Ok so i have been thinking, that everyone on here (well mostly) tries to have names that arnt to popular. And everyone tends to be really keen on names that most people consider to be from the 1920-1960’s time frame, as the 1970’s-1990’s ranged in a hwole bunch of people trying to get away from those 20’s-60’s names. Now people dislike (or tend to dislike) names that where diffrent and pretty and became popular (mostly in the 90’s) and are drawn back to early 1900’s names. So i was wondering, does anyone think that the names that everyone like now (cause i noticed alot of the same names get suggested to people and alot of people like them because they are ‘unheard of or not very heard of’ ) will be bad in a couple years? Not like 5 or 6 but i mean like 10 or 20 years in the future are there going to be millions of becketts, adelaides, so on and so on? I know it seems to be a trend that we switch between generations of names while leaning away from new names. So in 20 years will our children be naming their daughters [name]Ashley[/name] and [name]Emma[/name] and their sons [name]Aiden[/name] and [name]Jacob[/name] because they have become unheard of? What do you think?
I think it could happen.
There’s lots of boys these days (in the UK anyway) called [name]Callum[/name] and [name]Ryan[/name] and there was a phase of J names a while ago like [name]Jack[/name], [name]Joseph[/name], [name]Joshua[/name]. I think when that generation is old enough to have kids they won’t use those names because they grew up hearing them so much.
I still think names like [name]Louise[/name], [name]Kelly[/name] and [name]Ashleigh[/name] are boring because I knew people at school with those names though I don’t see many kids with them now.
Of course some names always stick around. Usually more simple and often biblical sounding names like [name]Michael[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Laura[/name]. They’re safe names you can get away with almost any generation.
I think it really depends on the name. Here at Nameberry we tend to say, “Oh, that will be so dated in a few years.” And generally that’s true. There were no [name]Madison[/name]'s in 1950 and there will be no probably be no Madisons in 2100. It’s a “one hit wonder” that had (or is having) its day and will probably not come back later. But there is always the chance that it might. As [name]Pam[/name] and [name]Linda[/name] said in an old post on “No Expiration Date for Names” we can almost never be sure.
About names like [name]Beckett[/name] and [name]Adelaide[/name] being passe by 2020, some of them might. Some names might be spoken about as “so 2009” by then in the same way we would say a name is “so 1994”. A few nameberry favorites I think might be dated by then are the trendiest ones: [name]Finn[/name], [name]Harper[/name], and, yes, maybe even [name]Adelaide[/name].
But how do timeless classics get a start. Many centuries back, maybe even our standby [name]Mary[/name] and [name]Elizabeth[/name] and [name]Katherine[/name] were considered trendy. But they stuck around. Some names that are currently popular that I expect to morph into classics are [name]Alexandra[/name], [name]Elijah[/name], and [name]Miranda[/name]. Beyond that I really can’t say. It’s all up to the perception of the name: if people think a name sounds too trendy, they don’t use it cementing its transient popularity. If they think a name is classic, they use it, and it becomes a classic. That said, however, most classics have a dynamic combination of graces that keeps them alive. These are universal sound, good meaning, and strong style (meaning they sound strong). Good nicknames help too.
A lot of names that sound really in right now are following the hundred-year rule: [name]Lily[/name], [name]Amelia[/name], [name]Emmett[/name] and so on. But parents are really picky about which names they choose to revive; most prefer light but solid sounds and dislike the heavy Germanic choices that were en vogue in 1909.
To finish, I must say again that it really depends on the name. And if you love a name, you’ll probably use it. What it really comes down to is if you love a name enough to ignore negative connotations and dated sounds. If you love it enough, you’ll use any name.