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This Esquire article doesn’t mention names at all, but it crystalizes the problem of naming children now:
We recently acquired abundant access to the things from which one builds a sense of taste—music, film, fashion, information—and this abundance cultivated decision paralysis. We invented the Algorithm to help us sort through it all. First it helped us, then it overtook us. – Tiffany Ng, What Has Happened to Taste?
So many parents say things like this: we have all this information, so much choice, but feel like sorting through it is impossible.
But wait, there’s more.
Taste is, to put it simply, personal preference. But having preferences that are truly personal is work. It requires introspection and a strong sense of self. Taste was once something we developed, each on our own … Taste no longer comes from within. It’s something we get from a cool fashion blog or a middling TV show costume-designed to within an inch of its life. Taste is now something we co-opt. – Tiffany Ng, What Has Happened to Taste?
I think this speaks to a few realities of naming now:
- We freely name our children after fictional characters, even from sci fi and fantasy, and fleeting pop culture figures, like influencers and their children’s names.
- Names tend to trend faster, as do so many other things – clothing, music, what-have-you.
- We are sincerely worry about others’ reactions to our choices – invisible, future, theoretical others – even as we dismiss what our parents or other loved ones think.
The solution is to develop our own preferences and build confidence in those choices. And that is weirdly difficult in this moment.
Enough with existential angst. Back to the data!
Table of Contents
ELSEWHERE ONLINE
Nancy analyzed the data to find names for girls unique to each of the 50 states. Savvy in Arkansas, Johnnie in Georgia, and Eloa and Eloah in Massachusetts.
And the unique boys’ list follows. Hello, Slayton in Alabama, Mako in Florida, and Roscoe and Rufus in Washington.
Speaking of states, Laura noted that the #1 girl’s name in Maryland is … Ailany! This sounds right to this Marylander, but then I live in a heavily Spanish-speaking area.
UPDATING & THINKING ABOUT
Landry could be the new Rowan.
While, we’re at it … is Elowyn the next Jennifer?
Caius is such a handsome name.
That’s all for this week! As always, thank you for reading and have a great week!
