Research-backed
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Choosing a baby name is no child’s play (pun intended). Parents tend to go great lengths before christening their baby with the right name. There are many aspects that influence parents while naming their baby, including geographical. For instance, babies in Rome and Greece are named after their Gods and Goddesses; in predominantly Caucasian countries, biblical names are always in trend; and people in the Middle East generally name their children after famous religious personalities followed by family names. Whereas in Asia, especially the Indian subcontinent, the list of preferences not only includes famous religious and historical personalities but also includes aspects such as numerology and astrology.
The whole idea behind such an elaborate exercise is that once a person is christened with a particular name, that becomes his/her identity throughout their lifetime. It is also believed that the meaning of the name eventually influences the person’s personality.
To get a better idea of baby name trends, the Huffington Post (1) reported in 2016 about a study done by a family history website called Find My Past, which studied baby name trends of different decades. The website conducted a comparative analysis of popular baby names from 1911, 1939 and 2015.
The website studied the census of 1911 (2), 1939 birth registers (concluded after the war) (3), and 2015 official survey results (4). The study concluded that William was the only name among both male and female baby names which managed to constantly remain popular over the last 100 years! William was also the name which gained a slot in the top ten popular names of all three periods of study.
Another interesting fact that came to the fore was that male baby names more or less remained the same in the top ten, whereas female baby names had drastic changes with each study period throwing up new sets of names. For instance, the name Isla, which was the fourth most popular name in 2015 (5), did not have many takers in past with only two in 1939 (6) and just one in 1911 (7).
The most fashionable name for girls in 1911, Florence, Elsie, Doris, Edith, and Gladys, did not find any place in the top ten list of names for girls in 1939.
Similarly, Maureen, Barbara, Sheila, and Joan showed up as the most popular preferences of the year 1938, replacing the ones in 1911.
A similar trend was also noticed in 2015, where the list of top ten popular names for girls did not have a single name from either of the other two years that were studied.
Here’s the complete list of top ten names for those years:
The Year 1911
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Boys Girls
1. William Mary
2. John Edith
3. George Annie
4. Thomas Doris
5. James Dorothy
6. Arthur Florence
7. Albert Margaret
8. Charles Alice
9. Edward Elsie
10. Frederick Gladys
The Year 1939
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Boys Girls
1. John Margaret
2. David Patricia
3. Brian Jean
4. Michael Maureen
5. Peter Barbara
6. William Ann
7. Anthony Mary
8. Robert Joan
9. Alan Sheila
10. James Valerie
The Year 2015
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Boys Girls
1. Oliver Amelia
2. Jack Olivia
3. Harry Emily
4. George Isla
5. Jacob Eva
6. Charlie Ella
7. Noah Jessica
8. William Isabella
9. Thomas Mia
10. Oscar Poppy
This proves that baby names are not immune to having their own trends and fads. Movies have also been instrumental in influencing the popularity of names during each particular decade. In India, for instance, names like Rahul and Prem for baby boys had attained cult status in the 90s due to their regular use by Bollywood movie stars of that decade. In recent times, baby girl names like Zoya and Alia have been made equally popular by Bollywood.
Irrespective of what influences parents’ choice of names for their babies, one thing’s for sure: they’ll never know which one is going to last a century!
