Favorite Gen X name?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gen X names I love:
Emily, Meghan, Laura, Julie, Kristen

Gen X names I don't like:
Kim, Dana, Angela, Stephanie, Ashley

Dana’s a gen-x name? I am solidly gen-x and it was and still is so rare for me to hear my name.

I'm early gen-x Dana (high school class of '89) and I never met another female Dana until I went to college. I did know a male Dana growing up. But I do think of it as a gen-x name--it was never very popular, but it was/is even less popular before/since.

There is no Dana, only Zul.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sarah is solid.

Hate Sarah, love Sara.

Same!

I'm a GenX Laura, and I really like my name.

Interesting! Can you explain why? I'm a "Sara, no H" but don't really care or distinguish between the two.

Sarah feels more religious to me, whether or not that's actually the case, and I'm not at all religious. Maybe saying I "hate" Sarah is an overstatement, but I prefer Sara far and away. It's such a simple, pretty name. We considered it for our second when we were debating girl names (had a boy), and I'd definitely use it, given the opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Claudia...so sweet valley high!

Lol Claudia was from Babysitters Club not Sweet Valley

Babysitters Club was Millenial, not Gen X.

No, def Gen X. I was born in 1975. And my friends and I started our own Babysitting club in middle school because of these books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sarah is solid.

Hate Sarah, love Sara.

Same!

I'm a GenX Laura, and I really like my name.

Interesting! Can you explain why? I'm a "Sara, no H" but don't really care or distinguish between the two.

Sarah feels more religious to me, whether or not that's actually the case, and I'm not at all religious. Maybe saying I "hate" Sarah is an overstatement, but I prefer Sara far and away. It's such a simple, pretty name. We considered it for our second when we were debating girl names (had a boy), and I'd definitely use it, given the opportunity.

I've heard this perception before as well. My sister's name is Sarah with an h, and I remember one of my Jewish friends thought for like a year and a half that my family was Jewish because she thought that Jewish people spelled Sarah with an h and non-Jews spelled it without (we also have a last name that is very similar in Yiddish as in German). It was actually hilarious because she invited me to shabbat at her house multiple times (and I went several times, I love shabbat) and she still didn't realize I wasn't Jewish until it came up in conversation much later (I guess I'm good at fitting in!). It took us a while to unwind the misunderstanding and we finally pinned it down to the name thing, the combination of our last name and my sister's name, and my friend had just made an assumption and it never got dispelled. Just thinking about this still makes me chuckle.

Anyway, not all Sarahs are religious (or Jewish!) though I guess I kind of understand that perception now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sarah is solid.

Hate Sarah, love Sara.

Same!

I'm a GenX Laura, and I really like my name.

Interesting! Can you explain why? I'm a "Sara, no H" but don't really care or distinguish between the two.

Sarah feels more religious to me, whether or not that's actually the case, and I'm not at all religious. Maybe saying I "hate" Sarah is an overstatement, but I prefer Sara far and away. It's such a simple, pretty name. We considered it for our second when we were debating girl names (had a boy), and I'd definitely use it, given the opportunity.

I've heard this perception before as well. My sister's name is Sarah with an h, and I remember one of my Jewish friends thought for like a year and a half that my family was Jewish because she thought that Jewish people spelled Sarah with an h and non-Jews spelled it without (we also have a last name that is very similar in Yiddish as in German). It was actually hilarious because she invited me to shabbat at her house multiple times (and I went several times, I love shabbat) and she still didn't realize I wasn't Jewish until it came up in conversation much later (I guess I'm good at fitting in!). It took us a while to unwind the misunderstanding and we finally pinned it down to the name thing, the combination of our last name and my sister's name, and my friend had just made an assumption and it never got dispelled. Just thinking about this still makes me chuckle.

Anyway, not all Sarahs are religious (or Jewish!) though I guess I kind of understand that perception now.

LOL! I'm the one that posted that comment, and it's hilarious as someone who grew up with a lot of Jewish friends. I know not all Sarahs are religious. It's the -h ending that does it for me, in the way that Jonah has a religious connotation but Jonas doesn't (to me).

[Anonymous]

Holly
Stephanie
Megan
Laura
Melanie
Colleen

And showing the boys some love:

Matthew
Todd
Neil
Justin
Greg
Jason

[Anonymous]

Neil was not a GenX name: https://nameberry.com/babyname/Neil/boy

they actually call it semi-retired, but I think it has a retro flair to it. It was one of my top names for a boy, but I of course had girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sarah is solid.

Hate Sarah, love Sara.

Same!

I'm a GenX Laura, and I really like my name.

Interesting! Can you explain why? I'm a "Sara, no H" but don't really care or distinguish between the two.

Sarah feels more religious to me, whether or not that's actually the case, and I'm not at all religious. Maybe saying I "hate" Sarah is an overstatement, but I prefer Sara far and away. It's such a simple, pretty name. We considered it for our second when we were debating girl names (had a boy), and I'd definitely use it, given the opportunity.

I've heard this perception before as well. My sister's name is Sarah with an h, and I remember one of my Jewish friends thought for like a year and a half that my family was Jewish because she thought that Jewish people spelled Sarah with an h and non-Jews spelled it without (we also have a last name that is very similar in Yiddish as in German). It was actually hilarious because she invited me to shabbat at her house multiple times (and I went several times, I love shabbat) and she still didn't realize I wasn't Jewish until it came up in conversation much later (I guess I'm good at fitting in!). It took us a while to unwind the misunderstanding and we finally pinned it down to the name thing, the combination of our last name and my sister's name, and my friend had just made an assumption and it never got dispelled. Just thinking about this still makes me chuckle.

Anyway, not all Sarahs are religious (or Jewish!) though I guess I kind of understand that perception now.

LOL! I'm the one that posted that comment, and it's hilarious as someone who grew up with a lot of Jewish friends. I know not all Sarahs are religious. It's the -h ending that does it for me, in the way that Jonah has a religious connotation but Jonas doesn't (to me).

Thanks for this, PPs! Yes, I am Sara from an area that is heavily Jewish and my parents chose to skip the H since they're agnostic from a Christian background and they abided by the Sarah= Jewish, Sara= Not guidance. I am just spitballing here, but I think maybe that rule kind of went out the door when the popularity of Sarah exploded across the country, particularly into areas without a lot or any Jews. It seems like Sarah really became the default. I can't tell you how many times people have said Sara is spelled "wrong."

[Anonymous]

Some of the big ones from my school-
Brooke
Paige
Laura/Lauren
Kelly
Michelle
Meredith
Jodi
Julie

[Anonymous]

I really don't like any of the Gen X girl names. SO glad they fell out of favor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't like any of the Gen X girl names. SO glad they fell out of favor.

They’ll be back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rachel
Jill
Kerri (prefer it to Carey)
Amy
Danielle
Katie

I don't like:

Stephanie
Jennifer
Courtney

Those are both weird spellings. The traditional way is Carrie.

Two different names- or is that a regional pronunciation thing? Kerri and Carrie, to me, are pronounced completely differently

That must be regional. I grew up in the PNW and we pronounced those two names the same way.

Completely different names. Pronounced different. Carrie is usually short for Carlott, Caroline, etc. Kerri (Kerry) is an Irish name.

Not different names at all, pronounced exactly the same. All the Carries I know are stand-alone, not nicknames.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rachel
Jill
Kerri (prefer it to Carey)
Amy
Danielle
Katie

I don't like:

Stephanie
Jennifer
Courtney

Those are both weird spellings. The traditional way is Carrie.

Two different names- or is that a regional pronunciation thing? Kerri and Carrie, to me, are pronounced completely differently

That must be regional. I grew up in the PNW and we pronounced those two names the same way.

Completely different names. Pronounced different. Carrie is usually short for Carlott, Caroline, etc. Kerri (Kerry) is an Irish name.

Not different names at all, pronounced exactly the same. All the Carries I know are stand-alone, not nicknames.

Carlott? Never heard this one. But have heard Carlotta or Charlotte. But Carrie is its own name.

[Anonymous]

There were 30 Jennifer’s in my 1990 HS class, I always loved the make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rachel
Jill
Kerri (prefer it to Carey)
Amy
Danielle
Katie

I don't like:

Stephanie
Jennifer
Courtney

Those are both weird spellings. The traditional way is Carrie.

Two different names- or is that a regional pronunciation thing? Kerri and Carrie, to me, are pronounced completely differently

That must be regional. I grew up in the PNW and we pronounced those two names the same way.

Completely different names. Pronounced different. Carrie is usually short for Carlott, Caroline, etc. Kerri (Kerry) is an Irish name.

Not different names at all, pronounced exactly the same. All the Carries I know are stand-alone, not nicknames.

We've been through this. If you are in the Central and Western part of the US or some parts of Canada they sound the same because language has shifted in what is called a "vowel merger". If you are in the Northeast or anywhere else in the English speaking world, or if you are a linguist, they are distinct.