Yesterday I wrote a blog post about “the average Joe” and in that post I mentioned* how often the name ‘Joe’ is used in America to refer to an average or normal person or sometimes it is used to generically to refer to a person whose name you don’t know. I also mentioned that Joe is not actually the most common or average name in America. I have been doing a little research to try and figure out what the most common names in America are and I have found that James is the most common name among all living Americans (around 4,064,550 Americans are named James) and Mary is the most common name for women among all living Americans (around 3,220,525 Americans are named Mary). But this does not mean these names are the most popular names today. In fact I think the reason these names are so common is because they were given to children very frequently in the past, say 50 to 60 years ago, when people often gave their children traditional or family names. All the traditionally named James’ and Mary’s from previous generations are still living, which accounts for why there are so many people who have these names now. In my opinion Americans were a little less creative with names in the past compared to how they are now. It seems modern parents are making up for the previous generations’ lack of creativity with some very interesting baby names now! In fact in my research to find out more about the most common American names I came across** a newspaper article about the trend*** in the United States to give children uncommon names! The Washington Post article I read can be found at this link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/google-friendly-baby-names-ring-in-2012/2012/01/04/gIQAleWZcP_blog.html.
In summary of what I found about uncommon names, it seems that uncommon names are now more popular than common names. According to the list of the names for each of the first babies born in each of the 50 states in America in 2012 it appears parents are no longer satisfied with “normal” names. If the first 50 babies born in the United States this year are any example of how parents are now naming their babies, the trend shows parents want their babies to have a name that is completely unique or one that is somehow related to a celebrity. According to The Washington Post article, parents may be picking more unique names nowadays**** because they know their children’s generation will live more of their lives online and parents want their children to have one-of-a-kind names that people can search for online and the results of the internet search will only produce one result. Popular celebrities also tend to influence the naming of children across America. Many modern parents name their children after celebrities or select names that celebrities choose for their children. No matter what the reason, it is fair to say parents in the United States today are choosing less traditional or common names and more unique or creative ones. Here are some examples of the names of the first 50 children born across the United States in 2012: Karis, Mathea, Ava, Kay’lyn, Envy, Akier, Shekinah, Rania, and Daytona. For some of these names I can’t tell you if they are boy or girl names, because I don’t know! I’ve never seen most of these names before. There were some more common names on the list too: Sophia (girl), Austin (boy), Michael (boy), Nicole (girl), Lucas (boy), and Hannah (girl), but there were no James’ or Mary’s on the list.
* mentioned (to mention) = to refer to something briefly and without going into detail
** came across (to come across) = find unexpectedly
*** trend = a general direction in which something is developing or changing
**** nowadays = at the present time
