[12/365] alternative names

[cosmolinguist]

How Popular Is Your Name (in the U.S.) ? Baby Name Popularity Over History, is great fun (thanks to white_hart for mentioning it).

When I put in "Cosmo" and the year I was born, it told me it was the 685th most popular name that year. And then it shows me the 685th most popular names at other times.

The first name I saw, for last year, made me laugh because it's Salem, which I only know as a trans boy name. Though maybe all that says is that I know more trans people than I know people naming babies.

Other recent names seem pretty trans-tastic too though!
2018 - Jaxx
2017 - Shepard
2010s - Xzavier

The older ones are pretty great too.
2000s - Derick
1990s - Cyrus
1980s - Cedrick
1970s - Heriberto
1960s - Greggory
1950s - Clair
1940s - Curtiss
1930s - Domenic
1920s - Durward
1910s - Sammy

A kid in my class at school had Cyrus as a middle name, he hated it. And my cousin gave her kid Derick (or maybe Derrick?) as a middle name.

Heriberto is hitherto unknown to me, what a work of art that name is. And I've never seen Greggory spelled with so many g's!

The only boy-Clair (which I can't help but hear in Boyle's voice; Brooklyn 99 fans might remember that episode wkth all the Claires...) I know of is Clair Patterson who, perhaps fittingly for how I came upon this name, I learned about in an episode of Cosmos...

Durward! Gosh what a name. I never knew such wonders were possible.

There's a related "was your name ahead of its time" page -- apparently lots of people think they're giving their kid an up-and-coming name when it turns out to be the most popular one. I was given Holly two years before its peak popularity, which just makes me extra sad that I could never get the kids' toys with names in them in my name. My brother always could find his name! But I was outta luck even at Peak Holly.

Comments

[davidgillon]

And I've never seen Greggory spelled with so many g's!

A long time friend is a Gregg - that's the full name, not a shortened version (and of course there's Greggs the Baker).

'50s male Clairs could be influenced by Claire Chennault, leader of the Flying Tigers in WWII China.

[cosmolinguist]

Oh yeah I know (of) Greggs spelled that way, but as you say that's the whole name. I'd just never seen the full Greggory. :)

[davidgillon]

No, that's definitely an odd one!

[softfruit]

Are we reading it as pronounced the same or a (dot com goth?) "It's Greg.Gory"?

[otter]

My name was trendsetting the year I was born. If I put my middle name in, it was past popularity by a decade or more, and less popular in general. But still in the top 200. I am going to go plug in my kids' names and see where they fall.

ETA: Falcon's name has no data, which means it occurred less than 5 times in the US that year. Tiger is between the 750-800th most popular. Mouse is also in the 750-800th range. I'm sure they're all popular names in northern Europe and Scandinavia though.

[cosmolinguist]

They'd probably rank higher on a Minnesota list of names than the whole country. :) I do like how I still went to school with Eriks and a Bjorn and someone whose middle name is Trygve and whatnot.

[rugessnome]

I am not sure what to make of the fact that the name of my grandfather whom I never knew was of comparable popularity in the 70s to my chosen name in my birth year. (Especially as I've often felt I had something in common with mid-late 70s...Gen X'ers(?) who were born to pretty young parents, because their and my parents, being around the same age, would have some of the same cultural background.)

[cosmolinguist]

Oh interesting.

[shewhostaples]

I have a colleague named Clair. Apparently her mother said that if 'chair' worked without an E then so could 'Claire'. I don't know any boy-Clairs.

[cosmolinguist]

That's such great logic. :)

[sfred]

I put my name in and am pleased to note that in the 1960s I'd have been Fredrick :) (I suspect 'Frederick would have been higher up the list).

In the 1880s and 1890s I'd be Ambrose, which I like for the sound and for the association (in Britain anyway) with custard.


(In my school, the other name my parents picked had the same frequency as 'Fred' did in my school, which pleases me. I'm not sure about wider frequency.)

[cosmolinguist]

Ambrose is such a cool name!

Fredrick too. I like all the spelling variations there.

It's nice to see these resonances that your name has with the one your parents gave you too. <3

[white_hart]

I could never find things with my name on either. It did always make me a bit sad.

[cosmolinguist]

It felt so unfair, especially when my brother (Chris) never had to go without anything with his name on it if he wanted it.