"Popular Names"

One of the most popular Dewey sections in the Library’s non-fiction collection is the 929.4 area.  This is where you will find all of the books on baby names!  We must own a dozen titles and 2 to 5 copies of each of these books and we continue to purchase new books and new editions of older titles.  But, whenever a patron visits this area, because of the popularity of that subject, there are generally only three or four books on the shelf.

I can remember that in the mid-to-late 1970’s, before the birth of each of our children, my wife and I perused the baby name books in search of that perfect name.  We wanted a unique name---a name that would readily identify our child, a special name he would carry with him for the rest of his life.  For our first son, born in 1976, we chose the name Nathan.  It’s a Biblical name, and at the time, we thought it would be very special.  We knew of no other children by that name.  When our second son, Luke, came along in 1979, the only person by that name we had heard of was Luke Skywalker in the movie, “Star Wars.”

Within months of each child’s birth we learned, to our chagrin, that practically every other parent we met had a child with the same name as our newborn.  We learned that in selecting those particular names we were participating in an age-old social phenomenon.  The popularity of certain names rises and falls over the decades.  Given names are in vogue for a period of ten to twenty years, become over used, and eventually nearly vanish only to be resurrected 50 to 70 years later to start the cycle over again.

The website of the U.S. Social Security Administration (www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames) lists the most popular names of the past decades.  Sure enough, my name, “Robert” was the second most popular boy’s name in the 1940’s.  My wife’s name is “Judith”.  Again, wouldn’t you know, her name was the fifth most popular girl’s name in the same decade.  In the 1950’s it was John and Linda.  The sixties saw “David” and “Mary” as the most popular.  In the 1970’s and 1980’s “Michael” and “Jennifer” were the names of choice.   In the 1990’s, “Michael” was still the most popular boy’s name and “Jessica” the girl’s name.  For 2003, the most popular girl’s name was “Madison” with “Emma” and “Grace” following close behind.  Boy’s names for 2003 include “Ethan”, “Aidan”, and “Caleb”. 

Personally, I had never heard of “Aidan” until the popular HBO television series, “Sex and the City”.  I wonder if the character in that series was given that name because of its popularity or did that character’s name spark the popularity of the name, “Aidan”?

If given names do follow a 50 to 70 year cycle, we can probably expect a lot of “John”, ”James”, “Robert”, “David”, “Richard”, “Gary”, “Anthony”, and “Charles” as boy’s names in the coming years.  For girls, the most popular names may very well be: “”Mary”, “Susan”, “Maria”, “Karen”, “Lisa”, “Linda” and “Donna”.  But, who really knows?

I’m surprised to see that “Emma” is now a fashionable girl’s name.  I wonder if “Mildred” (Millie for short), “Erma”, “Minnie”, “Ernestine” and “Sally” will ever be revived.  Wherever did the girl’s name “Tilly” come from?

My only suggestion to expectant parents is be somewhat aware of the popularity of names.  If you like a name but recognize that it is in popular use, so be it.  Your child’s name will probably categorize him/her as a millennium child and that’s all right.  You won’t want to give your child some dorky name like “Eugene”, “Merlin”, Minerva, or “Ethel” and be chastised by your offspring for the rest of your life for the mental anguish caused by the name you chose.

Recent donations to the Columbus Library Foundation include a memorial from Alice C. Moss in recognition of Donald Friesen and a donation from Rogene Brown in honor of John “Tex” Cadenhead.

Visit the Library’s new website at “columbuslibrary.info” to search the catalog, check the bookmobile schedule or read previous issues of the “Librarian’s Shelf”.