OK, here’s another hint as to why I’m thinking about guy stuff this week.
Did you see today’s news about baby names? It seems that “Mason” has joined the top five boy’s names this year, apparently because of something called a “Kardashian.” Which, of course, is appalling.
But mostly, the names are pretty stable.
Here are the top five for boys:
- Jacob
- Mason
- William
- Jayden
- Noah
And for girls:
- Sophia
- Isabella
- Emma
- Olivia
- Ava
I looked through the Social Security Administration’s Top Five database going back 100 years, and was interested to note that:
- None of my daughters or granddaughters’ names were ever on the top five list. The names we call them by, I mean. One or two middle names made it.
- Both of my sons’ first names did make the list, but only several years after each of them was born (indicating that they are trendsetters, I suppose).
- Of all the very run-of-the-mill names that you might expect to rise to the top, it’s really kind of cool that Jacob and Sophia have been riding so high. Although, the more kids you run into with those names, the less cool it becomes, I suppose.
- Jayden? Really? More than plain Jay, or Jason? Where did that come from.
- Apparently, parents these days having girls are really into über-feminine names. As opposed to names popular earlier such as, say, Madison — which we actually considered naming one of our daughters, several years before it was popular.
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Funny thing about this…
Just yesterday — no, it was this morning, because I see today’s her birthday — I heard something on the radio about Sofia Coppola, and… now set aside “Godfather III” as you read this, so as to give the idea its due… I was thinking that if anybody in my family were about to have a girl right now, I would advocate for that as her name.
On account of it being the name for Wisdom, of course. But also, I’ll admit, because Sophia is Jack Aubrey‘s wife’s name. And also because his first command was the sloop Sophie…
I had no idea, when I thought that, that the name was so popular. I learned that later in the day.
Gene Simmons’ (Chaim Weitz, the KISS one, not the Rockabilly one) daughter is Sophie.
A better name for the Kardashian show would be “Armenian Whorehouse.”
Wasn’t there a strange kid who’d show up on television back in the 1970’s named Mason?
It’s more that when parents look outside the, say, top 25,000 names that kids begin to be burdened by the label.
Where does Orangejello rank?
Mason Reese
We named our dog Sophie. Our other dogs are Andy and Maizie. But our daughters are Amelia Blair and Katharine Claire. Otherwise known as Mel and Katie.
I suppose if you want to name your son for a jar, well, to each his own.
Thanks, though, for the link to the Soc Sec database: another way I can find to procrastinate and waste a lot of time looking up fun facts! I was able to find that my name (spelled as I do) was the 90th most popular name in New Jersey in 1961. D–n you, internets!
@Phillip–Is your son named after the kid on As Good As It Gets or the handwriting guru? Katharine Hepburn’s main squeeze?
I beat you, Phillip–Kathryn was higher in 1960 than Phillip was in 1961–not to mention all the alternate spellings….
“I suppose if you want to name your son for a jar, well, to each his own”
Or a screwdriver…
I think we should just stick to Bible and Saints’ names. None of your Bradleys and the like.
I’d allow flowers and jewels, too–Ruby, Pearl, Violet and Rose–but only your major ones–no Prasiolites and Heucheras.
Kathryn,
Don’t tell this to Wolf Blitzer.
My son’s name is Mason.
He’s 11. I don’t watch any show related to the Kardashians (or whatever it’s called).
When he was born, it was the 64th most popular name in the United States- and we didn’t know any other boy with that name.
He was named after his great grandfather who passed away long before he was born.