Light-hearted look at name trends

[SundayMorningSun]

DH found this article and we both had a giggle over it:

waitbutwhy.com/2013/12/how-to-name-baby.html

It's from 2013, and based on US name stats, but still some intriguing thoughts:

• 'Popular' names now cover fewer babies than 'popular' names of the past
• Utah somehow predicts lots of name trends???
• Names starting with vowels are much more popular now (and 100 years ago) than they were in the middle of the C20th??? I think I've actually noticed this in my own life!

I’m a bit of a name geek
But yes the % of babies with a top 10 name is tiny compared to previous generations. The ‘trend’ is to be ‘unique’ in particular for girls which have thousands more names registered a year than boys.
And there is a huge trend for vowels & flowery / floaty names which matches the trends of about 100 years ago

If history repeats our grandchildren will be looking for hard strong sounding names - consonant on consonant etc

These are the top girls names in the U.K. in 1900

Mary
Florence
Annie
Edith
Alice
Elizabeth
Elsie
Dorothy
Ethel
Doris
Margaret
Gladys
Sarah
Lilian
Ellen
Hilda
Lily
Winifred
Violet
Ada
Emily
Beatrice
Nellie
May
Mabel
Ivy
Rose
Gertrude
Jane
Catherine
Kathleen
Frances
Agnes
Olive
Jessie
Emma
Eva
Minnie
Maud
Louisa
Amy
Grace
Clara
Martha
Daisy
Evelyn
Hannah
Lucy
Kate
Eliza
Bertha
Ann
Eleanor
Harriet
Phyllis
Constance
Dora
Ida
Esther
Isabella
Nora
Marjorie
Laura
Charlotte
Irene
Ruth
Bessie
Caroline
Fanny
Muriel
Maggie
Edna
Norah
Amelia
Helen
Mildred
Vera
Gwendoline
Eveline
Lizzie
Marion
Rachel
Rosina
Florrie
Maria
Lydia
Ruby
Victoria
Miriam
Blanche
Rosa
Rebecca
Julia
Ella
Henrietta
Isabel
Matilda
Janet
Phoebe
Susan
Millicent
Audrey
Rhoda
Marie
Nelly
Selina
Margery
Georgina
Helena
Leah