Baby Names Through the Decades
Funny things are names. They are among the earliest gifts we give our children, yet half of us choose them as if we were naming a Labradoodle rather than a human being with a lifetime of baggage. This infographic isn’t just a catalog of names; it’s a timeline showing America’s snail-paced descent from the tradition of naming children after Biblical figures and U.S. presidents to the altogether more dubious practice of naming children after TikTok influencers. Let’s dive in.
The 1920s: Peak Grandpa Chic
Consider the leading names for boys in 1920: John, William, Robert. No nonsense. They come with a right angle, a strong handshake, and the kind of work ethic that gets you on the assembly line or through the door that leads to the kind of room where they wait for word that the next cigars are ready. On the girls’ side in 1920, it was Mary who was at the top. It was probably the most popular name among all pop singers and actresses. If you were popular enough to be in a movie, or if you were a singer worth the price of admission, you had Mary in your name, albeit with a saucy twist: “Mary.” “Mae.” Mary.
In the past, society did not uphold the necessity of making names distinctive, as is the case today. They were all about the demands of basic survival, and those names were facets of a frugal economy: you fed your kid a name like Mildred and prayed that it would furnish her with the basic components of temperate living; you called your boy Edward and hoped that, like Franklin, he’d get a boost from his last-name-alliteration in the road to renown.
The 1950s: Enter the Suburbia Specials
By the 1950s, names begin to loosen their ties a little. Boys named David, Michael, and Gary begin to make their way into the ranks. These names feel less like “steel magnate” names and more like “Boy Scout troop leader” names. As for the girls? There’s Judith, there’s Karen, and, of course, there’s Linda. Oh, Karen. Back then, no one was receiving haymaker-level strikes in the laugh department for their name. If you were a Karen, you were probably “the PTA mom with an impeccable casserole recipe.”
The 1970s: Disco, Polyester, and Jennifer Overload
Ah, the 1970s, a decade when every third child was named Jennifer. If you shouted “Jen!” in a shopping mall, half the girls under 10 would come running. For boys, you have Jason. Jason is the kid who skateboarded to school and had a Farrah Fawcett poster on his wall.
This is also the time when monikers such as Kimberly, Michelle, and Amy make their appearance. They resonate with softness and approachability, as if someone with feathered bangs and an affinity for ABBA might answer to them.
The 1990s: Britney and the Rise of Pop Culture Names
Jump ahead to the 1990s, and we’re up to our kneecaps in names like Brittany, Ashley, and Jessica. These girls are scrunchin’, NSYNC-blastin’, and Tamagotchi-feedin’ like it’s their job (because it totally is). The boys? Their names are Jacob and Joshua, and they’re being doled out in “cute” but totally-safe-for-your-preschooler ways. (When, really, could you ever be against a name like Jacob?) In this decade, names don’t get any more wholesome than those.
The 2020s: Where Trends Go to Die
And here we are in the 2020s, where we see the peak of naming trends that skirt the absurd. If you want your son to resemble a romantic period actor, you’re most likely to name him Liam these days. But there’s also Noah, Oliver, and Elijah—names that sound perfectly at home in the cast list of a BBC miniseries.
For the daughters, Olivia occupies the top slot, smug as can be, joined by Emma, Charlotte, and Amelia. These names are pleasant enough, but they might as well be the title of a coffee table book in the “not-so-homey” section of a Restoration Hardware catalog. They’re safe, neutral, and Instagrammable. If there’s one thing we can ascertain about the contemporary American family from this list, it’s that they’re likely to dress very similarly to the quaintly refurbished set shown in the catalog.
The Names We Lost Along the Way
Where did all the sturdy names go—names like Frank, Ruth, and Shirley—that thumbed their noses at DIY baby showers and the Pinterest boards that inspire them? And what has happened to the names Mildred and Doris, which used to be at least 20 names ahead in the line for Monotype’s next typeface? These were our storytelling names. And unless we’ve entered some kind of baby-naming black hole, we’re just not seeing any of them on kids whose vital stats I might witness in the not-too-distant future. Instead, names seem to be chosen for the same reason people choose Halloween costumes—matched to the vibe of some unfurnished nursery.
What’s in a Name?
It’s more than just a timeline of baby names; it’s a peek into the cultural changes we’ve undergone. We’ve shifted from using simple, straightforward names to those that might parallel what sounds good when ordering a coffee at Starbucks.
So, if you decide to use the next name on your list to name a child, make sure it’s because you think it’s a name that will endure. If you don’t think it has that potential, then, well, maybe you’re just picking it because it’s the next name likely to appear on a list of what not to name your kid and making a whole segment of our population the next lives of the social media hit parade.
Choosing names wisely is important, or else one risks a child being the seventh Liam in his kindergarten class.
