Names are an overlooked reflection of popular culture
For a new parent, naming a child is a creative responsibility that isn't as simple as it may seem. Names sometimes come easily to parents, but more often they require thought and calculation. The names that people give their children are usually intended to suit in some way the hopes that their parents have for them. Some parents want a child to stand out in the world and be noticed; others want the child to blend in. In many instances, a given name is intended reflect or embody some familial history or social context.
As emblems of identity, the names we choose for our children and the names our parents chose for us are an overlooked reflection of popular culture. The reasons that parents choose certain names, popular or unpopular, during any given period of time are a poetic function of cultural taste.
Yet it's sometimes a mystery how certain names achieve traction in the popular consciousness. Mothers and fathers often choose names from literature--from the Bible, of course, in particular. My wife and I named our daughter, Dounia, after Raskolnikov's loyal sister in CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. The state of California was named after a character in a Spanish novel. The girl's name "Madison" became quite popular after the movie, "Splash," starring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, was released in 1984. When the mermaid character (Hannah) names herself after a street sign in Manhattan, the Hanks character objects, telling her, "But it's not really a name."
It is now. At one point during the last decade here in the U.S., in fact, Madison was number three, after Emily (1) and Emma (2).
The U.S. Social Security Administration maintains lists of the most popular given names in America, decade by decade. My mother, who was born in 1919, is named Dorothy. In the late 1800s, before the Oz books came out, on the list of the most popular girls' names in America, Dorothy didn't crack the top ten. The perennial number one in those years was Mary. In the decade following 1900, when L. Frank Baum's first Oz book was published, Dorothy rose to number seven; in the next decade, as more and more Oz books found their way into homes and libraries, Dorothy rose to number three. During the 1920s Dorothy was number two, after Mary. During the 1930s it slipped to six.
Today it's another story. The most popular girl's name in the 1990s was Ashley, followed by Jessica, Emily, Sarah, and Samantha. Mary dropped to 41. And Dorothy--after names like Destiny (82), Kiara (179), and Hunter (503)--had fallen all the way to 565.
If you're interested in this subject, check out the Social Security Administration's Popular Baby Names Web site, at:
Popular baby names
