the only one at school with their name strive to find something unusual. When in fact calling your child "Sharon" or "Claire" or "Ian" would have exactly the desired effect.

It amuses me that people who are so desperate for their child to be the only one at school with their name strive to find something unusual. When in fact calling your child "Sharon" or "Claire" or "Ian" would have exactly the desired effect.

Are you really not able to recognise the difference between choosing an unusual name just for the sake of it and choosing a name that you love which is unusual?

There's always at least one bright spark on these threads coming out with exactly the same comment about Ian/Claire.

Ian and Claire may be unusual for children these days, but they are dull names that are overused in my generation.

I love unusual names that are beautiful and that are not 'dated' to ANY era.

It amuses me that people who are so desperate for their child to be the only one at school with their name strive to find something unusual. When in fact calling your child "Sharon" or "Claire" or "Ian" would have exactly the desired effect

This was the case at my kids' primary school. At one stage we had five girls across the seven year levels called Tymeeka/Tamika/Tymmeekka - three different spellings but all pronounced the same. So much for being one of a kind.

There was one Ian in the entire school, so he was a novelty.

I read somewhere that the greatest gift you can give a child these days is an un Google- able name. Something along the lines of Jane Smith offers blessed anonymity.

Kinda not relevant but I have a HUGE pet hate of parents that give a child a name like "Summer" or "May" but the child was born in November 🤣

But a November born May might be named after a relative.

I had a friend called January who was born in October. Only just figured out it was probably when she was conceived.

Was thinking about this the other day and wondering how many girl names genuinely don't date the wearer. I came up with about two!

DD has just started at Nursery yesterday and there are 3 Ivy's and 2 Pearl's in the baby room which I was quite suprised about!

I read a book a few years ago and liked a characters name. I could think of a couple of historical figures and one current sports "star" with it and so thought it was traditional but unusual and chose it for DS. He's now 18 months and one of 3 with that name in the baby wing at nursery. There's only around 12 boys in the wing!

I love unusual names that are beautiful and that are not 'dated' to ANY era.

All names date, some may come back into fashion, as it is cyclical, but there is no such thing as a name that does not date. For example, James is a classic name, always popular in Scotland, so as unlikely to date as any name you can imagine. However, there has been a massive upswing in its use, alongside 'Jamie' as 'classic' names have become trendy. I predict James will start to go into a decline, but never completely disappear.

I think you might as well choose a name you like and forget about it being popular as it is so hard to predict. If you aim to be the only one with a certain name, you are likely to be disappointed as loads of parents will have thought the same - it is the zeitgeist.

This could be utter bollocks (in fact I'm pretty sure I read it on here!) but names can be seen to fall down the 'social classes' as it were (can't think of a better way to put it). So a name that was used as the reserve of the upper middle class/upper classes 15 years ago (e.g. Monty, Oscar, Florence) filter down to mass use. And following that the upper class stop using them and move onto something else. I can see some logic in this - my DC were born in the 90s and some posh friends of mine called their DC Arthur and Florence because they were so unusual. So I guess to see where the next big trend is coming from you just need to spend time perusing the Telegraph birth announcements!

My DD is named for my dad who died but as his name was too male we called her the old Welsh version of his hobby of collecting Owls. Turns out the same name is used when shortened from other countries. It is however the only one in both schools that's she's been in. DS has a name after my grandad and is so traditionally Welsh there again is no others at school.
At the school I work in people like names ending in "a" Zola, xola, Lola etc" and double barrelled names.

I'm noticing more babies/young children named Ivy and Pearl, too, Talcott!

This could be utter bollocks (in fact I'm pretty sure I read it on here!) but names can be seen to fall down the 'social classes' as it were (can't think of a better way to put it). So a name that was used as the reserve of the upper middle class/upper classes 15 years ago (e.g. Monty, Oscar

Filtering! You're not quoting Freakonomics are you? Their theory and prediction examples were largely debunked.
Monty still isn't very popular, nowhere near top 100.

Agree though that the only sensible course is to choose something you like. It is so difficult to predict

I think posh names definitely filer down. Names like Henry and Hugo used to be the reserve of the toffs whereas now they're mainstream.

No, Henry is an old classic, and not class connected. Top 100 for more than a century...just offhand.

That's so true about names being used by the upper class and filtering down!! Tripping over Henry's and esmes round here. I couldn't care less about league tables or popularity. My 2 boys have very traditional most likely top 20 names. Chosen purely cause I love them!

Top 100 doesn't mean a huge amount if the majority of people were given names from the Top 20. Henry aside, Rupert, Hugo, Matilda - all 'posh' names that have filtered down.

Didn't know it was Freakanomics but makes sense that research has been done on this.

This thread has prompted me to have a look at the popularity lists and some are so surprising! 1000 babies named Thea for example compared to 60 twenty years ago.

As an aside, where do names such as Arlo come from? Going from never used to 620 babies in a year in the space of two decades. Is that just new names jumping on a pre-existing name trend (-o ending names) and everyone flocking to the same unused -o name?

Thinking out loud there must be more to it than that or names such as Ludo or Sholto would be wildly popular but they're scarcely used.

My grandmothers generations n used family names - full of our john and your mike their Frank etc

My mothers generation was similar - all chosen after aunts or cousins

Now we chose our own names - and so many to chose!!

DD1 is one of 5
DD2 there isn't another one
DS is one of 3

It just pot luck really

There are very few genuinely timeless names, where you can't accurately guess the age of the owner. Here in the UK 'royal names' probably come closest - things like Catherine, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Eleanor and Alice for girls, WIlliam, Henry, James and George for boys.

Agree with the cyclical/100 year thing, but I think you also get particular 'sound trends', where names that have a particular style or group of letters suddenly get popular. E.g. lots of people begin to choose Emily, next people might see Emily as too popular and plump for Amelia instead, then the trend moves on to include alternative spellings/versions e.g. Emilie, Emilia, Amelie as people look for 'something a bit different', and finally the trend broadens out to include names with a similar 'feel'. e.g. from Emily to Amelie to Elodie.

Recently we've had the nicknamey 'ee sound' trend for both sexes (Ellie/Lily/Milly/Tilly/Maisie; Alfie/Archie/Freddie/Charlie), the Latinate trend for girls (Olivia, Amelia, Sophia, Isabella) and Old Testament names for boys (Noah, Isaac, Joshua, Jacob). There's also a bit of a current fashion for names ending in -o, hence the rise of Arlo. Think it might have started with Leo and then Milo (Tweenies?) a few years back.

I predict mid-century/Enid Blyton names will start to make a comeback soon - things like Anne, Nancy, Susan, Daphne, Hazel, Sally for girls and Peter, Robin, Philip, Ralph and Laurence for boys.

And Pamela. I love the name Pamela.