Sara writes:
In case you want a fun game to play over Memorial Day weekend (my name nerd friends and I play and sometimes I play as you). Rules (or caveats): 1. You can use all of the name knowledge you currently possess. 2. Name your children (the ones you have now), but pretend like you were naming them in your mom’s and grandmom’s generation. 3. Other than what was stated in Rule 1, you can only use the technological (and other) resources available to you then. 4. Bonus, name your children as if in future year(s) your children would be naming theirs (not naming your grandchildren, naming your own kids). So for me, I would be naming my kids in the late 1940s/early 1950s, the late 1970s/early 80s and hopefully not until 2035ish.
And I might be the only one who finds this fun. But I thought you would enjoy the challenge.
If you post it, I’ll share mine in the comments :)
I love it. Wait, so what resources can I use? Not the Social Security site, but I can use old baby name books? This makes me very, very happy I ordered a copy of Miss Grace‘s favorite baby name book What Shall We Name the Baby?, published in 1935. …Oh, this makes me mad: I ordered a 1935 copy, and it’s only this minute that I notice they sent me the 1967 edition instead. Well, I was going to use it for pretending to name my children in the 1940s, but instead I will use it pretend to name them in the 1970s. Actually, I will also use it to pretend to name them in the 1940s, but I will double-check if I think a name might not have been used then.
Wait. I’m not sure I have a firm grasp on this task yet. My name knowledge is very, very of my generation. I’m not sure I even KNOW what names were being used in previous generations or how those names sounded to people then, unless I look at the Social Security website. Like, I know I mostly like to use Top 50 names for boys, so to see what I might have actually named my boys in the 1940s, I think I’d need to look at the website to see what were the Top 50 names in the 1940s, and then choose from those. And to know what a “Top 50” name would be, I’d need to look at what percentage of kids are given Top 50 names now, and translate into whatever the equivalent would be in the 1940s. If I were actually in the 1940s, I’d have been steeped in cultural awareness I haven’t actually been steeped in; I think technology would help compensate for that lack, or else I might be tempted to claim I would never have used Gary for any of my sons when actually I probably would have been exactly on board with that.
So I’m going to change the game in the following ways: 1. I can use technology where I think it will improve the accuracy of my answers, as long as I keep in mind that I would not have had access to that information then. That is, I can use it to try to figure out what names would mostly likely have been my style, in order to look at the name pool I think would have been in my consciousness in the same way as the Top 50 names are now; but I may not use it to cheat so that I look like I would have chosen better names than I would have. My girl name style will be more challenging for this, because I like unusual girl names—and yet the names I might have THOUGHT were unusual in the 1940s/1970s would be names I’d now KNOW were much more common.
But I’m not sure how I can get into the 1940s/1970s mindset of “here are the names I would have thought were unusual.” How do you guys do it when you play? I know my parents thought the name Kristen was pretty unusual, and my grandparents certainly didn’t realize they were giving their daughter the 2nd most popular girl name in the United States. And I just remembered that one of my son’s names was a name I really liked but wasn’t going to use because I thought it was much too unusual—but then I looked it up and found it was Top 50 and used it. That’s hard to find a 1940s/1970s equivalent of.
Perhaps I am over-thinking this. Why don’t I see if I can just make some lists?
1940s
I looked on the Social Security baby name site for the middle year of my year of baby-naming (2003) and added up the percentages of the Top 50 boy names; that came to roughly 36%. So then I looked at 1950 (the middle year of my grandparents’ baby-naming), and looked for the top 36%—which turns out to be only the top 12 names:
James
Robert
John
Michael
William
David
Richard
Thomas
Charles
Gary
Larry
Ronald
I’m not sure that’s fun enough to choose from, and I’m not sure I would have chosen from basically the the Top 10. It occurs to me that although I say my boy name tastes are “Top 50,” I never do choose from the Top 10. I choose from right around #35—which was about half a percent of boy babies born in 2003. In 1950, interestingly, that would ALSO be right around #35. Here are the names from #20 to #50 in 1950:
George
Daniel
Edward
Mark
Jerry
Gregory
Bruce
Roger
Douglas
Frank
Terry
Raymond
Timothy
Lawrence
Gerald
Wayne
Anthony
Peter
Patrick
Danny
Walter
Alan
Willie
Jeffrey
Carl
Harold
Arthur
Henry
Jack
Dale
Johnny
Picking as me NOW, I would want George and Henry and Daniel and Edward. Using similar methods to narrow in on a girl name, I’ll bet I’d have chosen something like Rosalinda or Estella. But it seems like if those names sound good to me now, they wouldn’t have sounded anything like that in the 1950s. My parents say that Henry is an “elderly old great-uncle” name. I don’t think current peers of boys named Henry will think the same, so that means a 2003 Henry is not the same name as a 1950 Henry. I am having trouble getting my mind around this challenge!
So maybe it would be better to look at style. One of my boys has what The Baby Name Wizard calls “New Classics” names: names that are good, basic names, but on the other hand we don’t have grandparents with those names yet (she uses Evan and Allison as examples). One boy has a sort of Celtic/trendy name. Two of my boys have biblical names, but one is timeless/traditional and the other is more of a recent revival. And my girl has a frilly, uncommon name. (If I’d been thinking of style when I chose the kids’ blog pseudonyms, I probably would have chosen Ian, Keegan, Clarissa, James, and Caleb.) I’d need to find out which names were considered “new biblical” in my parents’ generation, and which were nice basic names that weren’t used two generations before, and which were trendy and very tied to that time period, and which were the frilly unusual girl names. The task seems interesting, but difficult and lengthy.
Okay, I’m ready to turn this game over to everyone else! How would you do it? What names do you get? And I want to hear what Sara chose for my kids when she was playing as Swistle!
Do you assume your grandparents’ circumstances as well? For instance, we may choose to embrace or emphasize our heritage now, but for many of our grandparents, assimilation was the m.o. Similarly, there was more emphasis on class ascendancy for people in certain periods (i.e. post WWII). Or do you assume your own set of experiences? Do you imagine yourself as part of various subcultures (living on a commune in the 60s, for instance) or historical movements (fleeing the Khmer Rouge), or picture yourself, as you are now, just in a different decade?
Oooh, fun! I don’t have children quite yet but I will play as though I’m naming one boy and one girl. My style is unusual family names, paired with a meaningful family middle. Restricting the pool to family was the only way we were ever going to agree on anything ;) However, I know that there was far less name-experimentation in my grandparent’s generation so I would probably reverse my rule playing in the late fifties and pick a safe first with a more unusual middle. I don’t want to divorce my personal preferences completely! I’ll just assume I’m me in a former decade under the influence of the naming pressures of the time. In the eighties, I would probably be swayed (as my mom was) by botanical names. I’ll keep my family middle preference though.
Late 50’s-Early 60’s:
Catherine Opal (Nickname Cathy, it sounds so friendly and Wuthering Heights is such a gripping read! Opal after Grandma.)
Gordon Samuel (We’ll call him Gord, Mary Ellen’s boy goes by Cord, such a dapper little boy, and we’ll honor my Grandpa Samuel).
Late 80’s-early 90’s:
Holly Elizabeth (Isn’t Holly unique? I love the idea of her being named after a plant like I am. And Grandma Liza would be so tickled if we used her name in the middle).
Kenneth David (We’ll honor your grandpa and my father, it’s a strong trustworthy name and a balanced honor.)
I’m not sure if I can pull of the bonus, we’re imagining out current children are naming their children? It could go either way. They’ll either love their unusual names and want to carry on the awesome, revolt and pick something in the top ten for that year, or they’ll be influenced by my parent’s generation of names due to the shift of trends and I’ll end up with Sheri and Jerry ;)
Hmmm… I’m going to do great-grandparents because I like that era :) Then again, that’s the one that’s wrapping around ’til now, so maybe that’s why I like it—ah!
My great-grandparents were naming my grandparents in about 1920. I think I like names in the 500s-ish. But I can’t find that data sooo.. maybe I’ll just do upper 200s?
Daughter: Hattie Mae
Son: Franklin Lyle (that’s lots of “L” sounds ..but I’m leaving it nonetheless!)
Now I’ll try the 50s :)
Daughter: Jeanne Gwendolyn
Son: Bradley Curt
Gosh, the 2030s… I wonder if names from the 1930s/40s will be popular then? Plus some more word names, perhaps. Then again, even my future self isn’t daring enough to do word names, probably ..so I’ll go with authors and saints ;)
Daughter: Theresa Aquina (maybe call her Resa or Quin?)
Son: Wendell Clive Rainerius
(after Wendell Berry, C.S. Lewis, and Rainer Maria Rilke, maybe? Since Berry will feel more ‘classic’ then, perhaps .. Lewis even moreso, and it’ll be 100 years since Rilke’s poems) …….. okay, obscure, but fun thoughts!
Thanks for the game!! :)
Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I decided to picture myself in cultural circumstances like those in which I live in now, rather than those of my grandparents.
My first son’s name is an Irish surname. The shorter nickname of his name is more popular. One of the things that appealed to us was the name’s references to mythology and literature.
My second son’s name is a combination of two Irish names, but it has sounds that are popular in the US.
In the early 1940s, I think I would have been obsessed with the news, and I’d be comparing the actions of current figures to those of historical figures. Names from history that would have appealed to me for my first son: Wilson, Jefferson, or Franklin. For my second son, I think I might have chosen something like Harlan or Garret, which sound like the more popular Harry or Gary, but aren’t those names. Or, I would have gone with Oran, since I wouldn’t have the association with Oran Hatch! Franklin and Oran.
In the mid 70s, I’m sure I would have been swept up in the Irish name trend. I probably would opt for Brendan, Gavin, Kevin, rather than the more popular and Americanized Corey. I would also follow my nature word or author name middle name theme. Perhaps Forrest, Sky, or Blake? Martin or Malcolm might sneak in there too, although the less obvious Ellison would fit the surname trend. Gavin Ellison and Brendan Blake.
For the 2040 brood, I tried to imagine the effects of immigration and economies that are growing now, which also lets me use some of my favorite letters. With the rate of growth in China at the moment, and the likelihood that a lot of men will need to emigrate in order to find female partners, I chose two opening sounds that are familiar in Mandarin, Xao and Zh. Xan is like the Irish Sean, but with a Z sound. It’s also similar to the name Xander, which may be considered retro-cool by then. I’m also betting on the patent for Xanax expiring, an association that keeps me from using the name Xan now.
For the second name, I tried to incorporate sounds from emerging economies of India and Brazil too: Zhayo (pronounced Zay-O or zjAI-o). While it starts with Chinese Zh, I wanted to include the ai sound, which is popular in some Indian names now. I also liked the rhythm of Theo, which is used in the US, Brazil, and many Spanish-speaking countries. Xan and Zhayo.
My grand mother was born in early 1900. I would name my girls. Anna Louise and Iva Pearl. (My grandmother’s names was Iva Louise)
My mother was born in 1933. I would name my girls Vera Rose and Evelyn Fern. (Vera and Fern are my mom and aunt)
My girls are naming children now. I would name them Ivy Cecilia and Sylvia Colleen. (Ivey and Cecil are family surnames. Sylvia and Colleen are family names.)
Fun! I went ahead and used the Social Security data, because that was just way more fun for me :)
My naming style for boys is “exotic traditionals” + a meaningful family middle name, and my naming style for girls tends towards “antique charm” + a meaningful family middle name. The names generally hover around 100 to 150 in the data.
Mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. I tried to stick with the style I have now, but their data.
Allen David (it’s still kind of surname-y like my little boy, and David would be all over both sets of grandparents at that time)
Virginia Estell, nickname Ginny.
Mid-1980s to the early-1990s.
Colin Thomas
Abigail Venice, nickname Abby.
Late-2030s to the early 2040s. I noticed that most of the names I really like now were right around the 400s in the mid-80s, so I looked for names that are around 400 now.
Gideon Hayward
Vera Alice
What a fascinating game! I think I would place myself in the same cultural, regional, and socio-economic circumstances that I am today. I don’t have kids yet, so I’ll do one boy and one girl. To give you an idea of my style, a few of my favorite names include Oliver, Theo, and James for boys and Delilah, Rose, and Alexandra for girls.
If I were naming my grandparents in the 1920s and 1930s, I bet I’d want to use names that are common and well-liked, but not in the top 10. (If I were naming today, I’d make that top 20, but popularity rankings have changed!) I’d go with family names for the middles.
Lucille Clara
Andrew Morris
If I lived in the 1950s and 1960s, when my grandparents were naming my parents, I bet I’d be more ideologically aligned with Betty or Joan instead of Peggy or Megan, to use a Mad Men analogy. That said, I think I’d strive to choose a name that conforms with choices of my peers, while still remaining stylish — perhaps a quickly-rising name or a newcomer to the top 10 or top 20. Family names for the middles.
Angela Eva
Mark Albert
I can’t imagine what sort of names will be popular in the 2050s or so when my kids have kids! I’m guessing there will be a much stronger international influence and less of an emphasis on family names (or choosing names directly from the family tree — I could foresee my grandkids given a J name after my father, Jack, whose name will be terribly outdated by then!). I think the color/word/place name trend will still be going, but parents might opt for word names not currently in fashion. I also think parents will still be creating new names, but by then, names like Kaylyn will be stale. For inspiration, I looked at names way at the bottom of the Top 1000 for 2012 and chose names I could potentially see rising over the next few decades:
Augustine Xavi
Alma Temperance
Ok, sorry I’m just getting here, I went to a family reunion in the back of beyond with no internet access. So glad you interpreted the rules, they are sort of nebulous anyways and so many caveats. Just playing is the essence of the game. I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses. I have two girls, so these are my thoughts. 1950s babies, probably named after mothers/sisters. Girl names in my family at that time were Josephine and Nancy, I’m pretty sure those would be it. In the late ’70s, I think I would want brief, not overly frilly names and would probably go with Amy and Kelly. If I cheat and look at the SSA list for those years, the names around the rankings of my girls’ names when I named them were Celia and Claudia and Ann and Abby. Isn’t that funny both years start with the same letter?
If I’m playing as Swistle, in the 1950’s (you are sooo hard because we only know pseudos for your kids, I LOVED finding out the “closer” names above), I would go with Edwin (some family name, probably not quite your style, but not terrible), Charles, Vivian (something girly for your first girl), David (I think even in the ’50s you would have a slight connection in the twins, but not matchy-matchy) (I really want to go with Evander or something here, but its a stretch in the ’50s I think) and something a little quirky for the baby. Maybe Duncan or Toby? In the 1970s I would go with Christopher, Benjamin, Melanie and Matthew, and Travis/Joel/Zachary (I always have so much trouble with Henry, I want to go crazy with the baby!).
I can never do the future years, I just have no idea. So fun, thanks for playing!
Interesting!
I have a one year old daughter named Julianne. Her name was given to .0168% of American baby girls last year. I looked at names on the ssa list with similar popularity in the mid-eighties and mid-fifties and chose the names Bailey and Katharine as the names I like most.
It was hard for me since I think my daughter’s name is more unusual than is reflective of my actual style. A lot of the names around hers on the ssa list in the year she was born are completely different than anything we would ever consider. The same was true in the other decades (lots of alternate spelling names, nicknames as full names etc). Then I remembered that her name required both my husband and me to give up our preferred styles to find a common name and redid the game using my actual favourite girls name for comparison: Amelia, .3742% of girls. Clearly I prefer more common names.
This time I ended up with Holly in the 80s and Dorothy in the 50s. And had a much larger list of believable choices in that area (including my own mom’s name in her birth year).
Let’s all pray we never have to name another girl, shall we?
I want to know if the 1967 version is appreciably different from the 1935 version. The 1935 forward is one of my favorite parts. And the insistence that Evelyn (boy name) and Evelyn (girl name) are TOTALLY UNRELATED NAMES, with different meanings.
I also love the little asides (A name of modern coinage) on names that seem totally standard to me.
I think I like this game, but I need more time to ponder my choices.