Happiness Is a Warm Post: The Happy Thread

[FreddyKnuckles]

yeah I know that there ARE people named AVA.  I'm just surprised that there are that many.

[Andrew_TSKS]

The most popular baby names of 2007 were announced yesterday! That's my kind of day!

Fascinating: Addison jumped from #28 to #11 -- it only started ranking in 1994 -- and Jayden -- another 1994 debut -- went from #49 to #18!

Some Trashy White People Named Their Baby Jayden? Dammit Woman Some Of Us Have Work To Do!


I'm Sorry Baby Look I Been Real On Edge Lately

[Wally]

yeah I know that there ARE people named AVA.  I'm just surprised that there are that many.

I'm saying if it's good enough for her it's good enough for any other sprog that bursts into the university.

[FreddyKnuckles]

also, jeb, the top 50 girls names get much worse, while the guys names are fairly standard still, minus Landon, austin, and cameron

40 Alexa
41 Destiny

there's gonna be a lot of strippers in 2026



Also Nevaeh.  UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

[Andrew_TSKS]

also, my pick for the two worst names on that list:

girl name #31: nevaeh
girl name #36: kaylee

but don't get me wrong, some of the ones you guys have been mentioning are terrible.

[FreddyKnuckles]

yeah neveah makes me want to stab some yuppies.

[jebreject]

I don't mind "Kaylee," probably because of Firefly

[jebreject]

I saw Angel on there as a boys' name. I'm sorry, I just can't get behind that. I mean, I'm as for the deconstruction of gender roles as anybody, but please, please don't name your son "Angel." Nor your daughter, while we're at it. Or I swear to fuck I will name my child Demon.

[elpollodiablo]

Actually jeb I think that might reflect the changing demographics of the nation vis-a-vis the Hispanic community more than anything

[jebreject]

y'know i was thinking about it and that's exactly right, i'm sure

still, i'm willing to look like a racist/xenophobe if it means denouncing the name angel for anyone, anywhere, ever

[ellaguru]

It was pretty funny when I was coaching preschool gymnastics, 'cause I would get all these three and four year olds, so I'd meet the kids with the faddy names nearly as soon as they hit the streets. I swear to God, one year I knew, like, three or four Bronwens, all of 'em under six years old. I don't know what soap operas their moms were watching.

[santaclaustral]

jesus christ, america, that list just destroyed a tiny piece of my soul.

the creative spellings are terrifying: Londyn, Chasity, Destini. sic, sic, sic.

[hannah]

Terrifying, really?

"Ireland" is on the list for the first time. I wonder if all the news about the voicemail Alec Baldwin left for his 11-year-old Ireland got people intrigued. Kind of like how "Katrina" got a boost in 2005 -- i.e., the media hubbub put front-and-center a name that otherwise would've been off people's radar screens.

[Good Intentions]

Bronwen

That's a common name in experience.

Katrina

And so is that.

[hannah]

?

[Good Intentions]

I just said that, to me, those names don't seem strange or needing special explanation. I run into people with those names quite often enough.

[hannah]

Yeah, well, in the U.S. Katrina ranked in the top 200 names until 1996; I don't know anything about comparable statistics in South Africa or New Zealand, but I can report from experience knowing women around my age with that name. What is remarkable, however, or semi-surprising, is its surge in a year when a notorious hurricane ravaged, among other places, the city of New Orleans. Moreover, "Katrina" at that point was not nearly as popular as it once was -- in 2004, there were only 1,166 new baby girls named "Katrina" in the U.S. -- so its surge (particularly in the wake of Hurricane Katrina) here might require "special explanation."

I don't know much about Canada, either, but I expect the popularity of "Bronwen"/"Bronwyn" has something to do with the popularity of names  ending in "-n" (true for both girls and boys alike) and the shift toward more traditional spellings of Scottish, Irish, and Welsh names outside of Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. This is willy-nilly speculation, mind you. It still hasn't ranked in the top 1000 here, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did in the next few years.

[Andrew_TSKS]

y'know i was thinking about it and that's exactly right, i'm sure

still, i'm willing to look like a racist/xenophobe if it means denouncing the name angel for anyone, anywhere, ever

well, it's probably pronounced "ahn-hell" for most of those kids.

but i mean, how do you feel about the fact that a lot of hispanic people name their sons "jesus"? that's probably worse, right?

[hannah]

y'know i was thinking about it and that's exactly right, i'm sure

still, i'm willing to look like a racist/xenophobe if it means denouncing the name angel for anyone, anywhere, ever

well, it's probably pronounced "ahn-hell" for most of those kids.

Jeb, you should totally have yourself an Angel and call him "Hell" for short.

[andronicus]

but i mean, how do you feel about the fact that a lot of hispanic people name their sons "jesus"? that's probably worse, right?

No, that's actually pretty awesome.

[Babar]

i think the only bad name that has been dropped here is nevaeh.

[ellaguru]

Bronwen

That's a common name in experience.

Yeah, well they'd all be in their early twenties now, so it would be common enough around college kids here these days, too. Went from zero people I'd ever met to four small kids I was teaching, pretty fast though. Fast enough to remark upon. hannah's likely right about the reasoning, though.

[G.C.R]

also, jeb, the top 50 girls names get much worse, while the guys names are fairly standard still, minus Landon, austin, and cameron

Maybe its cos one of my best friends is called Cameron, but I can't see anything unusual about this name. Its no worse than Brendan or Brandon (ie its a pretty awful name, but not remarkably offensive.)

The year of my birth my name was 240th on the list, now its dropped to twenty after a high in 2003/2004 at number 13... weird. When I was born it was sorta considered pretty old fashioned.

[G.C.R]

Bentley? Sydnee? Gauge???? Whats GOING ON????

[Greg Nog]

I know a dude from the bar named Angel.  He's some kinda Latino, but pronounces it with the English G.

He is not as fiiiiine as Ava was, though.