The new Sharon and Kevin?

[lumpasmelly]

Just wondering what all you MNers think are going to be the new "Sharon/Kevin" type names for our kids generation (i.e. names that will become dreadfully common in the future, and the subject of sketch show stereotypes!)

BTW - please don't take offence if you are a Sharon or a Kevin....there are lots in my family and none of them are common, but they DO get a lot of stick for their names!!!

I think i will go for Tracey or Kevin......by the time my babies grow up, they will be THE coolest names by far! And so unusual!!!

seriously though - I was just wondering if I was being influenced by the fashion of a name as all the names I am drawn to now (Evie being one of them!) seem to fall into the overused/ubiquitous category, and funnily enough, these very same names I wouldn't have thought twice about using 10 years ago. I called DS1 George, and when I was a child I though George was the most awful old man name ever!!!....but see how i was seduced by George Clooney!!! Its a fact - I am weak and easily led (and my children will suffer)!

Its not the popularity of a name that makes it the Sharon/Kevin of our time, but the type of person it is bestowed upon... (Not that i give a toss about chav/common/posh etc but just stating what is a generally perceived fact).

Therefore, the top Sharon OR Kevin name now would probably be Jordan (for boy or girl).

some names are common because they are just nice names, Sharon and Kevin are just naff names and always will be

I have a friend who called her little boy Alfie and it was cool and unusual then (5 years ago). Now she is actually embarassed by it and always says, "His names Alfie, which is chavvy i know, but it wasn't when he was born, honest!", whenever asked her son's name. Feel for her, though also think she shouldn't care!

She should refer to him as Alf then which is cool in my opinion. Or Alfred is even better.

That is bad though, to be made to feel embarrassed about your child's name. I don't think Alfie is chav, it's just a bit naff. Jayden, Jordon, Kayden, Mason, Tyler are chav. Alfie's too soft sounding to be so!

if I'd called DS something poncey he would probably get beat up

MaggieNollaig, I think it was actually Keith Waterhouse who started the "Sharon and Tracy" thing, it was his generic term for girls working in shops, IIRC.

Then there was "Birds of a Feather."

But Viz's Fat Slags are Sandra and Tracey.

some italian motor bike racer (can't remember his name) called his kids tracey and kevin. they sound cool to an italian ear apparently.

ah right balloonSlayer, poor tracey got it in the neck twice!!

Having a chuckle at this thread .

Agree its hard to look into future to see which names will become ubiquitous. The book Freakanomics has a great piece on how names that start of as 'elite' get more and more popular as parents want to buy into elite name, name gets more popular and loses its appeal. Grace Kelly as Tracy Lord prime example. Up here in Scotland there are lots of Callum's, Jack's, Lewis's, Sophie's, Olivia's. All lovely and will define this era but their nursery tags are all Olivia R/Callum T etc. as there are so many of them

I'm bang smack in the middle of name choosing as am due DC2 next week. Its hard! I'm a Janine and know what its like to have an 'unusual' name (bloody annoying) especially as its pronounced 'nine' not 'neen' and as an adult and thanks to Eastenders have had to correct people all the time (cue eyes rolling and muttering of pretentious cow).

The only thing that really annoys me is people spelling names wrong - i.e. Jorja instead of Georgia - your DC is just going to have to correct people all their life and its a pain for them - I've been there!

Bit waffly there, sorry, huge pregnancy head on just now..

PMSL at the sounding cool to the Italian ear.

But then Giovanni Casanova sounds sexy to us but in English he'd have been called John Newhouse.

And Guiseppe Verdi - Joe Green

Not the same is it?

i think that choosing something that has been a non-mover somewhere between 50 and a 80 is probably a good idea.
Lydia eg. it has hardly moved in 5 years. therefore, it fits in very well, and won't sound at all 'huh' but it won't wear itself out either. this is just an example by the way. i'd have to study the stats to come up with more names that have "remained stable" lol!

But there is no way why a name that is currently outside the top 100 or within 50 and 80 will not suddenly shoot up to first place - lots of currently 'trendy' names have done just that!

My ds's name was nr 1347 last year, so hopefully it won't shoot up within the top 10 soon .

exactly sophiesmum, so choose a name which hasn't moved too much (from the lower end of the top 100)

1347 according to American stats or bounty stats?

my sons name is abotu 400 according to american stats and bounty stats, but i wouldn't have a notion where his name ranked as the official stats don't go past 100 do they?

Loads of charlottes and emilys here. Ihave a Charlotte .
I know loads of 13ish year old joshs and James

"By all means seek a name that is lovely and unusual mama - but don't then get upset if lots of other people (inevitably) go for the same name."

Ah. I see exactly what you mean, bellissima. Yes, this happens an awful lot - it is something I am hoping to avoid when DC1 is born early next year. When I was first pregnant I had the brainwave that Atticus was the coolest name ever... but since then I have seen it mentioned at least 20 times on this forum alone, and DH tells me it's v common in the US.

I just want my kid to have a name that people can identify him by without him having to tell them his last name, too. My niece talks about Josh O, Josh N, Josh T, etc, and I'd hate for my kid to be one of many in that way.

It's hard to find a name that's individual without being 'wacky'.

But HOW can Alfie ever be a bad name when it will always conjure up Alfie, Annie Rose, and utterly-middle-of-the-middle-class (but delightful) Shirley Hughes books?

Mama - Mephistopheles!

No but seriously - see the chapter in the latest Steven Pinker book about the mysterious appearance and rise of 'Steve' in the 50s and 60s. The thing is, you will always be influenced, albeit unconsciously, in your 'unique' choice by certain factors, in particular you probably won't choose anything 'unfashionable' ie of the recent past - thus 70s names like Clare, Louise, Sarah-Jane will be out (even though, ironically, they would be far more unusual now), and conversely you will draw upon names similar in vein or sound to those that are fashionable now. Thus here on MN someone starts a thread saying how pretty Elodie is, and thus we get other 'pretty' French names - Aurelie and so forth. Or we wander down the Ottelie Botterly route, or into the mists of Avalon... Or you see a movie or read a book with a new and charming name - only so do like-minded folk. And finally, in the unlikely event that you should you actually manage to find a different and lovely, rather than OTT, name - someone will follow suit (particularly if you put it on here).

I'm fairly sure Tracy, despite noble origins, was already a bit naff in Newcastle, alas, by the late 70s - there again I did gan to the same 'joonya' school as the Viz founders..

Sorry takvar, Alfie conjures up a pasty-faced 3 year old with a buzz cut.. (sorry to mothers of pasty-faced boys with buzz cuts)

Annie Rose is nice though.

can someone please post o link to wear you can see name rankings over top 100 please

RnB - www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=15282

It's the two 2008 spreadsheets. Hours of fun

Thank you! x

There's 'common' and there's 'common' isnt there. Common as in v popular (Grace, Ellie, Josh etc) and common as in 'chavvy' - ie Chardonnay (do people REALLY call thier kids that!?), Jayden, Kacey, Lacey etc.
Well I nearly called my DD Evie but (according to here) Im lucky I consigned it to being her middle name! She's Stella and people HILARIOUSLY say "What, after the beer". Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.