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What Baby Names Say About the Parents
Filed under: Baby Names
A baby's name says a lot about the parents' values and tastes. Credit: Getty Images
The name parents give to their newborn baby says more about them than it does about their child. A name communicates a wealth of social information, including the parents' tastes and background."We're in the middle of a naming revolution," Laura Wattenberg, author of the popular book "The Baby Name Wizard" told LiveScience.com. "Parents are putting a much higher premium on distinctiveness."
Half the babies born in the 1950s were given one of the top 25 most common boys' names or one of the top 50 most common girls' names. Fast forward to today, and you would have to list the 134 most popular boys' names and top 320 girls' names to cover half the babies born in a year.
"If you have 10 guesses to get somebody's name today, there's almost no chance you'll get it," Wattenberg told LiveScience. "But 100 years ago, if you guessed the top 10 names, you'd have a really good chance" of guessing correctly.
These stark changes in naming conventions have come with social implications. "The more diverse naming styles become, the more we are going to read into somebody's name," Wattenberg told LiveScience.com, adding that a baby girl who is born today and is named Mary says a lot more about that child's parents than such a name would have said 50 years ago. And that is true for all other names, too.
A baby's name tells others the parents' values and tastes and often their dreams and ambitions for their child. "Sociologists love names," Wattenberg told LiveScience.com. "They're practically the only case of a choice with broad fashion patterns that there's no commercial influence on. There's no company out there spending millions to convince you Brayden is a perfect name for your son."
What is most different today than 50 years ago? Parents today tend to believe their baby's name should be a unique signifier that separates them from everyone else. "Names never had to be unique. But today, your name is often the first way and sometimes the only way people know you," Wattenberg said, referring to social networking and easy online communication worldwide. It used to be enough to have a unique name in your neighborhood, such as, being the only one named Mary. Now the neighborhood is much bigger, spanning the globe.
But humans still want to fit in with others. "We all want to be different from each other, but our tastes are still as much alike as they ever were," Wattenberg told LiveScience.com. "So the result is we have a thousand tiny variations on a theme. You get Kayden, Brayden, Hayden, Jayden."
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 5)
1-12-2011 @ 3:36PM
Ka_Tastrophe said...LOVE those names - My dad's name is Ken, and my nephew (who was born on my dad's birthday is also named Kenny. (they are both Kenneth's).
My nephew LOVES his name and announced when he was 7 that everyone in the family should call my dad "Grandpa" as Kenny is HIS name!
My first son will be Kenneth Christopher!
1-10-2011 @ 9:54PM
Lisa said...My daughter's name is unusual in some ways, but it is older than the Bible! Her name is Lydia, and she is perfect for the name! (She is over 20 years old at this point...) Lydia was a single, very prosperous business woman who supported Jesus' apostles, and the first (non-Jewish) convert to Christianity in Europe.
Reply
1-10-2011 @ 10:27PM
Cindy said...I LOVE diff. names. I have three boys Chandler, Preston and Sterling . There are very few people w/ these names . LOVE IT!
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 1:54AM
loufalce said...But do your children like them?
1-12-2011 @ 3:18PM
Ka_Tastrophe said...I LOVE those names - My dad's name is Ken, and my nephew (who was born on my dad's birthday is also named Kenny. (they are both Kenneth's).
My nephew LOVES his name and announced when he was 7 that everyone in the family should call my dad "Grandpa" as Kenny is HIS name!
My first son will be Kenneth Christopher!
1-12-2011 @ 3:38PM
Ka_Tastrophe said...Sorry - I posted to the wrong comment...however I LOVE the names you chose for your sons!
1-15-2011 @ 9:15AM
Chastity said...I love the names Chandler & Preston and I had never heard anyone named Sterling until I met one of my tenants (I am a property manager). I like unusual names having had one myself. I was always different and that suited me just fine.
1-15-2011 @ 9:41AM
Angela said...I named my son Chandler. He is now 22years old. He Loves his name. When he was 7years old the show "Friends" came out with a character named Chandler. He didn't like someone else having his name. He said "thats my name not his" I have to laugh when I hear his college buddies call him "Chan the Man".
1-10-2011 @ 10:54PM
loufalce said...Wonder how many parents are going to name their sons "Jared" after this weekend.
Reply
1-10-2011 @ 11:01PM
K.P. said...Giving your child a pretentious name, or a pretentious spelling of a more common name, is the parents' vain attempt to confer "upperclass" social status on themselves. It's sad, really.
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 11:04AM
june said...my name is june but when i was young children being little uncaring brats that some can be decided to give my name a little ryme for it it went something like this june the goon the big baboon ill tell you i was somewhat tall not ananerexic like some where i had a young womans figure i guess that was too much for these CHILDREN TO HANDLE i was shy polite just wanted to make friends but maybe they didnt like darker skinned american born polish giirls . even though ive been taken as being italian native american and HISPANIC I JUST WANTED SOME BUDDY TO SPEND MY DAYS WITH FOR I CAN REALLY TRUST TO WATCH OVER EACH OTHER. OK ENOUGH SAID I LIVE IN MILWAUKEE,WI WENT TO SCHOOLAT STEUBEN JR HIGH NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF LOSERS!!!!!! EVEN SOME FOR THE FACULITY. SO MY WORD HAS I BEEN SPOKEN AMEN YOU CAROL MATTHESSIN
Reply
1-18-2011 @ 4:15PM
circusboy said...I once dated a girl named Linda Mae June. I often wondered why she wasn't named April.
1-10-2011 @ 11:14PM
Kelly Pomeroy said...I have never posted a comment to anything! I am an elementary teacher (23 yrs.) and feel very stronly about this topic(children's names) ...obviously! You want a strong, grounded kid...give them a name to support that. You want a follower...,give them a name to support that. You want a name that stands on its own, but doesn't SCREAM, "Hey, look at me, I'm different!"...give them a name to support that, too.
In case you're wondering...my sons are Drew and John because my maiden name was An"drew"s and my husband's father is John. These are two Christian men we admire most and wanted our sons to immulate. Their middle names are Thomas (my grandfather "the rock" that taught me everything and made me feel worth a million everyday of my life) and Warren (my aunt & uncle's last name that lost their only son just before mine was born).
Just choose name's that "speak" to YOU! Don't try to take the easy road and label them something different that truly doesn't mean anything to you...it won't mean anything to anyone else either!
Reply
1-11-2011 @ 1:56AM
leslie dubin said...Check your spelling, teacher!!!
1-11-2011 @ 5:17AM
vacamom said...and punctuation...wow.
1-10-2011 @ 11:38PM
Dawn said...I named my sons Jordan Matthew...........after no one. And Zachary Steven(middle name is his dads). I just loved both of these biblical names and faith is very important to me.
Reply
1-10-2011 @ 11:46PM
Randy said...We named our daughter Bob after My Grandfather.
Reply
1-10-2011 @ 11:57PM
SillySal said...Randy...this is the best comment of this entire topic!! Go Bob Go!
1-11-2011 @ 12:59AM
Emmy said...Agreed..that was friggin hilarious!
1-15-2011 @ 8:07AM
circusboy said...Well over 100 yrs. ago I had an ancester, female, named George. Go figure. When I was in grade/middle school I didn't care for my first name Dale, as I grew older I realised how lucky I was to have Dale for my first name. When someone said "Hey Dale" I knew I was the guy they were calling. Unlike my pals Jim, John, Bill, Bob, Mike, David, etc. What are some people thinking when they name thier kids after fishing line, medicine and who knows what else? Trilene, Tylenol, eye problems, Myopia. I knew one unfortunate girl who was named Shithead pronounced Sha-theed.Strange world we live in.