Comments on: The Myth of the Normal Name

By: A Boy Named Sue, or Baby Naming Seven Years Later | Appellation Mountain

A Boy Named Sue, or Baby Naming Seven Years Later | Appellation Mountain — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 07:03:22 +0000

[...] We live just outside of Washington DC. I’ve argued before that there’s no such thing as a normal name. Move to a major metropolitan area and that’s even more true. Plenty of kids in our [...]

By: From Annai to Zen: Thoughts on the Ever-Deepening Pool of Given Names, Part I | Appellation Mountain

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:41:45 +0000

[...] this is often a signal to start lamenting the demise of so-called normal names, the truth is that a trend towards more diversity in given names is not new. The percentage of [...]

By: Mocked on Gawker = Big Time? | Appellation Mountain

Mocked on Gawker = Big Time? | Appellation Mountain — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:01:34 +0000

[...] that there’s no such thing as a normal name. I’m going out on a limb and assuming that Brian and I are of an age – his name [...]

By: Juliet

Juliet — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:09:00 +0000

I would love to applaud you for this!
I’ve said this for years. Just because something isn’t common or ‘normal’ to you- means that it is a weird or a unique name. People are far too quick to bran things as made up, weird or unique. What one must do is either give someone the benefit of the doubt or educate yourself on it before commenting. I would sometimes mention a name and say how it is said and that it was a popular name in my country -yet, people would still brand it as made up! ‘Shakes head and sighs’

This is one of the times when sometimes a person says a name is unique (and I know for a fact they live in a country and region where that name would not be foreign or weird) like Elise, it confuses me. The name just happens to have peaked a few years ago. lol It is a completely normal name that has been around for ages.

Oh well, I suppose region and your personal o exposure to certain names does influence what you view as ‘normal’.

A good example is the name Kai: in Japan it’s mainly a female name, whereas in the US, it’s mainly a male name. Also, in most English-speaking countries, the name Jan would be female, said, well- Jan. In SA, if it were on a male, it would be said YUN as it would be an Afrikaans name

By: charlottevera

charlottevera — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:10:27 +0000

Interesting observation. There are too many cultures at play in North America for our governments to place many limits on the names parents choose. In the Korean Sunday school class I teach we have two little Eugenes — one Eugene is a boy and the other is a girl. While it sounds odd to our ears, I have to remind myself that Eugene is actually a unisex name in Russia too.

By: The Bagel of Everything

The Bagel of Everything — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:03:36 +0000

I told my mother-in-law that if I ever had a little boy, I’d want to name him Adrian. She had a cow! She insisted that Adrian is a girl’s name. It isn’t — Adrianne is the feminine version of Adrian. I hoped spelling it for her would alleviate the misunderstanding, but she, a teacher, swears she’s had taught several little girls with that name and spelling.

Adrian is a fine traditional Irish male name. There are plenty of Irish-American girls with names like Murphey and Quin. That doesn’t make them “girl names”.

Luckily, my husband and I decided before we were married that we wouldn’t be having children.

By: Guy Davis

Guy Davis — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:38:00 +0000

You might find this map of popular baby names easier for browsing the SSA data. The map includes regions such as Alberta, Canada and Scotland that release every single name given so you can find some really rare names there. Like you said, the SSA data only extends to the top 1000 names unfortunately.