Friday, May 7, 2010

What's In A Name?

The 2009 Top Baby Names list compiled by the Social Security Administration is out. Have you seen it? If not, click here. If you look at the bottom center of the page you can see the top 1,000 baby names of 2009. Coming May 14 the names will be listed by state.

When I was pregnant with William, our first boy name choice was Miles. The name William was always number two. As I got further in my pregnancy we let the name Miles leak to our friends and family. Big mistake! The more I heard it out loud the more I didn't like it as much. I still loved the name (I have two friends who have used it since!) but it just didn't seem to fit for us.

Then one day Brian and I were driving home from somewhere. I was weeks from delivering our first baby. And Brian said, "I've been thinking about the name Miles. I still like it. But I think I like William better now."

I gasped. "Me too!" I said. And so William Joseph was born. Not Will. Not Liam. Just William. Strong. Masculine. Classic.

When William was born I didn't think his name was that popular. Turns out it was number 10...and climbing. It was listed as number 5 for 2009 baby boys. But I still don't think of his name as that common because of all the nicknames I listed above. Few people call their Williams by their full name.

Lucy has always been Lucy. Even when I was pregnant with William and we didn't know his gender before birth, Lucy was our girl name. Sure there were other names on the list but not any that both of us truly loved.

But Lucy's popularity is growing. And that makes me a little sad. We liked that name way back in 2006 when it was only #156. In 2009, the year she was born, it's jumped to #101. We love it's classic, traditional feel. It sounds perfect if you're one year old or one hundred and one years old.

Brian and I require that either our child's first or middle name be that of saint's.  That was the other pulling factor with the name Lucy.  If you want to read more about Saint Lucy's incredible story, click here.

One of the moms in my Early Childhood class just gave birth to a baby girl. They named her Ava. She said that she and her husband really struggled with a name. Way back when they were first married they talked about having a baby girl named Ava. But in the years between now and then the name Ava has gained a lot of popularity. She hated that. She didn't want to be part of a fad.

But her husband warned her if they didn't pick the name they loved, then they would be letting the public influence their daughter's name. And that seemed worse than being part of a fad. Which they weren't trying to do anyway. So Ava it was.

There are some disadvantages to having a popular name. I should know. My name was number one the year I was born. I was never just Jenny. With no less, and often more, than two other Jenny's in a classroom my last initial always followed my name making it sound like one long name. I was known as Jennym. Now that I'm married I'm Jennyn.

But there are some advantages to having a popular name too. No one ever asks me how to spell Jennifer. Or how to pronounce it. And people rarely spell Jenny incorrectly. Except my grandma who insists my name is spelled Jennie.

Brian and I want more children eventually. We have a lovely name picked out for a boy. But that name is rapidly gaining in popularity. What to do?

And a girl's name. Don't even get me started. We are so at odds with a girl's name it's a good thing I'm not pregnant yet.

How do you feel about this list? Do you pay much attention to it? Does it influence your decision?

5 comments:

  1. The baby naming IS so hard! Casey and I had LOVED Liam forever, and without a doubt knew it would be the boy name (it was Irish and interesting). But then as each new baby name list was put out, that little Liam name kept creeping up on the list and as much as I still love it, I was losing a little interest. I think now we have chosen a name that is very meaningful and no matter if it's #1 or #1,000 it will be very special to us! :)

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  2. That list does influence my choices. I've always tried to pick a name that doesn't fall in the top 50.

    That said, who is to say that ten, fifteen years from now one of those bottom 50 names doesn't find its way to the top and my "unique" names become very much less so? Totally could happen, as you well know,

    I think you've got it right. You've got to go with the name you love, popular or not.

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  3. We struggled with this for baby #2 because the name we LOVED was really popular (in the top 5 or 10 at the time, I think).

    In the end, we just went with it (and we love her name, of course).

    For baby #3, however, we will *try* to choose a name that is not among the top 50 (as Darcie said).

    stephanie@metropolitanmama.net

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  4. I have pretty similar feelings to yours. We always use a family name either for the first or middle names. And we like old, traditional names. There have been names we like but stayed away from because of popularity. Ava was one of them, actually. I think we're bound to like some of the same names as the rest of the world. I think what seems a little different now is that the names that are becoming really popular seem to be the old, traditional names!

    I can't wait to find out what you've chosen, when you've chosen it (when you're pregnant)!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have pretty similar feelings to yours. We always use a family name either for the first or middle names. And we like old, traditional names. There have been names we like but stayed away from because of popularity. Ava was one of them, actually. I think we're bound to like some of the same names as the rest of the world. I think what seems a little different now is that the names that are becoming really popular seem to be the old, traditional names!

    I can't wait to find out what you've chosen, when you've chosen it (when you're pregnant)!

    ReplyDelete

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