How do naming trends happen?

[Girlmum1986]

I always wonder how naming trends happen and spread to other countries around the same time. For example Mary was top name in 1800s and early 1900s in America and England, same with Jenniferin the 70s Jessica in the 80s and Emily in the 2000s . I don’t understand how suddenly people start naming their kids certain names. I’m just curious?

Girlmum I have often wondered the same. It’s as if there is something in the air or water. My mother when choosing my name thought it wasn’t very popular but it turned out in retrospect to be almost the most popular name that year. I think this is a very common experience.
It was not the case 150 or more years ago when children were almost invariably named after a relative or godparent or occasionally a famous figure eg Florence, Clive, Victoria, Albert etc.
In studying Parish Registers I’ve found in some small places of a few dozen families that the majority of children had the same half dozen names. Say Mary married John and had 10 children then their surviving children would all have a Mary and a John which means ultimately umpteen cousins called M&J. And if a baby called M orJ died then a later child would be called that.
ATM the craze seems to be for names beginning with A or E. weird

Freakonomics did a podcast on this. I can't find the original but here's a summary

www.google.com/amp/s/www.mamamia.com.au/elite-baby-names/amp/

Fascinating!

Thank you! @DuneFan

@DuneFan it's in their original book, which I happened to have sitting on the shelf behind me from my secondary school days. I don't know if I heard the podcast haven't listened to one in years, and I used to love them!

It would seem that we see successful "high-end" people just not so common names. That then become more common and use them subconsciously hoping that our kids will be able to emulate that success. A part of the chapter was about parents who named their sons Winner and Loser!!!

I think a lot of them are influenced by a celebrity or fictional character.

For example, royal babies, sport stars, tv/film characters.

If you look on darkgreener it shows the popularity of names in thee last 25 years

The name in the link shows a name that started to get popular in 2001, likely to be influenced by a film of the same name that came out in that year

Other names that might have been made popular by a film/tv vharacter, sportsperson, celebrity might be Isla, Darcey, Margot, Jenson, Lewis, Sebastian, Ezra, Noah, Scarlett...

I've thought of another one
and looked it up on link

I entered he name Phoebe and that was straight into the top 70 names for girls in the mid-1990s, which coincides with Friends

Definitely tv shows. I named DD Charlotte after my DGM. Dallas had a girl called Charlie and everyone was naming baby Charlotte.

Jenna's daughter.

People tend to honour their grand parents or great grand parents, but not their parents. The sudden proliferation of Stanley's and Mabel's will probably be replaced with Carol and Keith in 20 years.

I would have happily used my grandparents' names but not my parents, but a few of my friends used versions of their parents' names. I had older grandparents but young parents, and many older cousins had already used grandparents' names.

My parents' names are now trendy

Certain sounds become popular. For instance, girls' names beginning or featuring 'J' were quite popular in the 70s - Jackie, Julie etc. Over time, as parents were on the lookout for a fresher more original sound, this gave way to 'K' names or those featuring a hard 'C' - Kayleigh, Kelly, Chrissy, Claire. Currently, 'V' is a trendy sound: Violet, Ivy, Savannah, Evie, Ava etc. The letter 'I' also crops up in a lot of names right now - Isabella, Isla, Olivia, Ivy. At some point these letters will cease to sound fresh and parents will move on to newer, fresher sounds.

Parents always want their kids to have a name which is nice but a bit different. People are often concerned about popularity because they don't want their child to have a 'boring' name. Our own children won't find the names Ivy and Olivia a little bit fresh and different. By the time they are parents, all these names will have connotations. The name Ivy will be the name of their partner's ex-girlfriend. Olivia will be the name of her class bully. Meanwhile, Laura, Claire and Sarah are the names of their parents' generation - middle-aged and boring. Names like Carol, Susan and Linda are old grandparent names, associated with nursing homes and walking sticks.

But Joan? Margaret? Pauline? These names will honour great-grandmothers. They feature consonants and have a no-nonsense style, contrasting with the longer, frillier styles of the 2010s and 2020s. They sound fresh to a new generation and so the cycle begins again.

Naming trends are more apparent in girls and fashions change more quickly. Boys' names have tended to be more conservative and boys are more likely to be named after their fathers than girls are their mothers. This may be starting to change, but it will take time.

TV shows play a role. The name Otis was never ever mentioned on these boards until Sex Education showed up.

I think people are looking for a fresher alternative to Oscar (so Otis, Otto).

The fashionable sound for boys' names atm might be 'O' actually - Oscar, Leo, Theo, Arlo, Noah.

I find this so fascinating too. The post above described it very well. One name that really stood out for me was Evie. I had never in my life heard the name Evie as a full name until a friend at work used it years ago. Suddenly there were Evie's and Ava's popping out left right and centre and then eventually Edie and Ada when people were looking for variations on the same sounds.
What I find so interesting is if you asked a parent why they chose that name they would say they just loved the sound, nothing to do with the trend, yet subconsciously it has to have been driven by the trend or Evie would have been popular 30, 40, 50 years ago.
It is also interesting that some classic names come in fads (Florence) with huge peaks and troughs, whereas others just hover steadily in the background never really falling in or out of fashion (Alexandra or Katherine).

It's very interesting.
I remember many years ago before I had children a work colleague named her child Emily May. I remember thinking what a horrible old fashioned name. It was a family name for her but to me the only Emily I embraced Emily Bishop from Coronation Street!
Anyhow, years later the trend for Emily's and Mats grew until now the name is also coated with young girls. The same happened with Arthur. I went to school with an Arthur, named after his father. Nobody called their baby Arthur, it was seen as a joke name. Now it makes me giggle to think it's popular again.
It was the equivalent of calling your baby Nigel or Gary today. I do agree the time will come for Pauline, Pamela, Gary, Darren to be cool and on trend again.
I also wonder when people will laugh at the trend of giving your child a surname or noun as a name.

Mats = Mays.

I thought no it's hearing names which makes them popular. So you hear a child called say, Jaxon and think that's cool, haven't heard that before and use the name yourself. Some one else heard your child's name and thinks the same and so on. Until it becomes common and then certain parents won't use it and another trend begins.
It's like grey.
I've never liked grey in my home. I remember my parents having their living room decorated grey long before it became common. They instantly regretted it. Maybe that's why I've never gone for grey. Then recently it was everywhere, you couldn't move for grey interiors. Now people think it's naff and common.

Hearing names does make them popular.

That's a reason not to tell people what you are planning to call your baby - they'll say 'Ooh I like that too' and use it. Then your little Starlett or Ajax will be one of two or three in their school