Here's Social Security's list of the most popular baby names for 2017:
Whatever happened to "Charles" as a baby name? Or "John" or "Mary" or "Joseph" or "Elizabeth" or "Michael" or "Catherine"?
| Boys | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1. Liam | 1. Emma |
| 2. Noah | 2. Olivia |
| 3. William | 3. Ava |
| 4. James | 4. Isabella |
| 5. Logan | 5. Sophia |
| 6. Benjamin | 6. Mia |
| 7. Mason | 7. Charlotte |
| 8. Elijah | 8. Amelia |
| 9. Oliver | 9. Evelyn |
| 10. Jacob | 10. Abigail |
Whatever happened to "Charles" as a baby name? Or "John" or "Mary" or "Joseph" or "Elizabeth" or "Michael" or "Catherine"?
Michael was number 1 or 2 from 1954-2008 (number 1 for 44 of those years). 2017 was the first year (since 1942) that it was out of the top 10 (number 12; Charles is 49). I'm not that knowledgeable about current popular culture, but I assume many of the top names reflect famous people (real or fictional) that are admired. (I was going to ask who Luna [number 37 for girls] was, but I looked it up, and she's a comic book character.)
ReplyDeleteMichael is 12, Elizabeth is 13, Joseph is 19, John is 27, Charles is number 49, Mary is 126 (Maria is 111), Catherine is 198 but Katherine is 105...
ReplyDelete(you asked)
:-)
Charles, people always want to give their children "different" names or names "of distinction." I attended a high school of 120 students. Thirty boys went out for football. There were four of us on the football team named "Russell." Now you seldom see that name. In 1973, my wife and I named our son "Eric," which I believe was the number one name that year. My 9-year-old grandson is "Jacob," which was number one on some recent years.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is that instead of being "different," on any given year, so many of us like the same ideas!
Eric was never the number 1 name in any year. Not even top 5. It was about 14 though for the 1970 as a decade. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/top5names.html
ReplyDeleteMary hasn't been so popular in the last 50 years but was the top girls name for a long time. It seems as if girl's names vary more in popularity than boy's names.
Most of the missing names the OP laments over are Catholic names with weighty religious symbolism, and the Millennials now having kids are less apt to want to name their kids after apostles, disciples, or saints.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, this is a very vanilla list. Imaginary names like Nevaeh and Jaden are off. 19 of the top 20 here are traditional and vintage. "Logan" is the odd man out here, except for those of us hoping our kids grow up to be Michael York from that movie.
A7:42am You do know that Noah, James, Benjamin, Elijah,and Jacob all appear in the Bible (all but James are Old Testament)? Most of the girls' names appear to derive from current celebrities/actresses/royalty. It's all due to kids wanting to be different from their parents, including in what they name their children (the grandchildren).
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