New wave of "grandma" names is not new to me

General Name Discussion
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[name]Hi[/name] there! I’m new to this forum and although I’m not going to have kids anytime soon (I’m in high school), I’m obsessed with names. :smiley:

I think it’s interesting that names like [name]Beatrice[/name], [name]Caroline[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name], and [name]Margaret[/name] are shooting up in popularity, because where I live and have grown up, they’ve always been standard names. I live in a very preppy, waspy town and I go to a very preppy, waspy high school. I never knew these names weren’t popular until I got older. I know most girls that have names such as (as well the above) [name]Mary[/name], [name]Marjorie[/name], [name]Molly[/name], [name]Claire[/name], [name]Madeleine[/name], [name]Helen[/name], [name]Susan[/name], [name]Eileen[/name], [name]Elizabeth[/name], [name]Katherine[/name], [name]Cecily[/name], [name]Millicent[/name], [name]Kit[/name], [name]Lisa[/name], [name]Cornelia[/name], [name]Imogen[/name], [name]Anne[/name], [name]Victoria[/name], [name]Rose[/name], [name]Eleanor[/name], [name]Kathleen[/name], [name]Louisa[/name], [name]Rosemary[/name]… Boys are often [name]Billy[/name], [name]Mac[/name], [name]Paul[/name], [name]Arthur[/name], [name]Grant[/name], [name]Albert[/name], [name]Arvin[/name], [name]Henry[/name], [name]Edward[/name], [name]Howard[/name], [name]Reid[/name], [name]Bart[/name], [name]Harvey[/name], [name]Graham[/name], [name]Teddy[/name], [name]Robert[/name]… Growing up, I never thought twice about them, but now I find it very funny. :wink: Who knew? I always thought these names were “reserved” for waspy people, but I like how now they are spreading!! Beautiful names. I feel like they’re the “original” ones. I’ve been tired of the whole [name]Kaylin[/name] and [name]Jaden[/name] thing for a while now.

I just thought I’d put in my few cents and see what you guys think. I don’t think this wave would affect my community at all. Honestly, I’ve always been considered to have a very common, “trendy” name. Can anyone relate at all?

– [name]Nicole[/name]

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I grew up in a college town and now live in LA, so the names I’ve been exposed to have run the gamut as far as cultural and ethnic niches, but I still can definitely see the results of the trends in those I grew up around. I went through school with tons of [name]Jennifer[/name], [name]Katie[/name], [name]Christopher[/name], [name]Melissa[/name], [name]Ashley[/name], [name]Matthew[/name], [name]Stephanie[/name], [name]Jessica[/name], [name]Ryan[/name], [name]David[/name], [name]Megan[/name], [name]Heather[/name]… all those uber-popular top-of-the-SSA-list for the mid-'80s names. I remember in high school the most unusual names were always held by foreigners brought in by the University bubble.

What’s funny is that my mother, who had her kids in the late seventies through the mid-eighties, chose EXTREMELY popular names for her children without realizing. She picked top 5 names for both of my brothers, but she hadn’t heard anyone else with those names, so she thought she was being creative & unique.

Thanks to the internet, we know what’s popular right now and, if we want to, can steer clear of top-however-many names. Blessing or curse? I’d bet that if I didn’t have a concept of popularity, my future daughter would be named [name]Olivia[/name]. Almost certainly. I haven’t once met an [name]Olivia[/name], in my entire life, so to me it’s an uncommon name. Except that, thanks to the SSA name list, I know it’s one of THE most popular names in the US right now. I guess I’m glad I’m not blissfully ignorant on that one, I’d hate my daughter to be one of many Olivias in her class(es).

I think that the more isolated you are culturally, the more your peers have their own naming trends that may not reflect those of the rest of your country or the world. You come from a cultural background that likely has always (and maybe will always) used “classic” and even family names, so it stays somewhat self-contained. Cultural groups like that are more likely to be influenced by the choices of their friends, family, community than by popular culture.

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[name]Lovely[/name] names! My school has a sort of similar naming style-- there are very few trendy or surnamey names, and most are classic. I think the parents were a little ahead of the trend… the most common names are [name]Madeleine[/name], [name]Sophia[/name]/[name]Sophie[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Caroline[/name], [name]Julia[/name], [name]Anna[/name], [name]Margaret[/name], [name]Claire[/name], [name]Rachel[/name], [name]William[/name], [name]Samuel[/name], [name]Henry[/name], etc. Other names I’ve heard multiple times are [name]Frances[/name], [name]Helena[/name], [name]Rosemary[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Rose[/name], [name]Amelia[/name], [name]Louisa[/name], and [name]Eleanor[/name].

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Very interesting! :slight_smile: It’s so curious to see the way names change depending to location. Things catch on in communities and others because of tradition.

For example, the double-names in the South…maybe not so much anymore though.