Laura’s first half day

Martin Kelley — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:25:36 +0000

Things to remember:
* almost cat-like cry first few minutes;
* surprise of a girl;
* the second last-minute arrival of our midwife back from warm-weather vacation;
* the luck of Martin and the boys being with willing friends when the call came.

Unpopular Baby Names: Avoiding the Jacobs, Emilys and Madisons

Martin Kelley — Sun, 20 Feb 2005 14:06:59 +0000

My wife has now finished the first trimester of her pregnancy so we can let people know that our little Theo’s going to be a big brother this fall. That means it’s time to think of baby names.

Fallen Baby Names List
	Name	Rank: 1900	Rank: 2003	Drop		Name	Rank: 1900	Rank: 2003	Drop
1	Herbert	32	962	930	1	Edna	17	986	969
2	Herman	45	974	929	2	Louise	24	977	953
3	Floyd	50	964	914	3	Beatrice	44	982	938
4	J	35	920	885	4	Bertha	26	963	937
5	Fred	19	876	857	5	Gladys	15	945	930
6	Earl	27	882	855	6	Lucille	49	954	905
7	Clarence	18	717	699	7	Dorothy	7	846	839
8	Howard	30	721	691	8	Hazel	20	681	661
9	Alfred	33	683	650	9	Edith	25	683	658
10	Ralph	23	660	637	10	Frances	16	580	564
11	Elmer	36	654	618	11	Irene	21	581	560
12	Harold	15	595	580	12	Marie	8	496	488
13	Ernest	26	599	573	13	Martha	31	487	456
14	Eugene	49	578	529	14	Alice	10	426	416
15	Leonard	48	571	523	15	Helen	2	389	387
16	Harry	13	517	504	16	Ruth	5	350	345
17	Francis	37	509	472	17	Rose	14	358	344
18	Willie	28	454	426	18	Annie	28	339	311
19	Roy	24	433	409	19	Clara	23	295	272
20	Walter	11	356	345	20	Esther	30	297	267
21	Arthur	14	353	339	21	Josephine	33	260	227
22	Carl	20	357	337	22	Eva	39	215	176
23	Lawrence	34	344	310	23	Ruby	42	197	155
24	Albert	16	311	295	24	Margaret	3	130	127
25	Joe	38	321	283	25	Catherine	19	106	87
26	Theodore	42	313	271	26	Laura	50	122	72
27	Louis	21	278	257	27	Mary	1	61	60
28	Leo	44	288	244	28	Evelyn	34	89	55
29	Frank	8	228	220	29	Anna	4	21	17
30	Raymond	22	188	166	30	Elizabeth	6	9	3
31	George	4	137	133	31	Mildred	9	n/a	0
32	Edward	9	128	119	32	Florence	11	n/a	0
33	Paul	17	124	107	33	Ethel	12	n/a	0
34	Henry	10	116	106	34	Lillian	13	n/a	0
35	Peter	46	148	102	35	Gertrude	22	n/a	0
36	Kenneth	47	109	62	36	Mabel	27	n/a	0
37	Richard	25	86	61	37	Bessie	32	n/a	0
38	Charles	6	59	53	38	Elsie	35	n/a	0
39	Robert	7	35	28	39	Pearl	36	n/a	0
40	Thomas	12	36	24	40	Agnes	37	n/a	0
41	John	1	17	16	41	Thelma	38	n/a	0
42	James	3	18	15	42	Myrtle	40	n/a	0
43	William	2	11	9	43	Ida	41	n/a	0
44	Jack	41	46	5	44	Minnie	43	n/a	0
45	Joseph	5	6	1	45	Viola	47	n/a	0
46	Samuel	31	23	-8	46	Nellie	48	n/a	0
47	David	29	14	-15	47	Grace	18	13	-5
48	Anthony	43	10	-33	48	Julia	45	33	-12
49	Andrew	40	5	-35	49	Emma	29	2	-27
50	Michael	39	2	-37	50	Sarah	46	12	-34

Most new parents want to give their child unique names and want to steer clear of the most over-used names. Yet if you tell your friends you’re naming your boy Jacob or Joshua, they’ll all cheer you on. If your little girl goes by Emily, Emma or Madison, they’ll think that’s darling. Yet those are the top three boy and girl names for 2003.

They are tens of thousands of kids getting these top names every year. All of the kids with these names are going to be getting nicknames to differentiate them from one another: just hope your little angel isn’t the one that gets tagged “The Ugly Emily” or “The Stupid Joshua” by their third grade classmates!

There are definite trends in names. Certain names tend to sound fresh and daring even when they’re overused and trite. The only way to train your ear away from such trends is to methodically study the data (the New York Times had a fasincating article on all this when we were pondering Theo’s name, Where Have All the Lisas Gone?).

Fortunately the U.S. Social Security Administration provides a list of the most popular baby names by year, going back to the turn of the twentieth century. Using this, my wife and I were able to choose “Theodore” for our first child’s name; born in 2003, he name is the 313th most popular boy’s name and dropping. Yet it’s a known name and there have been great twentieth century folks who have answered to it (e.g., Dr. Suess, Theodore Geisel).

How is a parent to choose? One recent afternoon I cut and pasted the top fifty boy and girl names of the first decade of the Twentieth Century. I looked up their current status (the 2003 data) to see what movement has occured in their placement. The old names are still known but some have fallen far out of use. Herbert, for example, was the 32nd most popular boy’s name in the first decade of the Twentieth Century, but now ranks a dismal 930! If you want a name everyone knows but no one is giving their kid, Herbert’s your choice for boy’s and Edna’s your choice for girls.

Now these fallen names probably sound awkward. But that’s the point: they run counter to the trends. I’ll admit that some deserve their reduced status; I cannot imagine saddling a little girl with “Edna.” But in the list are some gems which have been unduly demoted by the trend-setters.

We’ve been very happy with “Theodore,” the 26th most fallen name of the Twentieth Century. He’s officially named after his great-great uncle. The social security datebase assured us that the name was safe from trendiness.

So what will the new baby be named? Check in soon!! The due date is the end of August.

Update: drumroll please.… Our new son’s name is Francis! And further follow-up brought us Gregory and Laura. We’re officially out of the baby-making game now but if we were looking for more, Walt and Dorothy would be our next picks of classic-but-uncommon names.

girl - Quaker Ranter

Laura’s first half day

Unpopular Baby Names: Avoiding the Jacobs, Emilys and Madisons

Fallen Baby Names List