Obviously they exist, but today I finally decided to look at the popularity of my current top girl’s name – [name_f]Helena[/name_f].
And I found something interesting. It steadily dropped from 200 down to around 800, and then in 1991/1992, TANKED. Gone. 1992 it wasn’t even in the top 1000 – not even 190 [name_f]Helena[/name_f]'s born in the US. In fact, it went down to basically zero. I’m on this site, Helena - Wolfram|Alpha
and as best I can read the tiny chart, probably about ten Helenas in 1991, just for the sake of safety.
So naturally I turned to Google for answers, and the most likely result was an Evolution/Darwinism book written by someone named [name_f]Helena[/name_f]. [name_f]Helena[/name_f] Christensen was in a popular music video in 1991, which I haven’t seen and therefore have no opinion on, but maybe that contributed as well?
In a similar vein, my name, [name_f]Cecilia[/name_f], spiked recently – I’m blaming it on The Office and grandmothers.
Any other interesting name popularity observations? Comments on these?
Oh for sure! I was looking at [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] the other day, which I was half aware had been in the top 100 for some time, but I’d never looked at the numbers. I was shocked to see that until 1995, it wasn’t all that popular. 300s and 400s mostly. It jumped from 452 to 68 in two years. What?? I thought to myself. Why? What the heck happened in 1994 to make people fall in love with it? So I got my magic google bar out and typed ‘[name_u]Tristan[/name_u]’ ‘1994’ and the first thing that popped up was a little old movie called ‘Legends of the Fall’. Yep. Never seen the movie, so it made not even a blip on my radar, but apparently lots of parents went mad for Mr. [name_m]Brad[/name_m] [name_m]Pitt[/name_m].
I think that site is showing the frequency of [name_f]Helena[/name_f]'s born. Less than 1% (I think?) of the [name_f]Helena[/name_f]'s born were born in 1991/1992.
@Redwoodfey, I’ve never seen Legends of the Fall, but I do remember that being one of the movies that really made [name_m]Brad[/name_m] [name_m]Pitt[/name_m] a household name.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the popularity of [name_f]Monica[/name_f]. It was in the top 100 through the 90s until 1998, when it fell to 105 and then consistently dropped. Not coincidentally, 1998 was the year the [name_f]Monica[/name_f] Lewinsky scandal broke, and the name is now at 434.
According to the SSN data, there were 187 girls named [name_f]Helena[/name_f] born in 1992, so it missed the top 1000 by only two slots (the names in slot 998, 999, and 1000 were given to 189 babies). Not sure why it dipped down and then rose again to 843 in 1993. Maybe [name_f]Helena[/name_f] Christensen brought the name back. She was a pretty well-known supermodel in the 90s.
ETA: I wonder if that site you found only uses the top 1000 list and not the more thorough data you can download here. That would explain why it shows such a dramatic dip in 1992, when actually there were only 9 fewer Helenas in 1992 than 1991.
[name_f]Diana[/name_f] boomed up in the 90’s because of [name_f]Princess[/name_f] [name_f]Diana[/name_f]. That’s how I sort of got my name
As of today, [name_f]Luna[/name_f] is ranking higher and higher thanks to [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m]. [name_m]Edward[/name_m] and [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] are also high thanks to Twilight.
And I’m sure there are going to be a lot of [name_m]George[/name_m]'s now thanks to the new prince.
I definitely think media influences name popularity.
After almost 10 years in the 200s on the SSN, the name [name_f]Katrina[/name_f] fell to 379 in 2006 - the year after [name_f]Hurricane[/name_f] [name_f]Katrina[/name_f] - and continued to drop as far so to be off the charts in 2011 (although it bounced back to #942 in 2012). There were nearly 500 fewer Katrinas born in 2006 than in 2005. In [name_f]Louisiana[/name_f], it went from 17 in 2005 to 6 in 2006.
It was Wicked Game that [name_f]Helena[/name_f] [name_m]Christian[/name_m] was in. I think in that video she is just about the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. [name_f]One[/name_f] of the most beautiful songs too.
Oh, Wicked Games! I remember that video. That was one sexy video. [name_f]Lana[/name_f] [name_u]Del[/name_u] [name_m]Rey[/name_m]'s “[name_u]Blue[/name_u] Jeans” reminds me of it.
That might be it; I generally trust Wolfram [name_f]Alpha[/name_f], but you can’t expect too much. I didn’t look up the exact number – it definitely looks more extreme than it is in that case! I was just really shocked it hit such a low. And somewhat disappointed that it’s rising again D: I’ve found that ultra-popular names loose their meaning for me; they become cliches and I become neutral to them.
I think this is more coincidence than anything else.
I think the show [name_u]Dexter[/name_u] has helped contribute to the name’s popularity. It was declining steadily until 2006 and since then, it’s sort of shot up the charts.
I wouldn’t be surprised. But I associate [name_u]Dexter[/name_u] with [name_u]Dexter[/name_u]'s Lab, the cartoon. Maybe that’s why it was declining in the first place.
Supernatural has impacted [name_u]Jensen[/name_u], [name_u]Dean[/name_u], and Castiel. Keep in mind that the show premiered in 2005. (This is in number of births per year.)
CASTIEL - character introduced in 2008
2007: <5
2008: <5
2009: 13
2010: 47
2011: 83
2012: 122
D’Angelo at #1000 was used 197 times in 2012. If Castiel’s usage continues to increase, it might actually break the top 1000 in the next year or two. In all likelihood Dean and Jensen will continue to increase as well. Jensen is very on-trend anyway. I’m curious to see how high they’ll go.
Is there anything other than Dean Winchester and Jensen Ackles that could have launched Dean and Jensen like that…?
