[name]Hi[/name] guys! [name]Haven[/name]'t commented in a long time because I wanted to stop thinking about names, but that’s kind of hard considering I continued to lurk! Now I’ve only got a few months left to decide, and naming ambivalence and anxiety has set in!
I know it’s silly to put too much weight into dreams, but I’ve had two dreams where I thought the baby looked like a [name]Pearl[/name] and wanted to name her that, but said to myself “it’s just too popular.” My question - is it? Or rather, will it be? I’d always prefer a name not in the top 1000. It’s only #814 as of 2011, but it only just re-entered the top 1000 in 2007, and in 2010 it was #960, meaning it rose 146 spots in one year!!!
I guess I’m wondering, do you think it’s destined to skyrocket in the next five to ten years? Does it have the potential to crack the top 500? The top 100? I can definitely see it appealing to people who like names like [name]Grace[/name] and [name]Sophia[/name], names that used to have the same powdery old ladies in lace association as [name]Pearl[/name] but are now just super trendy mega populars. As a middle name, I think people are right to think it might be the next [name]Rose[/name], which is also a disturbing prospect, but you don’t hear [name]Rose[/name] as a first name that often.
It’s weird because I remember not caring that much when I heard [name]Maya[/name] [name]Rudolph[/name] named her daughter [name]Pearl[/name], but back then it was my #2 favorite name and I guess I figured if I got lucky enough to have a second daughter, popularity of the name wouldn’t matter as much because the overall feeling/imagery/theme I was going for with the names would be more evident when carried over more than one girl’s name. Like how with my three boys, the first one is named [name]Eli[/name], which I meant to be a whitebearded old inventor/colonial intense dude name, but then it got super popular a few years after my [name]Eli[/name] was born. But with the other two boys’ names being weird and dark and intense (in a good way!), you can see what I was trying to convey with [name]Eli[/name]. But now with this being my fourth c-section, I’m almost positive this is going to be our only daughter.
I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Pearl[/name] but I do think that it will get really popular in the next few years! Maybe a name meaning [name]Pearl[/name]??? Or another ‘gem’ name. (Maybe even [name]Gem[/name]) Not sure what else to suggest as I gave you a lot in your other thread. If you like [name]Rose[/name] maybe [name]Primrose[/name]. I’m sooooo excited though to find out what you finally decide on- I’ve been waiting for that moment for ages since your other thread.
Nah, for me if it’s not a noun name, the meaning has no meaning. [name]Perla[/name] and [name]Penina[/name] are both equally unappealing (and trending themselves), and anything farther off would be pretty remote.
[name]Just[/name] saw that the name I’m talking about here is on both Nameberry’s list of “Girls’ Names Trendier Than You Think” and “Girls’ Names Moving Up Fast.” Well that’s a bummer .
I love [name]Pearl[/name], because it’s what my name ([name]Margaret[/name]) means, I would love to use it on a daughter.
I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that [name]Pearl[/name] isn’t going to hit lofty heights in the popularity charts, yes it will get more popular, but I don’t think it will ever be one of the uber-popular names.
I actually love the name [name]Lilac[/name]. When I was pregnant with my first it was either going to be [name]Violet[/name] or [name]Lilac[/name] for a girl. Violet was the long-time list-topper number one favorite name, but I was starting to like the flower/imagery/uniqueness of [name]Lilac[/name] more. I didn’t like how it looked spelled out as much, but by the time our gender ultrasound rolled around I think I was actually leaning more towards [name]Lilac[/name]. But then it was a moot point because we were having a boy! Then I went and named that son [name]Eli[/name], which has that “lie” sound in it and I really don’t want to repeat such a strong sound again, especially considering they’re both two-syllables so it’s very dominant in there. I really love the combo in your siggie, [name]Agatha[/name] [name]Lilac[/name], I hope you end up using it someday!
I’m due in late autumn, so I still have some ways to go. But I’ll remember to post a birth announcement eventually!
I can see [name]Pearl[/name] rising a bit, but to the point that [name]Sophia[/name] or [name]Grace[/name] have. It might hit top 500 in the next decade, but it’s hard to say. As to why [name]Pearl[/name] is on those “more popular than you think” lists? My guess is that is has the same “what’s old is new” quality that some popular names have.
It could rise a lot more but I have a hard time seeing it getting much beyond 100. I just think too many people don’t like the sound. At the low end of the rankings, it actually doesn’t take that many more babies getting the name for it to rise quite a bit. It is obviously trending up, no doubt about it, but you might want to look at the SSA numbers to see if the number of babies actually getting it is as significant as the rankings rise.
I did post my second son’s name before. His name is [name]Wolfgang[/name]. I don’t like listing them all together because I don’t want to be googleable and it would surprise me a lot if anyone else had three sons with this same name set. [name]Son[/name] number three’s name I have mentioned before starts with “Z.” That one I kinda don’t want to mention for another reason, too - it’s been mentioned in a couple of nameberry blog posts in the past six months, and I don’t want to see it get too popular. Not that I think it would, it’s also been mentioned as being really weird and out there in other places!
See I used to agree with you about the sound and that’s what made me not worry too much about it getting popular. It’s not melodic at all like all the really popular girl names are these days and doesn’t share any of the sounds that so many of them do. In fact it’s kind of just gruff beer-bellied [name]Earl[/name] with a “P.” But it also rhymes with one of the most feminine words in the world -girl! Can’t you just imagine people calling their daughters over with “come over here, my [name]Pearly[/name] Girl!” I can. I know what you mean about it not taking that many to raise the rankings when you’re in the 900s and 800s, though. I don’t know!
[name]Just[/name] checked out the specifics on the social security site - 226 girls named that in 2010 versus 327 girls in 2011. So that’s 100 more girls with the name, and that’s not counting the even more popular name [name]Perla[/name]. Meh.
So that’s like 2 more per state (and like 6 girls per state total - I mean I recognize they’ll be unequally distributed).
The name becoming more popular may be a separate issue, but I really would think this name still doesn’t qualify as remotely popular with that few baby girls getting the name.
Still mentally stewing this dilemma. What do other people think? I guess I’m most worried that it will end up being like [name]Grace[/name], which is a name that has a heavy consonant hook like I like and thus doesn’t completely follow the predominating female name trend of light and flowy and vowely, yet its inherent femininity in meaning pulled it into the top twenty. I remember meeting a girl my age named [name]Grace[/name] eleven years ago and thinking, wow, what a cool name, you never hear that. Now, the popularity and ubiquity of it has totally washed out what I liked about it, and to my ear it sounds as blah and unremarkable as a slice of Wonderbread. It would make me sick if I ended up using [name]Pearl[/name] only to have it get so ubiquitous that I ended up feeling that way about it.
I know it would be somewhat different with an actual child of mine attached to it, but not that different actually. I feel pretty blah about my oldest son [name]Eli[/name]‘s name, which was in the 150s when I used it seven years ago but is now #58 (and that’s actually a huge difference in terms of how many kids are getting named that a year, versus climbing from the 900s to the 800s). I wish I’d found a popularity list back then, because now I probably wouldn’t use a name in the top 300 (my other two sons’ names aren’t even in the top 1000), because I know those names are the ones that are most likely to eventually reach the top 100.
So my main remaining questions are - how high do you think [name]Pearl[/name] is going? Why do you think that? [name]Do[/name] you think the non-melodious sound of the name will keep it down?
See [name]Grace[/name] is kind of like that, too. [name]Grace[/name] is #16 for first names, but I bet it’s got to be top 5 for middle names. I’d guess [name]Rose[/name] and [name]Grace[/name] are the two most popular middle names for girls. But [name]Rose[/name] still sounds somewhat fresh for a first name, whereas [name]Grace[/name] sound stale. I agree this name will be most popular as a middle name, but how far up the first name list will that pull it?
[name]How[/name] many Pearls are in your actual state? I mean, I don’t know a single little girl named [name]Pearl[/name]. [name]Even[/name] if there was another one, it’s still not as widely used as say, [name]Chloe[/name] or something else in the top 100. If you love the name, use it. I agree with @scarlettrobin-- I see it making a comeback as a middle name, not a FN. I don’t see it becoming THAT popular.
Hmmm, see I don’t know any girls with the name either, but the thing is odds are pretty good we’ll be moving to a completely different state in the next year or two. I guess I should check in the states we’re considering, huh?
I would, especially since it concerns you. You may find that there were NO little Pearls born in that state, or only 1 or two, and then the likelihood of her running into another little girl with that name is slim. Like I said, I don’t see it becoming that popular.
Well, I looked it up, and it’s relatively low in popularity, including in our current state of residence. There is one larger state that we’re considering that had over 20 babies born with that name last year, and even more Perlas, but that state is currently not at the top of our list anyway. I’m a super indecisive person, so between picking a place to move, a baby name, and the right new stroller, I’m pretty overwhelmed!
I do not at all believe that [name]Pearl[/name] will rise to the same heights as [name]Grace[/name]. As you mentioned yourself, the [name]Earl[/name] sound is as heavy and unfashionable as they come. [name]Grace[/name] has a long open vowel and ends on a soft sound, and the transparent meaning is a Large part of its appeal. Gemstone names have never been as popular as virtue names, as the virtues were thought to be emulatory/ aspirational, whereas gemstones are just… shiny. And, as gemstones go, pearls aren’t quite as dazzling as rubies or emeralds.
Again returning to phonetics, that uurrll sound at the end will turn most people off the name. A guttural vowel with a double liquid consonant… [name]Just[/name] won’t strike people as melodious.
Most important, I think, is that you select a name that has resonance for you. I understand a reluctance to pick a name that becomes “top 20,” a name that will fade into the background, a name that many will assume you chose for its popularity rather than for deeper reasons. But paranoia over an extra 100 baby girls carrying the name, distributed across this country with 300 million+ inhabitants and well over 1 million births a year is a little much.
I get the feeling you love the name. I’d say use it. It’s a name that’s just not that popular right now, even with Perlas added in. It’s a very pretty name and she will be the ONLY little [name]Pearl[/name] just like her.
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