Baby name trends say a lot about the current culture. What traits are valued by a group of people? What places and activities reflect their lifestyle? What pieces of media touch them emotionally? These are all things that influence people when naming their little bundle of joy.
For a long stretch of time, traditional, and often biblical names rained popular in the United States. In the 1950s, one fourth of all babies born were given a name in the top ten, but in recent years, that number has decreased to only a tenth. So, a wider variety of names are being used in the U.S. There are many reasons for this. Many people are opting for cultural names, or older names that have gone out of style. Others are making names up, taking inspiration from fictional media, or altering the spelling of traditional names. Like many of you, I have my own opinions on baby names and trends. But, for the purposes of the article, I will largely remain neutral.
The tragedeigh of it all
Those opting to put their own spin on well known names face a lot of criticism. These names go beyond alternative spellings (think Molly and Mollie or Cathleen and Katheen). They’re are often characterized by the use of -ght’s and -eigh’s in place of the usual lettering. Examples I’ve seen recently are Aughtum instead of Autumn or Kymburleigh instead of Kimberly. Most of the criticism of names like these can be found online. There are communities on Facebook and Reddit dedicated to laughing at what they call “tragedeighs.” An obvious play on the way many parents choose to spell these names.
People critique these names for numerous reasons. That they may be difficult to spell for a child. That they might make it hard to get a job as an adult. That the child may grow tired of constantly correcting people on spelling and pronunciation. But, parents continue to chose these names. Many cite the desire for their child to have a unique name, one that’s special and won’t need to be shared with anyone in their class. This desire for originality is the driving force behind a lot of current name trends.
Tradition and originality
This is the line a lot of people walk when trying to pick a name for their child. Many people want a name that’s both traditional and unique, two inherent opposites of a spectrum. People like the idea of picking something traditional because it has many practical benefits. Traditional names are often easy to spell and pronounce, they are often perceived as more trustworthy and competent, and they often carry cultural and familial significance. On the other hand, more unique names are more likely to inspire a greater sense of individuality in their children.
There are a few routes people go to find a name that fills both these criteria. Parents that don’t want to participate in the so-called “tragedeigh” trend might look to older names that have fallen out of popularity in recent years. Names like Louise, Waylon, Leroy, and many more have ranked low in popularity for years now. This means the chances they would have to share a name with someone in their class remain low, while still being familiar enough to reap the benefits that come with traditional names.
In a similar vein, parents may opt for familial names that often fit into the old and therefore unique category. Another popular trend that can be inspired by looking at a family tree is using last names as first names. This is especially common among boys with names like Sawyer, Watson, Callahan, and Archer.
When baby name criticism gets ugly
Baby names are very personal and have strong emotional ties, so it’s no wonder why they can illicit some intense responses. It would do us all some good to ask why we experience some of these knee-jerk reactions.
In a lot of the online communities based around tragedeighs, it’s not uncommon for ethnic names to come under fire when people from outside of the baby name’s culture mistake it for a misspelled or made up name. Posts like this are swiftly corrected in the comments and usually met with an apology from the original poster. These posts are perfect examples of how we shouldn’t just write something off when we’re not familiar with it. Maybe we should look into things more deeply before we spew criticism all over the internet, when the parents that picked the baby name in question chose a beautiful cultural name with a deep meaning to them.
The influencer impact
In Kathryn Jezer-Morton’s article for The Cut, she states that one of the reasons people mock names like Kayleigh or Baileigh is that they read as lower class. Many people associate these names with being poor or low status and therefore have a strong negative reaction when someone chooses a name like that for their child.
In the same article, Jezer-Morton illustrates how this idea that these names are lower class might be changing because of online influencers.
“For influencers, children’s names become extensions of their mothers’ brands… The women who choose Madysyn over Madison are not dumb to status and class. They’re just chasing a different iteration of it.”
– Kathryn Jezer-Morton, Why R U Mad at the Name Kayleigh?
Influencers have a huge impact of the popular culture from aesthetics, to consumerism, to travel. So, why would baby names be any different? There’s no shortage of examples of influencers giving their children unusual names, even outside of the alternative spelling trend. One of the most popular is the influencer, Nara Smith naming her children Rumble Honey, Slim Easy, Whimsy Lou, and Fawnie Golden. Other examples include Three, Zealand, Pony, Severe, Howdy, and Locket. These names are unique because a lot of them are objects, verbs, and adjectives. They often refer to things rather than people.
There’s one obvious reason many influencers do this. Aside from just liking the name, anyway. It’s that unusual names like these generate a lot of engagement. They get people commenting on their content giving their opinions, driving their posts further into the algorithm. If they’re a large enough creator, like Nara Smith, they’ll come up in articles and conversations about unique names (just like this one) which drives more traffic to their accounts. It’s also a branding issue. Influencers put a lot of effort into their image and they curate their content to fit that image. If you’ve been online at all in the past five years, you know how much of a goldmine having a baby can be for an influencer. Having a baby generates engagement unlike any other life event. So, influencers carefully select their baby’s name to fit their branding rather than a human being.
Political and cultural effects on baby names
One of the largest influences on baby name popularity is politics. Nameberry, the largest baby naming site has kept track of the names popular in red and blue states since 2016 and their findings may surprise you.
They found that in 2016, red state names were more trendy and unconventional while names popular in blue states were more traditional. There are some exceptions to this. Millie and Hattie, are both older names that ranked highly in red states that year. Popular blue state names were also more ethnically and culturally diverse. This makes sense when we consider that blue states tend to have more diverse populations.
These trends have remained consistent over the years, with a few minor changes. Red state names, while still trendy, have incorporated more nature themes. Names like Oakley, Rowan, and Wrenley rising in popularity. These names also lean on rugged, rural themes. This makes sense as red states often have more farm land than blue states, making it a larger part of their culture. Names like this include Stetson, Hunter, Baylor, and Paisley. These states have also welcomed the last names as first names trend with open arms. The number one boy name in red states is the Jewish surname, Cohen. It’s a trend that many Jewish people find sacrilegious, but those who participate are either unaware or just don’t care about that issue.
According to the same article, blue state names are still more traditional and more frequently derived from religious texts like the Bible and Quran. These names also have the traditional spelling more often than not. An interesting phenomenon when conservative ideology is often perceived to be more rooted in tradition than it’s counterpart. Popular blue state names are still more culturally varied than red state names as well.
The emotional weight of a name
There seems to be more factors at play when it comes to choosing a baby name now more than ever. Just a generation ago the influence of the outside world was so much smaller. Now, thanks to modern technology and media we have a whole world full of possible names at our fingertips. We’re exposed to cultures and naming conventions outside of our own. We experience the push and pull of naming trends and the influencers who popularize them. We have access to historical names and family trees that our parents and grandparents may not have had as well. As our worldview grows, the process becomes more complicated.
Names are highly personal and carry significant emotional weight. It’s important to remember this when participating in these conversations, as a lot goes into these decisions and lot of us don’t get the full picture behind someone’s choices.
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