Yep. These three gals — all in the 75-85-year-old range died recently, according to my local paper, The Columbia Flier. Why did this strike me as curious? Not their ages, of course. Their names and their generation. These gals are all of The Silent Generation, the Artist archetype from the last generational cycle, which is dying out as the new Artists — The Homeland Generation — are being born.
Any of you have friends with new born babies? Noticing names such as Pearl, Olivia, and other sweet and unassuming names pop up? I’m guessing the Taylors, Brittanys and Madisons of the Millennial generation will fade away. No more room for Glamour Girl special names.
My guess? We’ll see more female names such as Josephine, Bonnie, Clara, Ethel, Grace, Vivian, Rosalie, Iris, Maggie, Amelia. Just turn the clocks back 80 years or so to find the trends. That’s my guess from the lens of generational theory.
4 Comments
March 13, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Ok to some of those, but, please, let’s not bring back Ethel.
I teach high school and while I probably have more students named Jasmine than anything else (with Brittany a close second), five years ago it was Ashley, and the real classics–Sarah, Mary, Katherine–never go away.
Really, please–no cute little Ethels–for the good of the world
March 14, 2009 at 7:04 am
So funny that you should write this. My father’s birthday was this week. His name was Marvin. I was thinking along the same lines with men’s names this week. Where are Roger, Noel, Ronald, Guy, Oscar, and Harold?
March 23, 2009 at 10:39 am
Since I’m in the midst of researching baby names right now, I can verify what you are seeing. Taylor and Madison are still very popular but declining, and the old classics are definitely coming back. Ava and Olivia are incredibly popular right now. Names like Isabel and Eleanor are gaining. I spent some time recently looking at the top 100 names in America for the past 15 decades and the cycle is coming around. I like the trend because I love classic names, but it is making it hard for me to find something that isn’t overly popular – harder than I expected.
This weekend a woman commented upon introduction to Roger that she never hears that name anymore. Maybe that will change too.
I think the special names will continue as long as celebrities are using them, though.
April 10, 2009 at 3:38 pm
My husband and I are friends with a couple that recently named their daughter Vera. Before seeing the baby, it was kind of difficult to imagine the name on an infant. But now that their daughter is here, I find it absolutely adorable on her. It’s refreshing to see some of the “forgotten” classics coming back. Bring on the baby Agnes’, Elsie’s and Ruth’s!!