January 16, 2004

Burnt names

As I revisited this Ask.MetaFilter thread about baby names to which I contributed, I realized that a couple of the names I like for girls will be very out of fashion for several years.

When a name gains notoriety in the news, it can go two ways: Depending on the positive or negative associations, the name could become insanely popular (how many Britneys do you think were born since 1999?) or very, very unpopular (I bet very few American muslims have named a son Saddam or Osama in the last couple years).

Therefore, the name Chelsea has probably been on the decline recently due to the Clinton scion. And Paris, which I think is a pretty cool name, was turned down by my friends as a name for their daughter, despite having given her that name while she was in the womb -- even before the P.Hilton scandal, Paris Jackson (daughter of Michael) had ruined it (for the father, at least).

The thing is, 20 years from now, who is going to still have these associations? Most people have already forgotten Chelsea Clinton (although the tabloids haven't), and Paris Hilton will have faded away by then, or at least become our generation's Zsa Zsa Gabor. Paris Jackson? Most people don't even know she exists.

OK, so some adults will likely smirk or raise an eyebrow. But little Paris's classmates? The only Paris they'll know is the one sitting in class with them. And besides, she certainly won't have to have her last initial after her name, unlike the two Mackenzies, three Brooklyns and five Jakes and Connors.

Posted by Andrew Huff at January 16, 2004 04:35 PM
Comments

heh - interesting. Most notoriously, the name 'Adolf' has been consistently unpopular for the entire second half of the century in pretty much every language.

Posted by: Alex at January 16, 2004 05:56 PM

Speaking on the popular end of things, I can't remember ever having been in a class without two other Heathers. I even had a roommate named Heather in college. (We both were dating Steves at the time, which we both married!) Damn you, Heather Locklear!

Posted by: Heather at January 16, 2004 09:40 PM

I was the only Heather in my social sphere. Until I went to college, that is - my roommate was the only other Heather at my school. my mother apparently saw an old movie with an actress named "heather mc..something" when she was pregnant with me, and thought it was an unusual name.

and unusual it was, until 'heathers' came out.

my poor siblings were *also* granted names that were unusual to my mother at the time. too bad they didn't get off as luckily as I did - Jennifer and Christopher were only unusual in the austrian/ukranian/jewish neighborhoods she lived and worked in as a young woman...

hee.

Posted by: Heather at January 17, 2004 09:41 PM

Many, many moons past, I watched a high school football report on one of the Cincinnati stations. Some perennial powerhouse was preparing for its next season.

Anyhow, they had a cut-to with some crew-cut blond kid named Josh, who talked about how they were going to give the prerequisite 110%, yackety-schmackety... And then they cut to another kid named Josh, and then another...

They ended up profiling *8* boys who had that name. An odd coincidence, or a comment on suburban sameness? Same subdivision, same tract house, same car in the garage, same son named Josh.

Posted by: Normal Today at January 23, 2004 02:28 PM