Favorite Gen X name?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lisa.

I was always jealous of girls that got to be named Lisa.

From a Lisa, big hugs to you.

The Simpsons made us cool.

-- (another) Lisa

There were 4 Lisa's in my high school class of about 120 kids.

[Anonymous]

I was born in 76 and there were a lot of Jen variations in my grade, and a lot of Kristy/Christina/Christines in my grade too.

[Anonymous]

A lot of these names sound more millennial. I was born in 86 and we had lots of Jennifer, Jessica, Heathers.

[Anonymous]

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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.

I def think "Dana" is a GenX name. I knew several (born in 73).

[Anonymous]

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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.

Babysitter was Millennial?—HA!!! Blasphemy!!! It was for the younger GenX. I read it in 1986-1990 when I was 10-13. It’s a long-ass series, though, so no doubt it trickled to Millennials. But it is firmly rooted in GenX.

[Anonymous]

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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."

NP. That makes sense. I was born in '79 and attended a Catholic grade school. There were about 47 Sarahs there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Babysitter was Millennial?—HA!!! Blasphemy!!! It was for the younger GenX. I read it in 1986-1990 when I was 10-13. It’s a long-ass series, though, so no doubt it trickled to Millennials. But it is firmly rooted in GenX.

+1

[Anonymous]

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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.

I'm a late-70s Carrie, short for Caroline. That was my mom's doing. She started it when I was a baby. I've only met one or two other women who are Carolines going by Carrie.

I have never heard anyone pronounce Carrie/Kerry/Carey/Cari/Keri differently.

Carrie rhymes with scary, so Kerry rhymes with....?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of these names sound more millennial. I was born in 86 and we had lots of Jennifer, Jessica, Heathers.

Jennifer was the number one name from 1970 to 1984, so there is definitely some overlap. But they don't sound MORE millennial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm a late-70s Carrie, short for Caroline. That was my mom's doing. She started it when I was a baby. I've only met one or two other women who are Carolines going by Carrie.

I have never heard anyone pronounce Carrie/Kerry/Carey/Cari/Keri differently.

Carrie rhymes with scary, so Kerry rhymes with....?

Curry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm a late-70s Carrie, short for Caroline. That was my mom's doing. She started it when I was a baby. I've only met one or two other women who are Carolines going by Carrie.

I have never heard anyone pronounce Carrie/Kerry/Carey/Cari/Keri differently.

Carrie rhymes with scary, so Kerry rhymes with....?

Was your mom inspired by the Little House on the Prairie show? Ma Ingalls was Caroline with a daughter Caroline, nn Carrie.

[Anonymous]

My cheerleading squad circa 1988:

Candace

Dana

Dara (maybe rare)

Diana

Elizabeth (most were Beths)

Heather

Rachel

Rebecca

Victoria (most all were Vicki)

[Anonymous]

now let's have the debate on how to pronounce Laura ;P

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Babysitter was Millennial?—HA!!! Blasphemy!!! It was for the younger GenX. I read it in 1986-1990 when I was 10-13. It’s a long-ass series, though, so no doubt it trickled to Millennials. But it is firmly rooted in GenX.

Interesting. I'm a Gen X'er born in '69 and never heard of the Babysitter's Club until I was an adult. The big things I remember were Judy Blume, the Beverley Cleary books, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Claudia
Blair
Tiffany
Stephanie
Cynthia (hate Cindy)
Maria
Patricia (hate most nns)
Veronica
Courtney
Yolanda
Melinda

Yolanda?

The only Yolanda I ever heard of was in Pulp Fiction. Definitely no one in my class was named Yolanda.

--Born in 1975 and graduated high school in Southern CA.

I knew a bunch of Yolandas, Latishas, Latoyas, etc but went to a majority AA high school.

Agree on KIMs being major sluts.

Have always hated my 70s name (Melody Renee). Ugh. Very broke-people-aspirational, like Crystal.

Mid-90s grad. I knew a lot of Tanishas, Keishas, LaTashas, too, but Angela, Brandi, Crystal, Renee, Cheri, Lisa, Monique were also pretty common names for AA girls (really, any girls) born in the 70s. At least in my Midwestern city. Brandy/Brandi especially. I can think of at least 5 AA and 3 white Brandies.