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Babies & Yearling InformationBaby Names - Choosing Voguish or Traditional
by:
Barbara Freedman-De Vito
Lists of baby names are always fun to look at, whether you're seeking a name for your soon-to-be-born baby boy or baby girl, inquisitive simply about the quality
of your own 1st name, or simply curious simply about what baby names are presently
hot.
What I find particularly absorbing is trailing the quality
of baby names over the decades. In looking through U.S. government baby name lists from 1880 to the present, several amusing patterns emerge, particularly in regards to baby names for girls.
For example, in Victorian times Biblical names, such as Mary, Married woman and Ruth were really popular for baby girls. There were besides galore baby names that plumbed really old-fashioned to me, as a kid growing up in the 1960s, including names like Martha, Alice, Bertha and Minnie.
From the Twenties to the Fifties certain baby names rose in popularity. For example, I went to school with galore Susans, Debbies, Patricias, and Lindas. All of these baby names have since waned, to be replaced, by the 1980s, with enthusiast names such as Jennifer, Jessica and Nicole. Once
I was a children's bibliothec in the Eighties my educational institution
storyhours were inhabited
with little girls named Lauren and Jenny, and little boys named Alex and Matthew.
Much recently there's been a lot of revived
interest in much "old-fashioned" baby names like Hannah, Abigail and Ethan, plus galore Biblical names such as Sarah, Rachel, Joshua, Jacob, and Samuel. There's besides been a surge in untraditional
baby names including Madison, Ashley and Brianna for baby girls, and Brandon and Mount logan for baby boys.
It's absorbing to consider the whys and wherefores of such developments. Sometimes, I suspect, the quality
of a specific actor or fictional character mightiness result in galore babies with a particular name. For example, were several of the Lauras born in the Seventies and Eighties given a name recommended by older brothers and sisters who were growing up observation "Little Home on the Grassland
?" Were several ascribable to the super popular Laura of "General Hospital" fame ?
Now Madison is a really extremely
graded baby name for girls (ranking number 3 in 2003) but, once
the film "Splash" came out in 1984, Tom Hanks' character told Daryl Hannah's character that Madison was not a bona fide 1st name.
Piece baby girls' names seem quite subject to the whims of fashion and the top ten lists can change radically over time, I've detected
that, in general, the top baby names for boys remain far much stable. Names like John, William and James are perennials, possibly because baby boys are often named for their fathers, perpetuating the quality
of certain baby names from generation to generation. The "Junior" factor aside, baby boys are besides less apt to be given fanciful names.
Once
naming a baby there are, of course, galore another points to consider besides how popular or unique a name is. Here are several helpful tips that you can use with your another children to get them involved in choosing a name for the new baby and to do the process fun:
1. Baby names need to go nicely with the sound of your last name. Also, pick a 1st name and a middle name that go together well. (So possibly not thing
like Desiderius erasmus Satan Smith !)
2. Once
your family finds a name you all like, look at the initials to be sure that you don't give the new baby a name with initials that wish do folk laugh. (So possibly not Pamela Iris Green, which equals P.I.G. !)
3. You mightiness not want a baby name that is so unusual that the another kids wish do fun of your little brother or sister as he or she grows up. (So possibly not Rosebud or Syrup !)
4. You besides mightiness not want a baby name that is so voguish that it wish sound funny by the time the baby is ten years old. (So possibly not Sunshine !)
5. You probably shouldn't pick a name that's actually cute for an endearing little baby but wish sound silly once
the baby grows up. (So possibly not Dimples !)
6. Avoid baby names that mightiness produce insulting nicknames once
folk shorten them. (So possibly not Smellonius, or Foetid for short !)
7. You and your family mightiness not want a name that is so hard to spell or to pronounce that folk wish always get it wrong and your poor little brother or sister wish have to go through life correcting people. (So possibly not thing
like Incandescence, or is it Incandessints ? )
8. You and your family mightiness want to pick baby names in honor of favorite relatives or ancestors, or special names that show your family's ethnic roots. You mightiness even as find a special name from a book or film that you love. (Like Harry ?)
9. You mightiness want to look through books of baby names and pick one that has a special meaning that you like - possibly thing
that means "sweet" or "kind" or "brave." (So possibly not wimp !)
10. You mightiness want to think simply about names that wish go nicely with your name and your another brothers' and sisters' names, so that if mom or dad are career you all for dinner or sign language a birthday card to grandmother it won't sound too crazy.
(So possibly not "Happy Birthday, Grandmother ! Love, Joey, Cindy and Dweevo !")
There are hundreds of names waiting for you out there, so nice luck on your search for the perfect name !
Visit Barbara Freedman-DeVito's website at http://www.childrensclothingbabyclothes.com for baby clothes, children's article of clothing and gift items adorned with her colorful and amusing art for kids. Barbara is a professional storyteller, teacher and artist.
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