here's what I don't understand...
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| Mon, 09-11-2006 - 11:29pm |
All of the names that I love are so popular right now. I don't really understand it because they are names that I have liked for a long time. I never named my boys Zachary, because it is too popular, but I have wanted to name a boy that since I was in high school. I also wanted a K name for a girl, it started as Kendra but evolved to Kendall or another K name. Aside from the fact that dh doesn't like K names anymore there are just SO many of them out there right now.
Has everyone my age been saving these names since high school and now are naming their kids, or did I just have weird tastes back then? It is really weird how the names we like evolve and change but most of us still like the same names as everyone else....
I wish I could find a somewhat unique name that is still on my list.....
Thanks for listening to me rant... maybe this should've been in the rant section, sorry.
Melissa

I think sometimes names become popular because of books or movies or tv shows or actors. For example, Liam and Jude were names that were almost never used, but after Liam Neeson and Jude Law became popular, those names started to be used. The same with Aidan (Quinn) and Julia (Roberts).
I loved the name Megan ever since I was very little. Then in the 80s, the book and movie The Thornbirds was a big hit and that was the main character's name. All of a sudden, there were hundreds of little Megans born.
Wasn't there a child actor named Zachary on Home Improvement in the 1980s or 90s? That might explain why that name became more popular. As far as Isabel/Isabella, I've seen several movies in recent years that had a character named Isabel.
I'm one who wouldn't want to use a name that was in the top 10 or top 20. But I think a kid will have fewer complications in life with a popular name than they would with a name that no one has ever heard of before, kwim?
I think Jazz is right. When we were younger, I think we cared less (or were less aware) that names we loved were high in popularity. Maybe a TV show or book brought the name to our awareness...and teens seem to think whatever they like is unique, whether it is or not! I know I had several names I loved in HS that thought were so cutting edge at the time, but in fact they were either trendy or long-time classics...I just THOUGHT they were special only to me. Maybe you did the same, and now still love the names because they have a special place in your heart?
For what it's worth, I think both Zachary and Kendra are names that may have been popular, but are now waning in the face of trendier versions...Zachary has morphed to Zeb, Zachariah, etc, and Kendra is now Kylie, Kendall, etc. You could probably use Zachary or Kendra and have a well known but not constantly used name at this point. I only know one child Kendra, and one child Zachary.
This has always amazed me as well. My oldest dd is Kaitlyn, and recently I found name lists from when I was about 12 and eight with Kaitlyn highest on the list (so apparently I've loved the name forever LOL). The only other Kaitlyn I've ever known was a friend's baby sister, even though popularity suggests otherwise.
Another name I swore I'd use was Liliana, nn Lily. I just loved Lily (the name and the flower) when I was little, and thought combining it with my mn, Ann, would make a beautiful name for my child (I was probably about 12 at the time). Apparently I wasn't as creative a child as I'd thought, because now we have so many versions of Lily, Lillian, Eliana and, yes, even Liliana out there right now. She'd fit right in, though! ;)
~Kelli
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Kelli,
Just a sidenote: my niece is named Lillianna. They call her Lilli.