What’s In a Name

Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog

Ok, I’ve spent some time trying to figure out how to make an important statement out of this, but no matter how I approach it, I have to admit that it’s pure fluff.  Still, like many moms, I’m really interested in baby names and trends, so the annual release of the top names of the last year by the Social Security Administration is always a matter of curiosity for me.  Anyway, the top ten (U.S.) names for boys in 2007 are:

1)   Jacob

2)   Michael

3)   Ethan

4)   Joshua

5)   Daniel

6)   Christopher

7)   Anthony

8)   William

9)   Matthew

10) Andrew

All fairly solid, handsome names as far as I’m concerned.  What I find really interesting are the trends that are more indicative of cultural sub-currents, though they rarely make an appearance in the top 10.  For example, the trend towards naming boys things that rhyme with “Aidan” (like Jayden, Kaden, Braeden, and on and on in numerous phoenetic and spelling variations), or the rise and fall of celebrity names and celebrity baby names.  One of the most curious things between the boy and girl lists that I’ve noticed is how much more likely it is that parents of boys stick to more classical names.  It seems to be the girls who consistently get the more fanciful names–from the religious, like Trinity, to the emotive, like Miracle.  (Yes, Miracle made the top 1000 for girls.)  What makes it most interesting for me is how much what we name our children reflects our own wishes, hopes, and ambitions for our children (not to mention various tricky socio-cultural factors).  As much as anything else, I wonder how much that plays into the tendency to give boys more classical and girls more fanciful names.

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