Blast from the past

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

There is a lot of discussion on this blog about the use of extremely popular names: Emma, Grace, Aiden, Jayden etc. It seems like the general consensus is that these names should be avoided. (I know not everyone feels this way.) What I am wondering is - did people naming children in the recent past A. realize these trends as easily and B. care and/or discourage their use?

Were people in the 80s saying, OMG another Tiffany? How could you?

Did the 50s mom roll her eyes at the five Lindas in her child's class?

Just wondering...

Comments

[samaside.livejournal.com]

What about all the Marys and Johns from, you know, 1700s to the early 1900s, lol.

[water-melanie.livejournal.com]

My aunt named her daughter Jennifer in 1983 thinking it was original and shortly thereafter learned the truth. As much as she loved the name she wishes she'd have known before of its popularity. It's kinda a family joke/story now. Oh and my aunts name is Linda. :-)

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

I have cousins named Jennifer, Elizabeth, Trisha and Claire. 80s! I wonder how my aunts decided on those names...

Every guy I've dated seriously has had a mother named Linda or Janice. Two names I have a hard time imagining as "trendy" :)

i wanna share...

[girlsknowbest.livejournal.com]

my cousins from the 80s are Brittany, Lauren. My siblings from late 70s/early 80s are Jamie and Josh. Somehow I ended up an Angela (nn Angie).

and the moms/mom types i know are often named Cheryl, Linda, Terry, or Joanne.

(p.s. i love the name jennifer, always have)

Re: i wanna share...

[water-melanie.livejournal.com]

I love the name Jennifer too. I think these days it would be an original name for a kid. There wouldn't be too many in school now.

Re: i wanna share...

[feelslike-2day.livejournal.com]

believe it or not they're still going, jennifers abound everywhere. I'm a jennifer and despise it, i think the name needs a ban on it for several years!

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

My mother did that to me. "No one was named Jessica when I named you!"

Luckily it's never bothered me a bit to have a common name.

[water-melanie.livejournal.com]

I don't think it would bother me either. I used to wish I had a common name when I was younger. The Jennifers and Jessicas didn't get picked on for their names, but Melanie seemed to attract it. :-)

[stardottedeyes.livejournal.com]

I was almost named Jennifer (1982), but when my parents realized it was #1 most popular girls' name in the country, they went for Amanda instead (which ironically ended up at #3).

[anapology.livejournal.com]

haha good question, i don't think lots of people check out the ssa as obsessively as most of us.

[eleanorgrace.livejournal.com]

That's a good question, but I think most of us on this community wouldn't really have any way to answer that!

I know that my father, who's a college prof, gets the naming trends from 20 years ago and thinks things like that. "Oh, God, more Briannas and Justins." Haha. He also laughs about clothing trends, but that's another story altogether.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get the feeling that most posters are in their twenties, but I've been thinking about it for a few days and had to ask!

[ladylovespink.livejournal.com]

My name is Stephanie and I'm sometimes so fed up with that name 'cause so many people in my age are named Stephanie.

Because of that I'm hell-bent to give my child a name which WAS NOT in the "Top 50 of the most popular names" the years before.

[waitingonsunday.livejournal.com]

I'm another Stephanie. I don't think I'd mind that it's so popular if I actually liked the name at all, but I don't...although there's something very endearing about being called Steph or Stephy by someone close to me.

[ladylovespink.livejournal.com]

Well, I wouldn't name my child too unique.
I'd choose a "normal" name which isn't heard so often at the moment.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it freaked me out when I found several baby name books along divided into categories like "Future Lawyers" "Models" "Fashion Designers" and "Ivy League".

I wish we lived in a time where people didn't need to "stand out" quite so much.

I like Alexander. :)

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

I was born in the 80's, and my parents choose Hannah because it was unpopular in the San Fransico area at the time (apparently everyone was Tiffany...). Now it's sky rocketed and it makes them sad, but they still like the name, and feel like they were unique at least for a little while!

[water-melanie.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh, there was always 2-3 Tiffanys per class! :-) I'm in the SF area too.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

Me too! (In the SF area, not a Tiffany :)

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

I have yet to meet a Tiffany. Shortly after I was born we moved to NH and I don't really seen any major trends within the people i went to school with

[girlsknowbest.livejournal.com]

since jennifer is no longer popular (in that it's not being given to present babies as much these days) is it too soon to reintroduce it? i've always loved that name but turned off by the idea that there were/are so many already. i wonder when it will be retro. haha.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

Jennifer is a really nice name, with lots of nn options. I don't think it is too soon use reintroduce it. While it was popular, it is not dated like Tiffany or Todd.

[sevensevenfour.livejournal.com]

A fun fact: I have three aunts, all born around the 1950s, all named Linda.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

That is a fun fact. But does this mean that you have a grandparent that named two of their daughters Linda???

[sevensevenfour.livejournal.com]

No, it doesn't. That would make it a better story, though. My grandparent's named one daughter Linda. My uncle married a woman named Linda. Then the other is a great aunt, my grandmother's brother's wife, who is also named Linda. My grandparent's daughter we call Linda. My grandmother's brother's wife we call Linda Ruth. My uncle's wife we call Linda around her. However, we don't see her very often, and we never see her around the other Lindas because she's my dad's side and the other two are my mom's side. When we are referring to her between ourselves, we call her uncle Linda...because, well, it makes it easier and it's entertaining for us.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

Ha! That is funny.

[stardottedeyes.livejournal.com]

Another fun fact...

My dad and his brother both married women named Kathy/Cathy, and one of their sisters is also named Cathy. Since their sister Cathy never married, all three have the same first and last name! They all go by Cathy(Kathy), but thankfully, none of their full names are exactly the same:
Catherine (uncle's wife)
Cathleen (aunt)
Kathleen (my mom)

[sevensevenfour.livejournal.com]

Wow. None of mine have the same last name because they're all in pretty different sections of family.

Another fun fact.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

My grandfather had a grandmother, mother, sister, wife and grandaughter (me) all with the same first and last name.

[queen-mab.livejournal.com]

At work, I swear I meet at least half a dozen Lilys and Gavins a week. And when I tell the parents this, they think I'm shitting them. And I promise them I'm not. So I don't understand how these names become popular without the parents realizing it.

[neverstarsburn.livejournal.com]

yes. my parents found the number of brittanys in the 80s when i was born ridiculous, and my father wouldnt allow my mother to name me sarah or kate because everyone was naming their daughters that too.
and my mother is named catherine, but she says in the fifties everyone would assume her name was cathleen when she went by cathy because everyone named their daughter cathleen then, and she hated it.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

It is funny, when I introduce myself to someone who is 50-60+ (esp. men) as Katherine they IMMEDIATELY call me Kathy. Drives me crazy.

[so-there.livejournal.com]

my mom hated being one of 8 peggys in her class so she changed the spelling to peggie and still to this day spells it that way.

needless to say, we were all born from 1976 to 1991, and she claims she tried to pick less common names. but failed on all of them but me* ;)

Matthew '76
Emily '77
Andrew '79
*Adrienne '81
David '91

[mrsduryee.livejournal.com]

It was the same for me with the name Isabella. Ther very first Isabella I met was already 4 years old when I met her, and I thought, "what a unique and beautiful name!" I suppose it was fairly unique then, since she's about 7 now, but I started checking SSA and lo and behold, it's SUPER popular. Now I know of 3 baby Isabellas.

[ugottafriend.livejournal.com]

My name is Kelli, and my mother swears that it was original back in the 70's. I've found her to be mistaken...as you can imagine!

Her name is Linda by the way. LOL

Sorry for the novel...

[in-the-starlite.livejournal.com]

My mom was one of 4 Deborah's on her block. (She was born in the '60s.) And one of two Deborah Ann's. She goes by Debbi now, and I like that better than Debbie. Don't ask me why. BTW, her brother's name is Steven. So, my grandma (Katherine nn Kathy) was obviously either out of the loop or just didn't care. Going back a few generations, I don't think unique names were thought of in the same way. Example: My great grandmother was a Rose, and her husband was Joseph.

I don't know. I have a fairly unique name (which I used to hate when I was younger) so I get really excited whenever I meet another Kiersten. Bonus when they spell it the same way! lol.

P.S. I have an aunt Linda (dad's sister) and an aunt Lynne (mom's sister-in-law) and I used to always get them confused.