Looking at a list of the most popular baby names can be very interesting. Like clothing, there appears to be a fashion trend among the names of babies. And which names are currently in a la mode, which names used to be popular, and which are most unpopular baby names? Let?s take a look in some different places and time periods and find out.
So, by how much have naming trends changed in the past century? If we look at a this list of the top baby names in 1910, we will see that they were as follows:
There are a few interesting points to note. First of all, the only name to appear on both lists is William. Not one girls? name is the same. Secondly, even though in general, unusual baby names are more popular today, none appeared on either list.
The girls? names are still very conventional, with Isabella being a definite old favourite. Among the boys? names, three Irish names appear – Lachlan, Cooper, and Riley. Two Biblical names appear on the boys? list ” Joshua and Noah ” but none on the girls? list. On the boys? list, none of the names have gone out of fashion particularly, whereas on the girls? list it is rare today to meet a newborn Mildred, Dorothy, or Ethel.
Sometimes, place makes a difference. Let?s see how baby names differed between the U.K. and Australia last year:
The most popular names of the U.K.:
Girls: Olivia, Ruby, Sophie, Chloe, Emily, Grace, Jessica, Lily, Amelia, Evie.
Boys: Jack, Oliver, Charlie, Harry, Alfie, Thomas, Joshua, William, James, Daniel.
Some of the names are similar. Jack leads 2009?s lists of baby boys? names in both countries, whereas Isabella is not found on the British list at all. However, many of the names are the same, but occupying different places. For instance, Olivia is first in Australia, while she is second in the United Kingdom. Chloe, Sophie, and Amelia are both lists, but Ava becomes Evie in the United Kingdom.
The U.K. boys list favours contractions such as Harry, Alfie, and Charlie, rather than Henry, Alfred, and Charles, yet none of them are found on the Australian list even though Australians are seen as less formal.
These lists apparently point to the similarities ” yet differences ” between British and Australian cultures, as well as to the fact that while more unique baby names are out there than before, tastes generally continue to be toward the conventional.
Who knows what we will find on the most popular baby names lists in 2020?