How do name trends happen?

[volezvoo]

sorry if that sounds like a stupid question but I’m genuinely interested in how and why naming trends and patterns form. It came to mind yesterday when a friend named their new baby boy Arlo- the third baby I’ve known to be named this this year alone, yet a decade ago it was pretty much unheard of. Where did it suddenly spring from and shoot up the popularity tables? Ditto other names.

Yeah I wonder this too, but I just think it's mainly that the more people hear/read names mentioned, the more they warm to them. Especially if a celeb brings them to the fore by naming their baby that.

Oddly enough it's often about social class and emulation. People tend to name their children aspirationally which means over time names popularised by the rich move through to a mass market, come to be associated with a different demographic and start to lose popularity. In the US Madison would be one example of this. Very elite 20 years ago, now more generalised.

Some of the trends are someone looking for something like a name that is popular but slightly different

Some of the trends will be hearing a name you've not heard before and liking it.

Names that rhyme tend to be popular at the same time (e.g. Holly & Molly, Leo & Theo, Sharon & Darren)

Celebrity led names - like F1 winners, film stars, royal babies, pop stars, newsreaders (Ezra, Amelie, Sebastian, Louis, Elodie)

When looking for a name for a baby, you'll get a list of names of children born fairly recently or of an aged relative.

They often skip a generation too - so don’t name after your peers or your parents but maybe your grandparents. You have much less emotional connection with grandparents generation of names but I would squirm at some of my parents generation

"In the US Madison would be one example of this. Very elite 20 years ago, now more generalised."

Some names moved down the class scale, but many never do so it's not the whole story.
I presume they are just trends like you have trends in anything else.

"You have much less emotional connection with grandparents generation of names but I would squirm at some of my parents generation"

Oh yes, you don't see many babies named after today's baby boomers: Jean, Sheila, Barbara, Susan, Derek, Colin, Gary, Keith, etc. but you get quite a few with names their great grandparents might have had.

I remember the Ava and Violet trends starting.

Reese Witherspoon/Ryan Phillipe and Richie Sambora/Heather Locklear both had baby girls called Ava within a couple of years of each other in the late 90s, the trend blew up after that.

Violet came via Dave Grohl, Ben Affleck etc. There's been quite a few others with that name too.

I don't know if that's how they all started but I definitely remember those two kicking off with celebrity trends.

There’s an interesting chapter on it in the original Freakonomics book.

Arlo was the star of the good dinosaur movie 2013.

I was in the n of Scotland when I had my son and chose an uncommon name. Moved to south of England and there was one in every classroom.

There are three names I've liked since my teenage years (in the 90s) that were all really unusual at the time - Isla (met a girl with this name at uni), Maeve (childhood acquaintance), and Adah/Ada (from a book I read). But it seems the rest of my generation also cottoned on to these names as they are all fairly popular now - especially Isla. So I did wonder how did everyone else find out about the same unusual names as me! I think celebrity pays a part (e.g. Isla Fisher, Sienna Miller, Margot Robbie) and TV characters (Maeve and Otis in Sex Education).

But parents now can study name charts and know whether a name is rising/falling in popularity etc. Back when I was born in the late 70s I can't imagine my mum had a clue where my name ranked (as it happens it was in the 20s I think but on a downward trajectory!)

I’m not sure where names originate, but totally understand their rise in popularity.

if you are unsure about a name on first hearing, it can really grow on you after hearing it numerous times.

Often people choose a name for their first child thinking they want something a bit different, so they pick a name that they've never come across someone being called in real life before.Then they start going to baby groups and realise that Alfie/Oliver/Ezra (insert name depending on year) isn't all that unusual after all and that they'd subconsciously been drawn to a name that was already trendy.

About 30 yrs ago someone told me about a baby called Sophia pronounced Soff-ee-a. I'd only heard it said as Soph-eye-a and it seemed unusual compared to Sophie. Little did I know

I do find it fascinating, Lauren was the first real trend I saw.
Especially find trends within areas interesting and how a name can be really popular nationally but not locally (for example I only know two Olivers over four school years, but 5 Gabriels)

I love looking at the name trends on darkgreener only 3 Arlos exist born in 1999 in the UK. Nearly 2000 born in 2020!

same with other names it’s fascinating to see the sharp rise (or fall!) on the graph

When I was around 17 I did work experience with a local primary school. The 5 year olds in the class (who would have been born around 1990) had names that were distinctly different to those from my own age group (I remember there were quite a few Chloes and Ryans in particular). I think that's the first I realised that names could totally shift over a relatively short time frame.

@aleebaleebee same for me and Arabella - it was really unusual when I first mentally noted it and now it’s well into the top 100. I think in that case partly caused by people who liked Isabella wanting something similar but not as popular, and maybe the Arctic monkeys song.

Lots of names have clearly come from obscurity due to celebrity use.

Eg Harper

Yes you can see on the graph a clear jump for Harper the year the beckhams named their daughter, love spotting little patterns like that.

I would expect it's got a lot to do with celebrities, popular TV shows, films and books etc. Amelie, for example, was practically unheard of in the UK before the French film of that name was released in the early 2000s. Likewise, Luna's popularity probably has a lot to do with Harry Potter.

Sophia is an interesting one though, since its rise in popularity happened decades AFTER Sophia Loren was at the height of her fame.

Also, when a certain name gets popular, often parents consider similar-sounding names as alternatives and they rise in popularity too (e.g. Emma and Gemma in the 1980s. A current example might be Layla and Ayla, or Maya and Amaya).

One thing I have noticed is that many boys nowadays have names that end in -ie or -y (Archie, Alfie, Teddy, Freddie, Reggie...). Not nicknames but as actual legal names. When I was growing up, those names just weren't popular at all, so I wonder where that trend came from.

Archie from a tv series called Monarch of the Glen, Teddy possibly from Teddy Sheringham, or maybe the Theo/Theodore popularity, Bear from Bear Grylls, Freddie from Freddie Mercury maybe, Reggie not sure but Jessica Rennis's DS was the first one I heard of

Lexi probably became popular as a result of MotG too

I wonder if some build up very slowly - over a generation. Growing up I knew a Sophia and an Amelia and considered both names to be pretty rare. The Sophia in particular was quite proud of her name and although I knew a few girls called Sophie, Sophia seemed much more sophisticated and almost exotic.
Two classmates of Sophia that I know of went on to have children called Sophia / Sofia themselves. I wonder if (subconsciously?) they always filled the name away to use.

I’ve noticed also on Mumsnet a lot of people will say “I named my first Oliver / Sophia / Jack / Evie back in 2010 and it wasn’t as popular then but now it’s everywhere” and 95% of the time those posters are incorrect, it’s just that when you are having your first baby you are not aware so much of what is popular and what isn’t. It’s only after NCT, baby groups, nursery, school etc that you know. I think the fact that I don’t know any Evies from my group of friends made me think it was fairly unusual until I knew 8 children called Evie..! People are often part of the trend without realising it and then they will cling on to the idea that they were an early adopter.

I think popular tv programmes also have an influence like Peaky Blinders / Downton Abbey etc.