<p>My H’s family had a family naming scheme for the eldest male of the eldest male, a scheme that had been in place for several generations. According to this scheme we were supposed to name our son Oscar. Twenty years later I am still in the doghouse for breaking the cycle.</p>
<p>It seems the hipper parents go for Otto, Gus, Mabel, Lucy and such. The less educated seem to go for the creatively spelled McKynzeigh and the like.</p>
<p>My name, never that common, seems a bit more heard with my senior S’s generation. There’s an interesting story behind it. Shortly after I was born, my older sister happened to be looking at a list of recommended anniversary gifts for the years of marriage. She happened to notice the gift (and my name) corresponded with my parent’s anniversary year the year I was conceived. So she asked if this was planned. It wasn’t, they weren’t aware of this, they just liked the name!</p>
<p>Paper?
Cotton?
Leather?
Fruit?</p>
<p>My kids refer to the names popular in the 50’s & 60’s as “Mom names”. </p>
<p>I have one of those very popular names from my generation. I didn’t like it growing up (too common), but now I do. </p>
<p>And someday, it will be popular again.</p>
<p>On my father’s side (which lived in the United States), my grandmother’s name was Anne, and my 8 great-aunts were Rachel, Lena, Sally, Betty, Sophie, Fannie, Annie, and Lulu – all of them born in the 1880’s or 1890’s. (Fannie, Annie, and Lulu never married, lived together in an apartment their entire adult lives, and were collectively referred to in the family, even as octogenarians, as “the Girls.”)</p>
<p>My one aunt (born in the 1920’s) is named Minnie. (A name that it seems was rather popular from the 1880’s through the 1910’s, but was already outdated when she was born.)</p>
<p>Donna was in the top 10 in both the 1950’s and 1960’s, but is no longer even in the top 1000. It’s certainly age-appropriate for me, since I was born in 1955. The top 10 girls’ names for babies born that year were:</p>
<p>Mary
Deborah
Linda
Debra
Susan
Patricia
Barbara
Karen
Nancy
Donna</p>
<p>But that’s not why I picked it; it just happened to turn out that way.</p>
<p>I don’t remember my son’s having any classmates at all with names like Barbara, Linda, Deborah, or Nancy.</p>
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<p>Names with an “ie” ending seem to have been very popular in that era.</p>
<p>Re Mabel: I knew a student from the Dominican Republic with that name; she pointed out that it’s really a version of Ma Belle (I believe a Haitian student had said that to her.) Now I see it differently.</p>
<p>I have also taught Hispanic students with many of the “grandma” names, such as Mildred and Gladys.</p>
<p>FindAPlace: “She happened to notice the gift (and my name) corresponded with my parent’s anniversary year the year I was conceived.” So are you Willow or Ivory?</p>
<p>Common names: when she was five, my daughter’s two best friends–born the day before her and the day after her–had not only the same first name (Jessica) but the same last name. My daughter yelled at me once that I should have named her Jessica too, it was weird having such a different name. If you google her first and last name, she’s the ONLY one who comes up. Of course, if you google my kids’ last name (also my husband’s, but not mine)… they’re just not that many people. I know almost all of them.</p>
<p>Yeah, we have one of those last names, too. Doesn’t seem like there is anyone alive with my Ds’ first and last names…but since we named them from the family tree, there are a few of them from way back when listed on geneology sites.</p>
<p>My 16 year old daughter has said multiple times that she *loves *her name (first, middle and last). How often do parents get to hear THAT?</p>
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<p>I note that all of those are Biblical names.</p>
<p>A woman’s name that has been has around at least 500 years and never been a popular fad name but has never gone out of style either: Amy. </p>
<p>It seems to me that not so much any more, but in past generations it was popular among African Americans to give their boys Roman/Latin names: Lucius, Marcus, Cassius, etc.</p>
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<p>Back in the 80s the town of Susanville, CA used to hold a conference for Susans (perhaps they still do). Hundreds of Susans attended - all of them wearing one of those adhesive paper name tags that said “Hi, my name is Susan.”</p>
<p>toledo,
maybe we have the same name? I know 4 or 5 black women–all nurses–with my name.</p>
<p>My grandmother was Thelma. Her sisters were Mabel, Essie Mae, Laura, Mary, and Ruth.
Their mother’s name was the very traditional Elizabeth. Guess she wanted to go wild with her kids…Essie Mae? </p>
<p>My name is not unheard of but I was always the only one in my class with it. It is one letter away from a very popular early 60’s name. My (10 yrs)older sister had two friends with the popular name so Mom changed it by one letter for me. When I was younger, I was always having to correct people but now that I am middle-aged, it’s not a problem.</p>
<p>I am around a lot of small kids at my job. Addison seems hugely popular. I know three girls and one boy named Addison.</p>
<p>^^ All I can think of is Addison’s Disease.</p>
<p>We named DD a fairly obscure name, then Disney came out with a movie a few years later and the star shared Dd’s name. Now, it is way too popular…</p>
<p>Aladdin? . . .</p>
<p>Where did “Jennifer” come from? Neighbor’s daughter and mom’s neighbor and many girls a little short of 30yo are named Jennifer. </p>
<p>Firefox crashes on Java download. Chrome does too. Works on IE</p>
<p>My name is popular now and it started a few years ago. My whole life I was the only “Kate/Katie” and now I am constantly turning my head in stores only to find out that the person was speaking to the toddler/pre-schooler next to me. </p>
<p>The funny thing is that it has happened with my husband’s name as well! What are the odds?</p>
<p>When we were pregnant, I really loved my spouses grandmother’s name, Helen. Lots of people told me it sounded old fashioned but I still love that name.</p>
<p>There was a surge of Jennifers after Love Story" with Ryan Oneal and Ali mcgraw…</p>