Reply to Why are people in the DC area so weird about name popularity?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up as a Jennifer/Jenny in the Midwest, and this was absolutely an important aspect of naming my children. I just wanted them to have more unique names. [/quote]

I get this.  But also NO NAME will ever again be as universal and popular as Jennifer was from 1975-1995.  Even if top names have stayed the same, the percentage of babies named the "top" names is still pretty low.  Jennifer was like 1 in 10 babies for 20 years.  And then it dropped like crazy and is barely used now.[/quote]

Surprisingly (to me) Jennifer is still a top 1000 name! It's ranked in the 500s. There were over 500 baby girls named Jennifer last year. Jessica is really similar. The name Jason, which is the Jennifer name for boys, is ranked #148 and was given to over 2000 baby boys last year.

But yes, it is simply not possible for a name today to get that level of coverage. At its peak, more than 60k babies a year were being named Jennifer. Just contrast, the top rated girl name last year, Olivia, was given to under 15k babies.

I also think the distinction people are making between "trendy" and popular (or as I've seen elsewhere "trendy" v. "classic") is not that big of a deal. There are a handful of names that I do think will be seen as trendy in perhaps an embarrassing way -- the name Khaleesi, after the game of thrones character (who turned out to be terrible!) comes to mind. But a normal name that was not obviously inspired by a television show but happens to be popular? I don't think anyone will ever wince and say "yeah, I'm one of the 2022 Violets, so embarrassing."[/quote]

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