generations

[so-there.livejournal.com]

Ever notice your brain just randomly assigning an age to someone based on their name? Someone (my general age range) posted a wall of text and I saw the name Matt in the middle so I assumed she was talking about her husband. Then actually read it and realized it was her son, actually. And then was kind of genuinely surprised that someone named their kid Matt in the 2010's. (ftr I don't know the lady's husbands name).

Comments

[jexia]

I do it in reverse when I'm writing- work out how old my characters are, then google popular names for the decade of their birth!

[halliwell66.livejournal.com]

Definitely.
There are a few young kids I've worked with recently, I think there names may have peaked when I was at school eg Melissa, Tiffany, Laura, Natasha.

I meet a newborn called Jessica recently, its been forever since since I'd seen that. I dont know any under 15.

Also the opposite kids 1-5yo called Arthur, George, Fred, Herb, Esther etc they felt dated because I only knew elderly people, but now after I got to know the kids they fit so well & I love their names.

[so-there.livejournal.com]

the super old names don't surprise me anymore, the whole "old is new again" thing, they're all coming back. I have a 3 y/o Esther :) George is really common too, I know quite a few 6 and under.

[nobodynomore.livejournal.com]

One of my daughter's (age 4) friends at school is named Tiffany (also 4). It was really strange.

Surprisingly, though, for all of the crap I got from people (a several on here for not being unique enough), she is the only Sophia at her entire preschool of 50 kids. Granted, Sophia started becoming super popular the year she was born (that fact wasn't on my radar then, seeing as she is sort of named for the Golden Girl, and not from a baby book or name list ;)

There are at least 5 Rileys, and 5 Alexis' though. Both names I thought were sort of fading away, but apparently not.

[box-of-rocks.livejournal.com]

It annoys me when characters in books or movies aren't named an age-appropriate name. Like yesterday, I was watching Love Actually and a group of twenty-something women included Carol-Ann and Harriet (and the other names were "old" names too.

[halliwell66.livejournal.com]

I figured Tiffany was probably a name the mum had liked since she was young.

Sophia is a classic, I don't know any. 2 Sophie's though with 60 kids.

We have 1 Charlotte, its been top 5 for past decade. But the doubles are 2 girls called Matisse and 2 Saskia's. You can never predict that.

Riley and Alexis yes, I know a heap 4-14yo, slowed down a little but still on people's lists.

[wolf-shadow.livejournal.com]

With LA, that might just be a location thing - neither seems "old" to me - just fine for guys a little younger than me :)

[sweetest-asylum.livejournal.com]

yet no one seems to use Mary or John anymore or Robert.

i really with Hester would make a comeback :)

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

Matthew has been in the top 20 since 1971. Being a Biblical name, I suspect it'll always be somewhat popular, although it has been slowly falling in the last 10 or so years.

But yeah, I do that all the time. It's funny though, because my mental picture of certain names has changed. Like Edith and Estelle always used to be older women's names to me, but their resurgence in popularity has made me envision either an older woman or a toddler. Vivian/Vivienne is another one - Vivian was my grandmother's name and I always associated it with older people, but Vivienne just seems like a cute baby's name now. (Same with Lorraine, which was her middle name but I see Hilary Duff in Cheaper by the Dozen lol.

There's a bevy of names that were popular during the 1980s and I assume those people are around the same age as me when I hear their names (Brittany, Tiffany, Michelle, Heather, Courtney, Brandon, Justin, Ryan, Kevin, etc.) Even though those are pretty common names, I think I'd be startled if I met a toddler named Heather.