National trends

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

It's funny to read the posts in this community from a British perspective, as names like 'Gavin' and 'Ian' keep popping up as unusual. These names are so common and dull in Britain, that meeting a baby called Gavin would make me cringe.

It's also interesting to note the similarities across the pond. Classic names such as William, Elizabeth, and Rose seem equally popular in both countries.

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this?

Comments

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I'm from Australia and I notice differences on this forum. Thankfully I've never heard of a Nevaeh over here yet. The main differences I notice is in accent, the way people say certain names rhyme with others that i don't think they do, or spell them out phonetically and I'm like "What?? How do you get aw-na out of Anna???" etc. Also things like connotations, lots of Americans seem to hate Jemimah cos they associate it with pancakes and I have no idea why.. or sometimes they don't like Jeremy because it sounds like germy (whereas I don't pronounce the R in germy)

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean!

There was a discussion on the name Reuben and apparently it reminded everyone of sandwiches - I was very puzzled!

[sykotropic.livejournal.com]

A Reuben is a sandwich made with corn beef and sauerkraut. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_sandwich

Quite tasty if you like that sort of thing.

I actually like the name, but have no choice but to sing: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiREUBRACH;ttREUBRACH.html

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

Ha ha!

Thanks for the cultural education!

[candyshowers.livejournal.com]

Lol, Aunt Jemimah is a well-known pancake syrup here.
I happen to like that name.
And Jeremy.

[sykotropic.livejournal.com]

The term "Aunt Jemimah" also was used to refer to the "Mammy" stereotype of African Americans. So there is a lot of negative cultural association as well.

[candyshowers.livejournal.com]

I completely understand what you mean.
I have a love of names that are considered very unusual here, in America, but are very popular in Europe.

I actually know quite a few Ians. I find it weird that Americans would see that as "unusual."

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people think generationally, too. For instance, I know a lot of older ladies called Ida, but I would see it as an unusual (but gorgeous!) name for a baby girl because I don't know any younger Idas. Maybe it's the same with Ian etc.

[candyshowers.livejournal.com]

My Great-Grandmother was called Ida. I've always found it beautiful.

You could be right though.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

I think Ian is pretty popular here as well. At least judging by my small bit of contact with children (I work in a daycare and have internships in the school system). I can name about 5 Ians off of the top of my head.

Gavin's pretty popular lately as well.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Gavin and Ian are pretty common here as well... I live in Canada. There are some differences, naming-wise, between Canada and America, but I don't know when the most popular names list comes out for Canada.

[brycentara.livejournal.com]

My brother was the only Ian in our area growing up. I wonder if he feels as disturbed about his name's sudden popularity as I do about my name's sudden popularity.

I like to blame my name on the fact I worked for two different theme parks. All those tourists saw my name badge and wrote it down for future kids darn it. Bryce was 109 for last year and Bryson (the correct spelling of my name) was 181 I think.

My dad says the way we spell my name is like some kind of family wierdness. It baffled Laurell K Hamilton's husband because he pronounced it as it should be pronounced in celtic not as it is pronounced.

[nobodynomore.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Ian, but don't particularly care for Gavin at all.

[xcuore.livejournal.com]

in the netherlands no one will name his child William/Willem Elizabeth/Els or Rose/Roos. Here those are very oldfashionated names.

[girlsteve.livejournal.com]

I've noticed certain names being labelled too common, which I've never really heard of. I've never known anyone called Hayden, Aiden or Jayden, which is apparently really common in the states. And until I found this forum I'd never even heard of the name Landon.

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've noticed that too - although there are quite a few Aidens about over here. I always think that names like Jayden are made up, but that's probably just because we don't hear them very often.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I'm an American living in the UK, and telling my British guy some of the popular American baby names cracks him up even more than me.

"There are actually THAT many people naming their kids things that rhyme with Fade-in?" "YES, there are! It's hilarious!"

And he'd never heard of "Madison" as a first name.



But then there's an added layer of weirdness, since we live in Shetland, and a loooot of common names here are pretty much confined (at least in such popularity) to the Shetland Islands culture. Vaila and Ailsa, for example, are hugely popular girls' names.

[sageharper.livejournal.com]

I totally agree about Gavin & Ian (Colin & Derick are the same); they're also really dated. Can't think of any I know IRL under the age of 25.

There is some cultural crossover between Brit & American trends. Jack has been #1 here for years, and seems to just be catching on in the US, with other 'old time nicknames' (e.g Lily, Harry) following suit.

Meanwhile we're getting their trendy names, of the -ayden and surnames for girls [creative spellings too] variety. Madison in particular seems to be picking up a following here. My mother thinks it's quite pretty and unusual, where as I've seen it so much on name boards I'm sick of it.

I personally think they're getting a better deal.

[xandara.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend's name is Ian, so I've kind of taking a liking to it. ;)

[kwpdb8.livejournal.com]

We don't have any Gemmas here. From what I've heard, it's a popular name in the UK/Australia, but I've never ever met one in the states.