Predicting future popularity,...

[zombiemombie.livejournal.com]

I love the name Nora, but I really do not want my children to have a name that any other kids in their class/school/life is going to have. I mean I don't want it to be too out there, and I know theres always a chance that they're going to meet someone with their name..

But I digress--

Should I be concerned if the name Nora has gone from #503 to #197 in the last 10 years?

How does one determine if the name will continue to rise, or hit its peak?

Comments

[ohhvelocitygirl.livejournal.com]

I can almost promise you she wouldn't be the only nora/norah in her classes

[so-there.livejournal.com]

yeah, Nora's pretty common.

[aqualectra.livejournal.com]

i have a Ceilidh, and moved o a town of 300 people and it was also the school counsellors name. It isn't even a name. (Irish word meaning party or social gathering).

[makeitstopjamie.livejournal.com]

I don't think that there is really anyway to which way a name's popularity will go. She would probably know other people with that name, but they wouldn't necessarily be in the same social group. My name Melinda was 197 the year I was born and I've known a few other Melindas, but they were never in my class (there was always one other one in school). Actually, while student teaching there was a three year old Melinda in my class and the name wasn't even in the top 1,000 the year she was born.

I get what you're saying through. I'd love to give my children names that have about the same popularity mine does.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Nora(h) is definitely getting more popular, but #197 is really not THAT popular. My name (Alison) was ranked 113 when I was born, and that's not even taking into account the alternate spellings. And yet I never had a class, EVER, with another Alison. Every once in a while I'll hear about or run into another Alison, and it's more like, "Oh cool, we have the same name."

Now, it's entirely possible that Nora will randomly shoot up the list and break into the top twenty. Some celebrity could name their baby Nora, some TV show with a character named Nora could come out . . . but that's a risk with any name. As it stands now, I think it's fairly certain that she would NOT always have other Noras in her classes.

[http://users.livejournal.com/--stillframe--/]

Even names that are ranked really high represent a SMALL percentage of the population.

If you LOVE the name, I wouldn't stress the popularity too much. (Just my opinion, though.)

[sal_amanda]

My daughter is an Eleanor who goes by Nora and while I've met some girls named Eleanor here and there, I have not met any girls named Nora at all. Mine is always the only one.

[becomingun.livejournal.com]

I don't think Norah will ever be super popular, but I think it will keep rising.

Also, anecdotal: I'm a Georgia and while it's becoming more and more common, through all 17 years of my schooling I never had another in my class or school program at the two colleges I attended. I've met MAYBE three other Georgias in my life, and none of them have ever been people I've had to interact with more than about twice. Meanwhile my best friend has a very specific African name that I'd never heard before and she encountered two more in college, so it's totally impossible to predict who they're going to meet as the kid grows up. I mean, if you had bet on it, I doubt anyone would have bet that I'd meet someone with my name before she met someone with hers.