I won’t say what prompted this thought, but I’m curious about the effect of sites like Nameberry (and Nameberry especially) on potentially standardizing naming trends and whether that is good or bad.
For instance, there are certain names that get a lot of love from people on Nameberry but less in the general population. The people who post on Nameberry tend to know and appreciate the cultural associations with the names they choose. But someone who just stumbles on Nameberry and finds a name like [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] might choose it because of the way it sounds without knowing anything about the history or cultural associations of the name. If too many people do this, the cultural cache associated with the name is lost.
So…is it good that more children will get better names because of sites like Nameberry or will it inevitably lead to the rapid devaluation of all names?
I really don’t know for sure but it seems like every under 5 kid I’ve met lately is named a nameberry favorite. It seems good to me, I mean how many [name_f]Neveah[/name_f]'s and [name_u]Jaylin[/name_u]'s can you have?
Here’s the names of kids at play group this week. You tell me if their parents came unto nameberry.
Interesting. You’re right - if every child in the world had a gorgeous name, our “Nameberry favourites” wouldn’t seem so great. Having said that, I’d rather every child in the world had a brilliant name!
@goodkarma - Wow, that play group is wonderfully named! A bit of overkill with three Liams, but the others are all gorgeous!
To me, a name is something we give our children to draw on throughout their life. We each use names for various reasons, but ultimately we all hope that the name gives the child something that will assist them through their life. Perhaps that is a meaning, a connection to family, the experience of uniqueness… but it is the child who receives the benefit. I think the increased use of wonderful names can only be a good thing. If a parent chooses a name with a beautiful meaning, simply because it sounds beautiful, the child may grow up to research the name, and find inspiration and a sense of identity from the meaning attached to it, even though the name wasn’t chosen for that meaning. Surely, as name enthusiasts, we can all agree this is a great thing.
My guess is that, so far, that says more about where you live than it suggests Nameberry names are taking over the world. Some neighborhoods where I live sound like Nameberry’s greatest hits, some sound…less fortunate. Most have a mix of Nameberry-esque names and very popular names. [name_m]Will[/name_m] that change? I can’t help but wonder!
Well, one thing that won’t change - nameberry or not - is that many people name directly for relatives. ‘Family names’ will always be popular, regardless of what they are.
Now, with the times names come and go around. My grandparents’ and great grandparents’ names are quite nice these days (think [name_f]Pearl[/name_f], [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f], [name_f]Molly[/name_f]…), and I wonder what will happen when people start wanting to name for their ‘Great Grandmom [name_f]Jessica[/name_f]’ or ‘Great Gramps [name_u]Paxton[/name_u]!’
I think right now it is still regional. I’m wondering if that will be less and less the case as more people become aware of the importance of names and turn to the Internet for the best of the best.
I think naming trends are “regionalized” for sure. For example, I know 3 [name_u]Hudson[/name_u]'s under 6 months old that all live within like 2 miles of each other!!!
To answer the second question posted; I think the internet will in fact speed up the rise and fall of name popularity. People can easily look up the popularity of a name and decide to stick with the trends or choose a nonpopular name, thus creating a new trend!
It’s all very interesting to me, and most of us, which is why we are all on this site to begin with!
I do think though that sites like Nameberry might force some names into the limelight that wouldn’t necessarily be there otherwise. For example, I love the name [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] (hubby hates it, but thats another story…) Part of the beauty of [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] to me is its uniqueness and rarity when compared to [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], [name_f]Ava[/name_f], etc. But because of Nameberry and similar sites, what if we start seeing thousands of little Cordelias running around soon? That would actually ruin part of the beauty of the name for me. So for me, Nameberry is a double edged sword.
I’m not sure what you mean by “rapid devaluation of names” or “standardizing naming trends”.
[name_f]Do[/name_f] you mean that great names will become popular and thus people won’t want to use them?
That people will feel like that must pick a trend in order to choose a name?
Honestly, I don’t think you can truly devalue a great name. Maybe more names will become more familiar and the list of popular classics will increase, but it would be silly to avoid a great name just because it’s not #987 anymore.
And I’m all for devaluing terrible names. I’m counting on the honesty of the internet to devalue names like Kylynn and [name_f]Zakiyyah[/name_f].
The labeling and awareness of trends may increase and some people will probably try to escape that in various hipster ways, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing or will lead to worse naming.
The main thing I’m worried about is the erosion of names as a means of identification. Using them as a way to show off the parent’s creativity or as a way of separating your child from every other child on the planet seems to be a lot of people’s primary purpose.
Maybe I’m old-fashioned but to me a name should:
tell people if you’re a girl or a boy,
allow people to call you/identify you in writing/in person in a relatively straightforward way, and
possibly tell them a little bit about your background.
Some people seem to really resist all 3 of these because they see it as prejudiced, judgmental, unfair, unkind, etc. But to me, just because something can be used for bad purposes by bad people doesn’t mean that the entire concept and process should be thrown out the window (i.e. just because knives can stab people doesn’t mean we should ban them from all homes!). (And just because some [name_m]Dick[/name_m] of a business owner doesn’t want to hire a woman and doesn’t like Irish people shouldn’t mean that we ought to stop naming girls [name_f]Fiona[/name_f] or [name_f]Deirdre[/name_f].)
This is a part of what I mean when I float the concept of name devaluation. The fact is that we obtain information about a person (not always 100% accurate) from his/her name. If names become more standardized and everyone starts opting for culturally optimal names, we will lose this source of information.
A name is basically the third thing you give your child that will either help or harm him/her throughout life (the first being the genes you pass on and the second being the conditions of gestation). Each of the three represents an early source of competitive advantage. Calling Namebery a double edged sword was probably right!
[QUOTE=kala_way;2153885]I’m not sure what you mean by “rapid devaluation of names” or “standardizing naming trends”.
Another aspect of name devaluation is this: if suddenly a great number of strippers were named Catherine or Elizabeth, would parents still want to use those names? Nothing would ever change the history of the names, but if current usage attached an unpleasant association to the names, how much would that history matter? Do we hate names like Crystal just because they’re bad names or because of the baggage we associate with them?
I know what you mean, but I do think that classic names can bounce back much faster from bad associations.
We see people on NB saying “I love the name [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f], but is it too associated with Friends?” Nobody asks that question about [name_f]Rachel[/name_f].
Sure the name [name_m]Edward[/name_m] will be associated with Twilight for a little while but even now it’s not most people’s first association. Whereas a name like [name_f]Miley[/name_f] might never escape the connection to the celebrity.
If [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] suddenly became popular stripper stage names, I feel confident parents would stop choosing them, despite their storied histories.
wow…everyone is assuming that Nameberry favorites are obviously “the best” names that everyone would be using, if only they knew about them!
There will always be different groups of people, who favor different types of names. I think your everyday life (socioeconomic group, ethnicity, etc) influences your naming choices a lot more than any website does.
While some naming differences are a matter of differing personal tastes, there really are some naming differences that come down to an objective difference between good taste and bad. For example, while [name_f]Portia[/name_f] might not be to everyone’s taste, it is objectively better than [name_f]Porsche[/name_f].
While there are definitely sound combinations that are broadly recognized by most cultures as being more or less pleasant than others, it’s very hard to state definitively that one name is superior to another objectively.
In the same way, sound combinations that are harder to produce or that have similarities to "ugly"words are often seen as unpleasant. Which is why Flugwot isn’t a name. Dissonance is recognized in every language.
Outside of that, what we find to be pleasant or unpleasant is simply a construct of our own language and more so of our culture, society, and personal experiences. People clearly found names like [name_f]Bertha[/name_f], [name_f]Dorcas[/name_f], and [name_f]Helga[/name_f] to be lovely enough to give to their children at one time (and I’m sure still today)–even though many on NB would say they are ugly.
It may feel like these things are so obvious and universal that they’re objective, but that’s just our own bias.