Names Again--You Must Have Expected This

Back in '08, I wrote a post about baby names. It was essentially valueless, but a lot of fun for me!

Here is the original post I wrote after Eli was born:

This post is pointless to anyone but me. And pointless to me, come to think of it. But, just to let you in on a little secret about me, I'm kind of obsessed about names. I wrote a paper about names in one of my  linguistic classes (how Mormon naming trends are oddly similar to deep South naming trends), so I've been fascinated by names and naming trends long before I had kids. Picking out names for children just  intensified it. Since I've been thinking about this the past few days, here are some name-related things I've been noticing about my own family.

A--Anders, Ashlee, Ana
B--Brynne
C--Cassidy, Cowen, Chad
D--Danica
E--Emeline, Ethne, Elena, Eli
F--
G--Garrett, Gideon
H--Hailey, Hazel
I--Isabel
J--Jethro
K--Kiersten, Katelyn, Kali
L--Lynnaea
M--Myles, Miriam, Megan, Maloree
N--Nash
O--Olivia
P--
Q--
R--
S--
T--Talmage, Tyson
U--
V--
W--
X--
Y--
Z--

First: we like the top half of the alphabet. Also, we really like names that start with vowels, except the vowel U. We also really like names that start with M (Timothy and I would totally have a Megan if we didn't already have two in the family). We stick pretty much to standard spellings. The exception is Maloree (the standard spelling is Mallory). We have quite a few names with a several standard spellings or no standard spelling, including: Ana, Ashlee, Brynne, Cowen, Danica, Emeline, Ethne, Hailey, Isabel, Katelyn, Lynnaea. About half our names end with a vowel sound ending. Most of our names are not on the super-popular chart. The exceptions are Isabel, Katelyn (although that has peaked and is now waning), Olivia (also peaked and now waning).

Amy and Derek picked the trendiest names. Amy's are: Olivia, Megan, Garrett, Brynne, and Chad. Chad is the exception to that. Derek's are: Katelyn, Tyson, Maloree, Gideon, and Ashlee. Mal and Gideon are the exceptions there. Tim and I have an old-fashioned motif going, which is trendy in its own right. Cowen is our exception--although it is a very old name in Ireland. Kayli has the most unusual names. Hers are: Jethro, Hazel (although it is slowly gaining popularity), Ethne, and Talmage. Kami's are the most Hispanic (she planned that): Ana, Elena, Isabel. Megan wins second place for most unusual: Danica (gaining popularity), Myles, Lynnaea, Kiersten, and Anders (small update: Anders is currently gaining in popularity).

What does all this mean? Not much. All of us have very definite naming patterns. Anyway, I feel better now that I've gotten all that off my chest.

Here's the 2011 version that I posted after Harriet was born: 
Okay, that was the original post. Now I would like to revisit the theme and see if anything has changed in the past two years and 6 (almost 7) grandkids. The new names are: Devaney, Karlee, Harriet, Sebastian, Orrin, Jack and for Lindsay's baby either an "R" girl name or "I" boy name. (Unless Sterling gets a Sterling Jr., but I'm not betting on that.)

The new chart with my name and my siblings names in blue:
A--Anders, Ashlee, Ana, Amy, Andrea
B--Brynne
C--Cassidy, Cowen, Chad
D--Danica, Devaney, Derek
E--Emeline, Ethne, Elena, Eli, Ethan
F--
G--Garrett, Gideon
H--Hailey, Hazel, Harriet
I--Isabel
J--Jethro, Jack
K--Kiersten, Katelyn, Karlee, Kami, Kayli
L--Lynnaea, Lindsay
M--Myles, Miriam, Megan, Maloree, Megan
N--
O--Olivia, Orrin
P--
Q--
R--
S--Sebastian
T--Talmage, Tyson, Tyson
U--
V--
W--Wyatt
X--
Y--
Z--

Yep, the trends have stayed exactly the same. Kami picked a name below the "M" barrier, but she stayed in keeping with her Hispanic names. Kayli also picked a name below the "M" barrier, but it was a vowel name, and we already concluded that our family likes vowel names. Megan picked an unusual name with Devaney, like she usually does. Harriet is old-fashioned, like Timothy and I are prone to liking. Jack is the trendiest name of the bunch (Wyatt's boy) and Karlee matches the rest of Derek's kids' names. Two of the names end with a vowel sound.

Kayli pointed out that our parents had the same above the "M" barrier naming trend going on so I put all of my sibs names--and mine--in blue on the above chart. The parents also liked names that ended with a vowel sound--Amy, Andrea, Kami, Kayli, Lindsay.

Notice how far Wyatt is below the "M" barrier. Maybe there is a proportional relationship between weirdness and distance from the "M" barrier. I mean, for those of you who have met Wyatt you get what I'm saying. Sebastian (he eats a lot of dirt, people), Talmage (clearly maniacal), and Tyson (Derek's boy--he didn't have much of a chance from the outset). You're just taking a risk, naming below M without the safety of the vowel, that's all I'm saying.

And now the 2013 update due to Oskar's birth and naming:  

First, there have been several new babies added to the family in the past two years (surprise, surprise).  Let's see, I had Oskar; Kami had Orlando (well, his name is Nicolas but most of us call him Lando so I'm not sure where to put him on the chart); Kayli had Wyatt; Wyatt had Natalie; and Lindsay had Will.  So the new babies since 2011 are Oskar, Nicolas, Wyatt, Natalie, and Will.  Plus, Lindsay's little girl, Ruth, didn't make it onto the previous chart so we'll add her as well.  I'll put them in pink on the chart.

A--Anders, Ashlee, Ana, Amy, Andrea

B--Brynne

C--Cassidy, Cowen, Chad

D--Danica, Devaney, Derek

E--Emeline, Ethne, Elena, Eli, Ethan

F--

G--Garrett, Gideon

H--Hailey, Hazel, Harriet

I--Isabel

J--Jethro, Jack

K--Kiersten, Katelyn, Karlee, Kami, Kayli

L--Lynnaea, Lindsay

M--Myles, Miriam, Megan, Maloree, Megan

N--Nicolas, Natalie
O--Olivia, Orrin, Oskar

P--

Q--

R--Ruth

S--Sebastian

T--Talmage, Tyson, Tyson

U--

V--

W--Wyatt, Wyatt, Will

X--

Y--

Z--

What is very strange about this recent round of naming is that ALL of the babies were given names below the "M" line.  What does this mean??  Are they all destined to be as strange as my brother Wyatt??  Certainly Baby Wyatt will have a hard time overcoming his name.  Natalie is far too sweet looking to be a weirdo, but then, she is Wyatt's daughter.  Nicolas gets called Lando or Orlando more than Nicolas by our family, so that might save him.  (That in and of itself is strange as no other grandchild gets called anything besides what his parents call him.)  Oskar is a vowel name so he is completely safe from being a weirdo.  Will--I don't know.  He and Ruth are far below the "M" line.  I'm guessing weirdos.  

But still--very strange that the top half of the alphabet has been the clear favorite for so long and then a crop of 6 babies winds up below the "M" line with only one vowel name in the bunch.

It is a little early to start classifying Lindsay's naming style, but Ruth is definitely smack-dab in the ultra-trendy old-fashioned name category while Will is a updated spin on William.   Does this mean the USA is going to start following the British trend of giving nicknames as first names?  (Alfie is currently the #1 boy name in Britain.)  I don't know but it is an interesting trend to watch.  

Wyatt doesn't seem to match Kayli's other kids names, which makes me wonder if you keep producing children long enough if your names will follow general naming trends or if you'll keep your own style through the long haul.  Jethro, Hazel, Ethne, Talmage, Orrin, and Wyatt.  I guess Orrin and Wyatt are both pretty western sounding to me--but that's entirely due to the Louis L'Amour books with Orrin Sackett.  Wyatt is gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds and doesn't show any signs of waning yet, so sort of matches Hazel in that is was unpopular for a very, very long time and then suddenly shot up the charts.  Hazel is waning now and I'm sure Wyatt will too in the next few years.

Nicolas and Natalie are both perfectly in sync with their siblings' names.  Ana, Elena, Isabel, Sebastian and Nicolas.  Hailey, Cassidy, Jack, and Natalie (notice all the girls' names end in the same sound).  

Oskar also fits completely with our naming style.  However, we gave Oskar a non-traditional spelling (in the USA) which is not common in our family's naming trends. Since he is named to honor the German side of the family (my mother's side), we went with the traditional German spelling.  It seemed appropriate.

And there you have it!!  I am a naming nerd.  And I like it.