Yes, it is true - I think it’s almost unavoidable for names to become tied to their generation. However, I have seen several names suggested lately that I’d have thought their time had passed already. I thought a name like [name]Oliver[/name] would have risen and declined already, but some people are calling that real new, kind of some obscure treasure, let’s dig it up now. Maybe it was there all along, quietly, and I think some names can exist quietly for decades and never really be outdated or too popular. Another name like [name]Elizabeth[/name] or [name]Katherine[/name] will seemingly never go out of style - tell that to all the Lisas and Cathys ([name]Catherine[/name] with a C seemed to be in favor) of my generation, not to mention some who were [name]Liz[/name] or [name]Beth[/name] nn’s for the full [name]Elizabeth[/name], few of whom I actually knew. Since this is very long, feel free to skim down to the part where I address the names you’ve chosen (ALL CAPS). I do think that names evolve and popularity can be overstated or understated, and there are several interim examples I have picked out - that’s the long part in the middle.
When you think about how many Emmas there already are and wonder how much longer it, along with [name]Emily[/name] at #3, it can rule the age, it’s a pretty significant number. The popularity in one year doesn’t tell the whole story. [name]Emma[/name] and [name]Emily[/name] make up almost 2% of baby girl births in a single year, but over how long? I don’t think [name]Scarlett[/name] will make a spike toward the top of the chart, and even a name like [name]Madison[/name], which seems like a flash in the pan kind of fad, ranking from nowhere to 628 the year after Splash was released, and went up to the 300s the following year, is a name that’s stuck with us for almost 25 years. Think of it. 25 years. It’s tired for most of us, but not everyone obviously. And where [name]Emma[/name] seems simple and sweet, [name]Ava[/name] sounds right along with it almost the same but glamorous - for people who prefer sleek short names, it has to pack the right imagery.
I really don’t feel that [name]Scarlett[/name] will be scooped up and transported too far toward the top of the list like [name]Brittany[/name], which moved up to #3 in about 20 years but fell quickly out of favor, lasting in the top ten for 10 years. [name]Emily[/name] has been top 10 for 19 years and [name]Emma[/name], I think it is the simpler flavor that appeals, really did rise pretty quickly as the more favorable choice in the last 7 years. I don’t think [name]Emma[/name] will last as long as [name]Emily[/name] because together they have done wore it out.
[name]Isabella[/name] seems more to me like a [name]Gabrielle[/name] of the previous generation - you notice how things evolve like that, and just because it never got too high on the chart doesn’t mean it wasn’t helping people branch out and get used to appealing sounds. [name]Gabriella[/name] is actually still increasing its rank but very slowly and will likely not rise much more. If you love names like most of us do, you can sort of see how a name you used to like as a child has primed you to your preferences as an adult and more names occur to you and get revealed as choices made by others:
The [name]Danielle[/name] I knew in grade school had a nice name, but I could tell it was played by the time I was a teenager when I met someone who named their daughter [name]Gabriella[/name], and thought that was kind of a bold twist, until I met several others. Well, now it’s years later and [name]Isabella[/name] has been passed the torch, although like [name]Kayla[/name], may have been partially inspired to popular preference by the beautiful characters on Days of Our Lives. [name]Isabella[/name], so beautiful and tragic, that [name]John[/name] named his daughter the same and called her [name]Belle[/name]. And so on. I digress!
[name]SCARLETT[/name]. To me, it is a funky and fun name. It has never been like the character in Gone with the Wind to me. A parent who chose this name was saying, let’s take a spin with something unusual. That, to me, makes it at once a daring and creative choice, and also sort of unique in that it seems to typify some character for me. Kind of punk or spunky and independent and cool, like the character in “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. Maybe now things have changed. I still think a name like [name]Fiona[/name] is absolutely too exotic, but it’s also becoming more popular, as you can see. Anyway, I don’t think any of those names will have the magic quality of longevity, but they probably won’t be considered “mom” names in 20-30 years either - everyone’s mom seems to have the same 4 or 5 names. I absolutely foresee a time when [name]Pam[/name] and [name]Linda[/name] and others like [name]Jill[/name] and I apologize if I can’t keep a lot of other regs straightened out from one another - I foresee the time when someone wants to name their daughter [name]Scarlett[/name] and someone calls it a tired choice, or feels it is somewhat dated but still pretty, possibly downmarket, or outright, nobody cool chooses the name [name]Scarlett[/name] anymore!
We cannot help it. We all have uncool dated names too, which for the most part are age-appropriate. The factor is that when you are naming someone without a name, do you want to be first, middle, or last to come up with it in a particular era. The older Scarletts have very daring parents to stick their kid out in public with an unusual choice, while once we have gotten used to it, heard it on other people, the middle seems a great place to be. If it is even more popular in several years, which is somewhat difficult to predict sometimes, the younger Scarletts will have parents who may have fallen in love with the name for many years and waited so long to use it, as I still still still meet very young Jennifers, or they seem not to worry whether or not something is too popular, or are unaware of such a thing like saturation of the name over several years. [name]Ava[/name] and [name]Olivia[/name] - saturated. [name]Scarlett[/name] - I think a lot less so, but possibly will go down fast after it comes up. It has a sense of drama attached that for instance, [name]Josephine[/name] (ranking similarly last year) does not share. So [name]Josephine[/name] may appeal longer and never get more popular, where [name]Scarlett[/name] appeals faster and gets tired faster.
[name]VIOLA[/name]/[name]VIOLET[/name], the same or more like [name]Josephine[/name]. I don’t think that will really hit it so large as the trend tends to spread itself out over many flowers as well as other V names like [name]Vivian[/name] (I love [name]Vivian[/name]!). In its way, I liken it to [name]Olivia[/name] particularly, it has the same letters/sounds turned around. [name]Olivia[/name] seems by itself in the top 10 - it doesn’t have other very popular names competing or compounding the number of [name]Olivia[/name]-sounding names like [name]Isabelle[/name]/[name]Annabella[/name] or [name]Emma[/name]/[name]Emily[/name]/[name]Emmeline[/name]/[name]Emmett[/name]/[name]Emerson[/name] in the classroom. But it will stick out to her peers and co-workers of her future as a name nobody ever uses anymore (until it comes back). I actually think despite what your friends think about [name]Scarlett[/name], this is the more moderate choice for some sense of longevity and popularity with regards to the other popular names of this particular generation. [name]Scarlett[/name] is most like [name]Charlotte[/name], but wildly divergent imagery and appeal, I think. [name]Viola[/name] is audibly quite related to [name]Olivia[/name], but I also think it’s closer to the same feel as [name]Olivia[/name] but less common.
Anyway, I have also been considering [name]Julian[/name] lately. I think that’s a pretty cool name, so I don’t think you’ll go wrong with whatever you pick. Sorry for my long, gross essay if it was too boring and disorganized. I really like both names, but I figure between [name]Scarlett[/name] and [name]Viola[/name] - it is more a choice of what qualities you feel are imparted by the name than whether they are too popular now or later, or too similar or different than other popular names, or how well-liked they are to your friends. It’s your kid, not theirs. Different sounds and images appeal to different people, so don’t go by vote.
