What's Your Name?

I've always had an interest in names: their origin, their meanings, their popularity, what the name invokes when you see it see it on a page or hear it in conversation. I think my name is as big part of who I am. It's a very common name for women of my generation; Jennifer was the most popular name for girls in the US and Canada for decades.

Jennifer has somewhat fallen off in popularity (it hovers around the 50's in popularity, after peaking at #1 in the 70's and 80's), and I'd be interested to know what kicked it off in the to booming popularity in the first place. Did a soap opera introduce a heroine named Jennifer? Was it Loni Anderson's gig on WKRP in Cincinnati that did it? I'm curious how long it takes for it to diminish into relative obscurity.

A name can be common for millennia given the right inspiration. Mary: it's a pleasant sounding name, and easy enough to say; those two things alone might have something to do with continued and consistently high popularity. I think, though, it has more to do with "divine inspiration" than the name itself. Christians all over the world keep Mary alive, along with it's variations (i.e. Marie, Maria, etc.) I don't otherwise think it would be so popular. Come on, it originated in Hebrew and means bitter - who wants to saddle a wee girl with that kind of personality?

How long do boys names remain popular after people start making them unisex names? There are a number of names that were originally assigned to males, now chosen almost exclusively for girls, at least in my narrow North American perspective. Names like Carol, Evelyn, and Dana. Does it somehow threaten the masculinity of the child to have a name shared by females? Only because we think of them as female names, and tease the child into hating his name, I'd wager.

It also fascinates me that a name can be tainted for all eternity (or "for the foreseeable future" if you don't enjoy hyperbole) by one poor example. You don't see any Adolfs running around these days. One man, immeasurably evil by my estimation, and that name may never see any popularity again (what little popularity it may have).

These ideas correlate. If Adolf is a bad name, and Mary is a good name, it is because we believe that the name carries the power to shape the perception of others regarding the character of the name bearer. Naming a boy Carol in North America these days invites bullying. Why? Because for some reason, people think that it's not masculine and people have a hard time distinguishing from the perceived femininity of the name and relative masculinity of the child. If one DOES allow oneself to preconceive particular traits in a person, it's because one believes that the name has the power to infuse the person with that character.

I don't think it's the name of the child that shapes the character, but I do believe the names chosen can indicate the personality of the parents. (What would you think of a current day Mr. and Mrs. Manson who named their son Charles? Either that they're not particularly in news or pop culture, or that they're secretly mass-murderer fans.) I'm willing to admit that it's a bias on my part. I have worked with many, many, children over a 10 year period, and went to school with many, many children my own youth. There are some names that I find correlate with - let's say - less-than-cooperative behaviour. (I won't spell out the names, I know what they are, and these blogs are truly an exercise just for me.)

Although I think it's sad that we can be prejudice against a name, I enjoy it too. I love to read a name and then form a picture in my mind of who that person must be. Clive Cussler's character Dirk Pitt is a perfect example. The two short syllables that comprise his name infer a strength, a firmness of character. It sounds a whole lot like "dark pitt" indicating depth, possibly some sorrow, and black - perhaps in the form of ebony hair. That's what I pictured before I read Cussler's description of the tall, dark haired man, who lost a love, and staked his self-worth on being able to get the job done.

My current favourite names: Elizabeth, Katharine, Eva, Julia, Liam, Alexander, Logan