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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Class indicator. My siblings and I have classic names and  grew up in DC in the NW private school world in the 80s/90s. We did not know many Jennifers. I went to a state school for college and they were everywhere.

People in DC are very class-conscious (even if they don't say this out loud). The worst case scenario would be naming your child something that blows up and becomes the go-to flyover name for a decade right after you use it. Obviously the names that are already trendy are off the table, but names, like fashion, tend to start off as "original" and then trickle down and become trendy/overdone.

Your best bet is to go with something a little boring and in the family. Worst case scenario is it becomes trendy and you can at least say, "that was my grandmother's name." I am talking Anne, Elizabeth, Edward, John, etc. [/quote]

This is a very depressing way to live.

But it also only explains why wealthy people often stick to "classic" or "timeless" names like Elizabeth or Edward (both very common, popular names). It does not explain why a UMC person would scour the bottom of the name popularity list to name their child Freya or Cyril or something.[/quote]

I think it's because they did not grow up here and don't understand how it all works and think that Freya is the way to ensure you don't fall into the Sophia hole. They are not getting the understated vibes of old money and think that they are indicating to everyone that they are literate, original, etc., but still have that nagging fear that they will be the trendsetter, so are going with something too offbeat to go trendy.[/quote]

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