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Tag Archives: McCrindle Research

The Australian Top 100 Baby Names for 2014 (combined spellings)

03 Sunday May 2015

Posted by A.O. in Name Data

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

McCrindle Research, name trends, popular names

GIRLS

  1. Olivia (1796)
  2. Charlotte (1673)
  3. Mia (1551)
  4. Ava (1488)
  5. Amelia (1450)
  6. Emily (1395)
  7. Sophia/Sofia (1357)
  8. Sophie (1349)
  9. Chloe (1341)
  10. Ruby (1283)
  11. Lily/Lilly (1252)
  12. Grace (1213)
  13. Ella (1185)
  14. Isabella (1177)
  15. Isla (1066)
  16. Madison/Maddison (964)
  17. Sienna (943)
  18. Zoe (942)
  19. Scarlett (873)
  20. Matilda (864)
  21. Ivy (863)
  22. Isabel/Isabelle (845)
  23. Evie (836)
  24. Harper (794)
  25. Lucy (792)
  26. Emma (781)
  27. Hannah (755)
  28. Zara (703)
  29. Willow (681)
  30. Abigail (668)
  31. Georgia (664)
  32. Layla (619)
  33. Evelyn (611)
  34. Eva (595)
  35. Imogen (556)
  36. Jasmine (541)
  37. Annabelle (537)
  38. Mila/Milla (528)
  39. Alexis (501)
  40. Savannah (479)
  41. Aria (470)
  42. Alice (449)
  43. Audrey (440)
  44. Ellie (430)
  45. Violet (430)
  46. Stella (425)
  47. Summer (420)
  48. Poppy (419)
  49. Jessica (418)
  50. Madeleine/Madeline (417)
  51. Maya (410)
  52. Holly (392)
  53. Elizabeth (391)
  54. Sarah (379)
  55. Addison (358)
  56. Mackenzie (355)
  57. Bella (323)
  58. Anna (317)
  59. Phoebe (311)
  60. Indiana (306)
  61. Paige (306)
  62. Alyssa (298)
  63. Lola (298)
  64. Chelsea (286)
  65. Elsie (283)
  66. Piper (281)
  67. Rose (268)
  68. Eden (256)
  69. Hayley (251)
  70. Claire (245)
  71. Eloise (241)
  72. Molly (236)
  73. Ariana (234)
  74. Charlie (230)
  75. Alexandra (222)
  76. Olive (209)
  77. Ayla (191)
  78. Frankie (188)
  79. Penelope (182)
  80. Victoria (182)
  81. Eliza (159)
  82. Lara (159)
  83. Aaliyah (151)
  84. Eleanor (151)
  85. Emilia (151)
  86. Lillian (149)
  87. Harriet (141)
  88. Hazel (141)
  89. Heidi (131)
  90. Lexi (130)
  91. Jade (128)
  92. Indie (125)
  93. Pippa (116)
  94. Peyton (111)
  95. Amelie (110)
  96. Amber (97)
  97. Elise (81)
  98. Sadie (77)
  99. Natalie (71)
  100. Lacey (65)
BOYS

  1. Oliver (2189)
  2. William (1959)
  3. Jack (1841)
  4. Noah (1668)
  5. Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson (1536)
  6. Thomas (1447)
  7. Lucas (1402)
  8. James (1401)
  9. Alexander/Alex (1349)
  10. Ethan (1257)
  11. Liam (1188)
  12. Lachlan (1187)
  13. Harrison (1158)
  14. Mason (1139)
  15. Samuel (1104)
  16. Max (1083)
  17. Cooper (1055)
  18. Charlie (1045)
  19. Jacob (1041)
  20. Henry (1038)
  21. Hunter (992)
  22. Joshua (988)
  23. Isaac (963)
  24. Benjamin (939)
  25. Xavier (906)
  26. Oscar (884)
  27. Harry (874)
  28. Levi (867)
  29. Ryan (815)
  30. Elijah (792)
  31. Hudson (786)
  32. Leo (783)
  33. Daniel (763)
  34. Archie (755)
  35. Riley (745)
  36. Logan (735)
  37. Sebastian (714)
  38. Jayden (704)
  39. Patrick (664)
  40. Archer (650)
  41. Tyler (642)
  42. George (640)
  43. Nate (625)
  44. Flynn (619)
  45. Blake (600)
  46. Aiden (554)
  47. Edward (550)
  48. Lincoln (549)
  49. Eli (520)
  50. Michael (510)
  51. Matthew (497)
  52. Jake (489)
  53. Dylan (481)
  54. Jordan (480)
  55. Zachary (480)
  56. Chase (478)
  57. Luke (466)
  58. Kai (461)
  59. Luca (453)
  60. Connor (447)
  61. Austin (440)
  62. Finn (437)
  63. Hugo (432)
  64. Joseph (401)
  65. Ashton (394)
  66. Hayden (394)
  67. Caleb (392)
  68. Nicholas (388)
  69. Angus (371)
  70. Ryder (324)
  71. Louis (316)
  72. Hamish (302)
  73. Nathan (298)
  74. Jasper (294)
  75. Toby (293)
  76. Bailey (291)
  77. Braxton (284)
  78. Owen (284)
  79. Adam (279)
  80. Beau (263)
  81. Charles (263)
  82. Marcus (242)
  83. Mitchell (226)
  84. Harvey (220)
  85. Christian (217)
  86. Gabriel (216)
  87. Ali (214)
  88. Dominic (213)
  89. Felix (213)
  90. Muhammad (204)
  91. David (196)
  92. Aaron (193)
  93. John (186)
  94. Phoenix (182)
  95. Anthony (180)
  96. Theodore (179)
  97. Maxwell (173)
  98. Carter (156)
  99. Fletcher (155)
  100. Nathaniel (151)

GIRLS

Biggest Risers
Hazel (+63), Eleanor (+31), Ariana (+27)

Biggest Fallers
Chelsea and Amelie (-15), Mackenzie and Eliza (-14)

New
Frankie, Eleanor, Emilia, Hazel, Lexi, Elise, Sadie, Natalie, Lacey

Gone
Samantha, Eve, Daisy, Nevaeh, Skye, Indigo, Caitlin, Leah, Mikayla

BOYS

Biggest Risers
Maxwell (+43), Fletcher (+26), Harvey (+20)

Biggest Fallers
Braxton (-31), Mitchell (-22), Nathaniel (-21)

New
Harvey, Gabriel, Muhammad, Phoenix, Theodore, Maxwell, Carter, Fletcher

Gone
Jesse, Seth, Parker, Darcy, Jett, Lewis, Jonathan

Information from Baby Names Australia 2015 by McCrindle Research; click the link to view the full report (number of babies given each name in brackets).

Name News Round Up

13 Monday May 2013

Posted by A.O. in Names in the News

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

birth notices, celebrity baby names, choosing baby names, Essential Baby, Facebook, Google, honouring, McCrindle Research, name image, name perceptions, polynesian names, popular names, Twitter, US name data, US name popularity

NewsThe papers took a break from berating Australians for their taste in baby names on the day that the US name data was released, and reported that they had found a nation even worse at naming children. If you thought the Australian name list was weird, just wait until you see the American one, this article gloats. Only a few weeks ago, they were telling us that at last normal names were popular again, but now  popular names here are “weird”, but not as weird as in the US. The headline tells us that King and Messiah are the most popular names in the US, which is a blatant lie – of course the most popular names are Jacob and Sophia. Yep, weird old Jacob and Sophia. Tut tut.

Back to berating us. According to this article in the Herald Sun, birth notices display an increasing abundance of ludicrous made up names, or worse still, perfectly normal names that are deliberately misspelt. I read birth notices almost every day, and I haven’t seen an increasing abundance of either. Nine out of ten times when I see a name that looks “made up”, when I do a quick Google check, it turns out to be legitimate name I didn’t know about. I suspect a similar level of ignorance would explain most cases of “made up names”. Also, variant spellings tend to be pretty low key – it’s mostly just Izabellas, Ryleighs and the like. There’s maybe a handful of times per year that the spelling of a name is so unintuitive and confusing that I actually can’t tell what name it is supposed to represent. Hardly an abundance.

More advice on variant spellings from Mark McCrindle, and this time I think it’s probably a valid point. He suggests that with our names now so firmly attached to our digital profile, a variant spelling could mean that your email doesn’t go through, or your Twitter handle is confused with someone else’s because it has been misread. Of course, we don’t know whether email, Twitter and Facebook etc will still exist in the future, or what form they will take if they do, but at least this is a practical issue to think about when deciding how to spell your child’s name.

An article on the Essential Baby website discussed severe baby name anxiety – getting so stressed over what to call your child that you become unable to pick any name at all. That’s the case with Sydney mum Kellie, who is still unable to name her seven-week-old daughter. Kellie’s partner has left her in full control of the naming, but it’s a responsibility she doesn’t want. Interestingly, Kellie blames at least some of her problem on sharing her shortlist before the birth, as the responses of her peers influenced her feelings toward the names she had chosen. If prone to self-doubt and anxiety, over-sharing before the birth may not be a good idea.

Meanwhile a mother writing in the Messenger Daily News knew exactly what to name her daughter – Lily. It had been her favourite name for years, and she loved it. But she spent most of her pregnancy agonising over the choice, worrying that Lily was too popular a name. As labour began, she committed to Lily because she wanted to be able to tell her daughter her name had been chosen with love. When daughter #2 was expected, the chosen name Harper caused similar prenatal agony as she worried it was too much of a “celebrity name”, but again, she went with her heart. What a lot of unnecessary stress we put ourselves through!

The parents of rugby union player Scott Sio had a different approach to naming their child. A few days after he was born, Scott’s father David played against Scotland for Samoa. It was decided that if Samoa won, the baby would be given a Samoan name – Manu. However, Scotland prevailed, so his name was chosen from the victorious side. Scott Sio says his name story is “kinda cool”.

While rushing around one morning with the TV on in the background, I heard the tail end of a piece on ABC News Breakfast. It seems that viewers had phoned or emailed in with their opinions on names, and it was generally agreed that little boys whose names start with J are always in trouble. One of the presenters has a son named Jack, but he didn’t seem to think Jack was any more trouble than the next child. So there you go – name your son a name starting with J, and the perception may be that he’s a bit of a handful, at least amongst the sort of people who email breakfast TV.

Speaking of name perception, there’s a slightly creepy TV commercial for the Kia Cerato which shows a man on a date when his other girlfriend calls on the car phone requesting a hook-up. She has a phone sexline voice, and her name is Chantelle. A few years ago, there was a survey of 4000 people in Britain, and it transpired that girls named Chantelle were considered the most likely to have sex on a first date or engage in casual sex, which may have influenced the advertising agency’s choice of name for the “other woman”.

Meanwhile I keep getting sent the same chain email about an earlier British survey published by that august research institution, The Sun. Their survey, which had only 1000 respondents, showed that men believed the “easiest” girls were named Kelly, Tanya, Debs, Becky, Steph, Michelle, Tina, Lisa, Carly and Nicky. Women believed that men named Lee, Dave, Andy, Steve, Kevin, Gary, Paul, Darren, Jason and Ben were the most likely to “try something on” on a first date, and were therefore seen as guys to avoid.

Name News Round-Up

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by A.O. in Names in the News

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

classic names, McCrindle Research, middle names, name data, name image, name popularity, name stealing, name trends, popular names, rare baby names, urban legends

NewsThere seems to be a bit of a theme in the name stories I’ve been reading lately, which taps into a struggle to identify whether a name is “normal” or “unusual”.

Hooray for Normal Names

Every time the popular baby names are released, there is always a collective sigh of relief in the media that finally, normal names are back in style again. This strikes me as asinine, because popular names, by their very nature, are always normal. As most parents choose a name from the Top 100, then by definition Top 100 names are “normal” – common, usual, standard, typical, expected.

Apart from the classics, many of our “normal” names weren’t always so normal. Jayden would have been an extremely unusual choice in the 1940s, and Sienna almost unheard of in the 1900s. Meanwhile, Edna is rarely seen today, but in the 1910s it was the #3 name. No doubt some of our current popular names will be curiosities in one hundred years, while some bizarre name choices of today will have become popular. Yet normal names will always be in fashion.

Urban Name Legends

This journalist claims to know a paediatric nurse who tells her all manner of odd baby names. Abcd is plausible enough, and probably not as a weird as she imagines it is. I can believe in Kevin Ice-T quite easily – a mix of classic name up front, quirky name in the middle, which we’ve seen a fair bit of in birth notices. At Eeyore, I’m beginning to feel slightly dubious (I wonder if they misunderstood a name from another culture, such as Ayor. Or Aurore).

Another one she has heard is a baby just named , as in, a comma. Although she says this isn’t a lie, we know it is because that’s not legal in Australia. Same with Cuntley, which would also not be permitted under Australian law, as it contains an obscenity.

A-a (said Adasha) is interesting, because the urban myth is actually that the name is La-a (Ladasha). I’m not sure whether is this some new variation, or if she simply misheard it. It’s amazing how many people say they “know” someone who has met or heard of a La-a, yet these vast numbers never show up in the official data. It’s also interesting that when journalists had access to every single birth registered in Australia and got snarky about them, they did not mention seeing one La-a – a pretty glaring omission if it existed.

It’s a low point for journalism, but even the media will pass on these idiotic myths, giving them greater credibility for the credulous. Let’s just say I will believe in a La-a when I see one, and I will only tell you about it when I have at least some documented evidence to pass on.

Names with Variant Spellings … Too Risky?

When McCrindle released their version of the Australian Top 100, it came with a warning. Mark McCrindle said that if you chose a variant spelling such as Jaxon or Tayla, you risked being seen as unsophisticated, and that you may even harm your child’s career prospects.

This reminded me that when I was a teenager, the advice was that anyone with a tattoo would never get a job – at least, not a “good” job. Today I get served by people with tattoos at most businesses I go to, and my boss (working in a professional-level government position) has a tattoo. It’s hard to predict the future when you assume it will be much like the present.

If variant spellings continue being popular, then they will become so common as to be readily accepted. A future prime minister called Jaxon or Tayla seems just as likely as one called Lucas or Charlotte – after all, perhaps many people would have been surprised in 1950 to be told the Prime Minister of 2010 would be called Julia.

Not So Unusual

When the Daily Mercury in Mackay asked parents to write in to their Facebook page with their children’s unusual names, they received 68 responses. The “unusual” names were ones such as Axl, Caprice, Jakobi, Hudson, Kyan, Denham and Naraya. Although these don’t seem too out there (Typhoon was intriguing), the parents had plenty of people telling them their name choices were unusual. Which makes them unusual enough to suit them.

When most people say they want an unusual name, they don’t want to call their child Faceplant Extractia or Mining-Boom Jazzhands – they just want something that their friends and family haven’t thought of yet. You can’t help wondering what happens when someone else in their community decides on the name Caprice or Axl though … which brings me to the next story.

Stolen Dreams

This article describes the sense of betrayal experienced by Lisa, when her ex-boyfriend Adam married someone else – and had the exact same wedding that Lisa had once dreamed of. Cruelly, Adam and Mrs Adam had also decided on matching Tiffany rings, cocktails at sunset, and a honeymoon in Bora Bora.

Lisa was convinced this was all done as a mockery of her own nuptial dreams, and believed that Adam and his bride had “stolen” her wedding.

Clinical psychologist Amanda Symboluk (whose name must be made up, it’s so perfect for a psychologist) says that Lisa is probably “reading too much into it”, and advises that she (and others in her predicament) shouldn’t “take things personally”.

This reminded me a lot of “baby name stealing” – much as we fondly believe we have chosen a unique name, like Lisa’s dream wedding, it may be more generic than we think. Just as honeymooners tend to gravitate towards Bora Bora rather than Uppsala, parents are more likely to pick the name Scarlett Rose than Lucretia Zixi.

So if you are perturbed to find that someone has already taken that special name you had always dreamed of using, whether it be Odin, Penelope, Dashiell or Juniper, take the advice of Dr. Symboluk – don’t read too much into it, and don’t take it personally.

The Top 100 Girls Names in Australia for 2012 (combined spellings)

27 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by A.O. in Name Data

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

McCrindle Research, name popularity, popular names

1. Charlotte 1854

2. Ruby 1807

3. Lily/Lilly 1768

4. Olivia 1676

5. Chloe 1642

6. Sophie 1611

7. Emily 1600

8. Mia 1564

9. Amelia 1555

10. Ava 1497

11. Isabella 1441

12. Sophia/Sofia1428

13. Ella 1408

14. Grace 1320

15. Sienna 1249

16. Maddison/Madison 1144

17. Zoe 1064

18. Matilda 938

19. Emma 870

20. Isla 865

21. Hannah 864

22. Isabelle/Isabel 820

23. Lucy 778

24. Scarlett 747

25. Ivy 688

26. Evie 669

27. Mila/Milla 668

28. Eva 655

29. Jessica 616

30. Abigail 610

31. Zara 608

32. Layla 599

33. Jasmine 591

34. Georgia 587

35. Harper 556

36. Summer 551

37. Sarah 539

38. Chelsea 532

39. Alexis 522

40. Willow 477

41. Stella 477

42. Savannah 471

43. Alice 467

44. Mackenzie 449

45. Imogen 448

46. Elizabeth 437

47. Holly 435

48. Annabelle 427

49. Hayley 412

50. Bella 411

51. Audrey 407

52. Charlie/Charli/Charlee 404

53. Maya 379

54. Paige 372

55. Addison 365

56. Molly 341

57. Poppy 341

58. Phoebe 313

59. Evelyn 312

60. Violet 311

61. Claire 306

62. Alyssa 305

63. Rose 299

64. Indiana/ Indianna 285

65. Piper 279

66. Madeleine 278

67. Ellie 274

68. Amy 260

69. Jade 252

70. Mikayla/ Makayla 249

71. Eliza 240

72. Lara 236

73. Eden 233

74. Anna 232

75. Lola 232

76. Heidi 226

77. Tahlia 225

78. Alexandra 222

79. Leah 206

80. Kayla 195

81. Victoria 191

82. Eve 183

83. Aria 175

84. Amber 175

85. Caitlin 169

86. Eloise 164

87. Aaliyah 158

88. Gabriella 152

89. Samantha 135

90. Olive 133

91. Amelie 125

92. Skye 108

93. Josephine 77

94. Mariam 76

95. Angelina 76

96. Elise 76

97. Ebony 76

98. Lacey 75

99. Lauren 74

100.Lillian 69

Source: Data from McCrindle Research

The Top 100 Boys Names in Australia for 2012 (combined spellings)

27 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by A.O. in Name Data

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

McCrindle Research, name popularity, popular names

1. Jack 1975

2. William 1927

3. Noah 1727

4. Ethan 1723

5. Oliver 1696

6. Thomas 1570

7. Lucas 1555

8. James 1516

9. Cooper 1490

10. Jackson/Jaxon 1473

11. Lachlan 1458

12. Liam 1351

13. Joshua 1323

14. Jacob 1281

15. Samuel 1198

16. Alexander 1194

17. Mason 1134

18. Max 1132

19. Benjamin 1131

20. Charlie 1098

21. Riley 1064

22. Xavier 1056

23. Ryan 991

24. Harrison 985

25. Isaac 935

26. Tyler 930

27. Daniel 921

28. Harry 916

29. Henry 905

30. Oscar 879

31. Levi 877

32. Jayden 863

33. Hunter 845

34. Aiden/Aidan 789

35. Jake 735

36. Blake 732

37. Flynn 695

38. Logan 689

39. Sebastian 660

40. Dylan 654

41. Braxton 641

42. Patrick 630

43. Matthew 629

44. Elijah 609

45. Luke 604

46. Archie 594

47. Eli 593

48. Nicholas 590

49. Michael 583

50. Connor 583

51. Hudson 569

52. Hayden 558

53. Zachary 550

54. Leo 527

55. Mitchell 523

56. Nate 514

57. Angus 502

58. Beau 471

59. Chase 450

60. Jordan 449

61. Kai 443

62. Archer 443

63. Nathan 440

64. Joseph 436

65. Finn 428

66. Adam 417

67. Lincoln 414

68. Edward 411

69. Caleb 391

70. Owen 367

71. George 364

72. Hamish 363

73. Marcus 362

74. Luca 360

75. Bailey 348

76. Hugo 341

77. Jasper 328

78. Toby 326

79. Charles 323

80. Ashton 323

81. Austin 322

82. Alex 315

83. Christian 275

84. Declan 271

85. Darcy 269

86. Ryder 245

87. Anthony 218

88. Dominic 217

89. Cameron 213

90. Zac 211

91. Jesse 209

92. Gabriel 207

93. Christopher 197

94. Callum 192

95. David 182

96. Andrew 137

97. Ali 135

98. John 130

99. Jonathan 128

100. Muhammad 109

Source: Data from McCrindle Research

Name Trends in Australia for 2012 – Girls

06 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by A.O. in Name Data

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Kidspot, McCrindle Research, name trends, popular names

I looked up Kidspot’s 2011 name data in order to see which names rose and fell the most, and as the list only covers the Top 50, I also consulted the national Top 100 for 2011 compiled by McCrindle Research. Although there were some differences in their methodologies (most notably McCrindle combined spellings for certain names), I thought it would be interesting to get at least an estimate for names which had risen far in the past year.

It may seem a bit controversial, but when I checked it against known numbers from Kidspot, it gave the same answer most of the time, and when it differed, it usually did so by only 1 or 2 places. So some of these may only be estimates, but I think they are reasonable estimates.

Biggest Movers Up

  1. Ivy +18
  2. Audrey +15 (estimate)
  3. Harper +14 (estimate)
  4. Mackenzie +11 (estimate)
  5. Savannah +9

Also Up

Alice, Amelia, Annabelle, Charlotte, Chelsea, Emma, Evie, Isla, Maddison, Summer, Willow, Zara

Up Slightly

Ava, Eva, Emily, Grace, Lilly, Madison, Sophie and Sophia

Biggest Movers Down

  1. Georgia -16
  2. Holly -12
  3. Jessica -9
  4. Jasmine -7
  5. Addison -6 at least

Also Down

Alexis, Imogen, Isabelle and Isabella and Bella, Matilda, Maya, Mia, Paige, Sarah, Sienna

Down Slightly

Chloe, Elizabeth, Ella, Lucy, Olivia, Ruby, Scarlett

No Change in Position

  • Lily #14
  • Zoe #15
  • Hannah #19
  • Abigail #26
  • Layla #38
  • Stella #42

New to the Top 50

  • Harper #39
  • Willow #44
  • Mackenzie #46
  • Annabelle #49
  • Audrey #50

Gone from the Top 50

  • Hayley #43
  • Addison #45
  • Bella #47
  • Maya #48
  • Paige #49

Name Trends in Australia for 2012 – Boys

06 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by A.O. in Name Data

≈ Comments Off on Name Trends in Australia for 2012 – Boys

Tags

Kidspot, McCrindle Research, name trends, popular names

I looked up Kidspot’s 2011 name data in order to see which names rose and fell the most, and as the list only covers the Top 50, I also consulted the national Top 100 for 2011 compiled by McCrindle Research. Although there were some differences in their methodologies (most notably McCrindle combined spellings for certain names), I thought it would be interesting to get at least an estimate for names which had risen far in the past year.

It may seem a bit controversial, but when I checked it against known numbers from Kidspot, it gave the same answer most of the time, and when it differed, it usually did so by only 1 or 2 places. So some of these may only be estimates, but I think they are reasonable estimates.

Biggest Movers Up

  1. Braxton +70 at least (estimate)
  2. Hudson +50 (estimate)
  3. Jaxon +28 (estimate)
  4. Hunter +16
  5. Eli +9

Also Up

Archie, Blake, Dylan, Flynn, Jackson, Mason, Mitchell, Noah, Patrick, Thomas

Up Slightly

Cooper, Harrison, Isaac, Jack, James, Liam, Max, Samuel

Biggest Movers Down

  1. Luke -15
  2. Matthew -13
  3. Aiden -12
  4. Jayden -11
  5. Nicholas -10 at least

Also Down

Benjamin, Connor, Daniel, Elijah, Harry, Hayden, Jake, Joseph, Joshua, Lachlan, Lucas, Michael, Nate

Down Slightly

Alexander, Ethan, Henry, Logan, Oliver, Oscar, Ryan, Sebastian, Tyler, William

No Change in Position

  • Jacob #13
  • Riley #16
  • Charlie #19
  • Xavier #20
  • Levi #26

New to the Top 50

  • Braxton #31
  • Jaxon #37
  • Patrick #42
  • Hudson #43
  • Dylan #44
  • Archie #46

Gone from the Top 50

  • Nicholas – #41
  • Hayden – #44
  • Nate – #45
  • Elijah #46
  • Joseph #48
  • Michael #50

Name Claiming

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by A.O. in Names in the News

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Deb Dempsey, McCrindle Research

When a social phenomenon becomes so widespread that everyone knows about it, it’s time for the papers to step in and cover it. In this case, the papers have decided it’s time to let us know that many parents are attempting to “reserve” their baby names in advance.

For some, it’s a simple matter of just telling everyone they know what name they have chosen for their impending offspring, with an implicit or express command that nobody else having a baby can use it.

Others send out official notices, get the name embossed and embroidered on everything they can find, and open a Facebook and Twitter account in their unborn baby’s name.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle (from the same company who did the national baby name popularity chart) says that this all part of the movement of wishing our children to be “unique”, and that naming then becomes akin to getting your own “brand”.

Parenting author Maggie Dent notes that this is a step away from tradition. In the past, parents kept their baby names a secret, and often didn’t name a baby until several days after birth, in an effort to get a feel for which name would suit them best.

Swinburne sociology lecturer Deb Dempsey, who is doing a study on baby naming, says that while many parents are still keeping the name a secret, others are going public, and even involving others in the decision, such as asking people on the Internet to help them choose between several different names.

Without disagreeing with any of these people, I would say that this is part of a greater trend – of growing acceptance toward pregnancy and children. While once women were expected to hide their pregnant body under smocks, and to leave their children at home with a babysitter if they went out, we now feel comfortable showing off our baby bumps (celebrities even show their pregnant bodies naked in magazines), and we can take our small children to restaurants and breastfeed in public.

In the same way, we feel more comfortable talking about pregnancy, and that includes sharing the baby names we are thinking of, and posting our ultrasounds on social media. We feel able to ask other people for their opinions, and post polls as to whether they like Madison or Kayla better.

When it comes to actually staking a claim on a name and forbidding others to use it, even if the name is an extremely common one, such as Cooper, or even if the person isn’t yet pregnant (something the papers didn’t cover), then I think that goes a bit past just wanting to be open and share.

A buzz word that gets thrown around a lot when discussing modern life is entitlement, and it is hard for me to understand how you can believe that you deserve the right to claim exclusive rights to any name in advance without a fairly decent-sized sense of self-entitlement attached. I am curious as to where that sense of self-entitlement comes from.

Lily and William – #1 in Australia

26 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Data

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

McCrindle Research, name data, name popularity, popular names

McCrindle Research has released its Top 100 baby names for 2011, a project which has been in abeyance for a few years; its return is very much welcomed.

They basically take all the data released by each state and territory and collate it into a national Top 100.

McCrindle count combined spellings, and as you can see, although Lily and Lilly are both declining, once you add the two together, Lily/Lilly is the most popular name for girls in Australia. I believe this is also the case in England/Wales, when spellings are combined.

Unfortunately, they have also combined Mila and Milla, which are two separate names – yet Jackson and Jaxon are not combined.

William is the #1 boy name, so there is a strong ILL sound in both top names.

After reading all the state and territory Top 100s, I don’t think much on this list will come as a huge surprise, but it is fantastic to have everything collected into one list, and this is an invaluable reference tool.

I have uploaded the original document onto the Links to Name Data page as a permanent resource.

 

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