The Gender Factor in Name Individuality

In my last blog post I discussed both the short- and long-term factors in how the name pool has diversified and far fewer babies are being given one of the standard classics. There is also the gender factor, and most of you probably know how it has gone for much of recent history: Boys are more likely to be given a "common" name than girls, and the names themselves at the top of the list change at a slower pace on the blue side as compared to the pinks. However, as recently as the decades immediately preceding the advent of the coverage of the SSA list, that factor was almost nonexistent.

In the late 19th century, we start to see the naming practices by gender diverge: The pace in fashion changes pick up and fewer girls being given the standard classics, with a lesser effect on the boy's side. We probably owe this to the wave of feminism that brought them the vote and other similar rights, with many seeing the old names as being stodgy to the old way of feminine thinking. With the exception of a period around the Depression when there was a brief distaste for some of the boy's classics, this pattern of a pronounced greater individualism with girl's names continued throughout the 20th century (we also see far fewer female "juniors" compared to before while the practice continued with males during this period). This diversion peaked around the period of the 1950s-70s, when you sometimes saw almost twice as many boys being given the top names as girls (this may also why you're more likely to have a "generation gap" with your parents over what to name a boy than a girl, while in the past the opposite was more likely).

The next wave of feminism in the '70s had somewhat of the opposite effect (reducing the magnitude but not reversing the pattern of the "gender gap") resulting in a regression of the long-term "name deflation" with an increase in the number of girls bestowed a top name (hence why so many feel Jennifer and Jessica are "burned out" while Lisa from just a decade or two before did not have the same effect). This is probably due to parents realizing that like with their son's names their daughter's names would likely need to withstand the test of how it would be perceived on a resume. The Great Name Deflation which began in the '90s had its effect first with girls, partially reversing the aforementioned effect for a brief period (that's when we saw the "gender crossover" with names picking up steam and more "modern" names at the top of the girl's list).

However, over the past 10-15 years we have really begun to see a pickup in the diversification of what we name our sons. Although there is still some sexism, the acceptance towards more unusual and/or unisex names for boys has softened. We are also seeing the pace in fashion changes picking up with boys, with many of the old standard classics falling and more trendy names reaching the top of the charts (in fact there are now more "non-traditional" names on the boy's Top 10 than the girls!). Another reversal of the conventional wisdom is that the top names now often rack in as much if not more usage on the girl's side (e.g. in 2011 and 2012 there were more girls named Sophia than boys named Jacob, and the same thing for the two years before that substituting Isabella for Sophia); for most of the past century it was the other way around (e.g. you probably grew up knowing more Michaels than Jennifers, although for a brief period early in the baby-boom years Linda topped Robert in usage). Is this a sign of true gender equality in the near future?

How Individualism in Naming Has Increased Over Time

Anyone who has taken a good look at the SSA's name popularity list knows how in recent years the share of babies given one of the top-ranking names has decreased quite a bit. What is not obvious from those stats, but becomes apparent to anyone studying name trends over longer periods of time, is that drop is an extension to the long-term trend since medieval times (when over half of the population of each gender got one of a few names). In fact, as recently as the mid-19th century, the most popular name for each gender (typically John and Mary) was given to more than 10% of babies. Since then, a variety of new name practices became more common (using surnames as first names, virtue names, nature names, alternate spellings, etc.) resulted in the "core classics" gradually becoming less and less used as a whole (while some name enthusiasts may not like those trends, such practices do result in fewer "burned out" names).

In the SSA-list era, this long-term trend has largely continued, although there was a slight regression during part of the first half of the 20th century. Even so, we went from 6-8% of babies in the 1880s given the top name (with the runners-up not far behind) to just over 5% during the early baby-boom era (when the top names shifted to Robert and Linda, which more frequent changes to the names themselves at the top of the list is the subject of a future blog post). By the 1970s we were down to 3-4% when Michael and Jennifer ruled the roost. However, that drop pales into comparison to what started happening around 1990 or so (I don't know if they had any influence or if it is just coincidence, but that was right after Beyond Jennifer and Jason, the first name book written by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, came out). Over the last 20 years or so the number of babies given a top name has dropped dramatically, to the point that the current top names (Jacob and Sophia) are given to barely more than 1% of babies (that's less than a third from the generation before, about a fifth from the generation before that, and less than a tenth from 150-200 years ago). That's why in the name community, we often say that unusual names are less likely to cause teasing and/or social outcasting than when you or your parents were growing up; on the other hand, those who like one of the top-ranking names but worry about popularity can rest knowing that those names are less common than what the similar-ranking names were when you were a kid. In the most recent SSA lists, it looks like this massive drop has begun to level off though (making circa 1990-2010 the "name deflation" era).

In my next blog post I'll be talking about how this name individuality vs. conformity has varied by gender.

Boy's Names Inspired By Their Feminine Forms

At Nameberry, Pamela Redmond Satran has commented on a sign that there is more upcoming "gender equality" in naming: a popular girl's name inspiring the use of its masculine form(s), such as the example she gave of Emma for girls lending the way to Emmett for boys. She also commented on how she thought a generation or two ago that a boy's name being similar to a girl's name would be a minus for its usage on the boy's side. Actually, as I will demonstrate in this blog, that has not always been true. Indeed, many of the classic "unisex nicknames" get started first by the feminine form(s) being popular, and then following along or trailing are the masculine form(s).

The first one I'll take a look at is one that is still fairly popular and fashionable: Sam (Samantha, Samuel). Samantha's entrance into the mainstream name pool can be pinpointed to the TV series Bewitched, which premiered in 1964. Over the next quarter-century the name climbed the charts, and ended up being the fourth most popular name for girls in the 1990s. Although now given to less than a third of the number of babies as at its peak and slowly falling in popularity, Samantha still ranked at #17 in 2011 (which not qualifying as a true classic can certainly qualify as a "modern classic"). The masculine for, Samuel, does qualify as a true classic though (never being out of the Top 100 and a popularity spread ratio of less than 1-4 from its least to most popular years). Samuel's re-ascent in popularity happened almost right along with Samantha's (although less steeply), which goes to show that parents debating on Samuel for a boy did not let the prospect of also knowing girl Sams deter them. In fact, Samuel's peak was after Samantha's and while the feminine form is dropping the masculine form has remained fairly steady.

The next one is a name prefix that many parents-to-be grew up with a lot of: Chris (Christine/Christina/etc., Christopher/Christian/etc.). Christine was the leader of the pack, peaking in the 1960s. Christina and Christopher were the 70s/80s hits (thus being another case where the feminine forms led before the masculine ones). The Chris- names are largely in fashion limbo for girls (with all forms now well out of the Top 100), but Christopher for boys dropped more slowly (still ranked at #21 last year) and the other common masculine form, Christian, saw its heyday during the 90s and 2000's decade (starting to fall but came in at #30 in 2011). Although probably not the best example of feminine-to-masculine inspiration, it's still another example that boys and girls have not minded sharing nicknames even in the past.

The last one I'm examining is Pat (Patricia, Patrick). Patricia saw a huge rise from being semi-obscure at the start of the SSA list to one of the most popular names at the time of the post-war baby boom, and afterwards slowly but surely fell to become uncommon again among modern baby girls. It took a bit longer for the masculine form, Patrick, to see its peak (which was nowhere near the feminine form's) in the 1960s and remained fairly steady through the 1980s. This makes Patricia-Patrick a good example of feminine-to-masculine inspiration (and a case where the females that a typical boy Pat shared a nickname with were not his female classmates but his friend's mothers, teachers, aunts, etc., also considering that a Generation X/Y Patricia would be more likely to use one of the "back-end" Tricia-type nicknames than one of the Pat-type ones). (This might be good news for unisex names like Kelly, Robin, and Shannon now that they sound dated for girls and thus a modern boy with a name like one of those would have a low chance of sharing it with a female classmate, although he may well share it with an adult woman that he knows.)

(I apologize to Pam if she doesn't like that I used a tool from a competing name site to show the stats, but since that tool makes it easy to make the cross-gender comparisons on a single graph like I did I thought it was the best equipped for this job. I use ideas from both parties' name sites to build upon my ideas.)

Addendum: Although this one isn't nickname-based like the others, I thought of another (currently in-style) name in which the masculine form is climbing in the shadow of the feminine one (Olivia, Oliver). Olivia's been near the top of the charts for several years now, while (in the U.S.) Oliver is just starting to catch up (although at a pretty fast rate).

Margaret: Nickname-Rich Name of the Week (September 27)

For the final name in this series we're covering another more-or-less classic: Margaret. In recent decades she's been in fashion limbo though, but some hipster namers are reconsidering her. Here's some of the many nicknames (some of which relate to Margaret's international forms): Mag(gie), Marge, Margo(t), Meg, Rita, and Daisy (derived from the French form Marguerite, which is my favorite version). This is also another name where sometimes the initial consonant changed, which gives us nicknames like Peggy and the like. What are your favorites (both among the aforementioned nicknames and any others you can think of)? As for Margaret herself, do you think it's time to revive her or should we wait a little longer?

Henry: Nickname-Rich Name of the Week (September 20)

For the second "added" name here's another name found throughout history that's seen a recent revival: Henry. Although he's very nice on his own, it has spun off nicknames like Hank (currently in limbo) and Harry (now the #1 boy's name in England/Wales but handicapped on this side of the pond probably due to sounding like "hairy" in an American accent). Any others I didn't think of, and what do you think of Henry and his nicknames?

Melissa: Nickname-Rich Name of the Week (September 13)

Note: Today's post was originally going to be another name and the last one, but since my original plan for this series I've come up with two more names to cover. The other name (a boy's name) that was added will be next week, and the end of the series will be two weeks from today.

She's probably very familiar to today's parents, being very popular during the 1970s and 1980s, and was (and still is) one of my favorites for a girl. The name is Melissa; although now a bit dated it would still fit in with today's other frilly girl's name picks. If the frills are a drawback, some shortened forms are Mel (if you want the tomboy-nickname effect), Mia (a more current nickname if you want to offset the "mom name" feel of Melissa), and Missy (which is even more dated than the parent name). What do you think of Melissa and those and other possible nicknames? Do you find Melissa too dated, or is it still good for a contemporary girl?

Initial Letters and Name Fashions

There is a game on The Baby Name Wizard's forums going on where a list of names featuring the most popular one from each of the letters of the alphabet is given, and you guess which birthyear it's from based on the SSA list. I decided to compose a list myself from the year I was born; on the girl's list many of them are what you'd expect, such as the perennial favorite Elizabeth and names that were in style at the time such as Heather and Nicole. On the other hand there are some surprises, such as the O and P tops: Olivia (ahead of its prime) and Patricia (behind its prime). The names like the latter two got my attention and led me to do some NameVoyager experiments to observe the general trends of each of the initial letters from the alphabet. As with individual names, many of the letters exhibit style peaks and troughs.

A - Shows an "antique revival" pattern - popular in the early years of the SSA list, had its low point around the mid-20th century, and has come back stronger than ever before in recorded history.

B - No strong trends, although Barbara and Betty spiked the letter around the 1930s.

C - Once again no strong generational trends.

D - The opposite of "A": A mid-century favorite letter, less popular before and after that time.

E - Similar trajectory to "A" but more popular at its original peak as opposed to its second one.

F - A letter that was more common at the commencement of the SSA-list era but hasn't come back into vogue.

G - More common among Boomers and earlier generations than after; had its low around the time most of today's new parents were born, and is showing signs of coming back.

H - Another "older" letter, with its low point in the 1960s and a lesser return since.

I - Notice how the vowels are showing the classic "100-year revival" pattern, similar to how "A" and "E" have followed.

J - Despite the plethora of Jasons, Jennifers, and Jessicas among today's parents, this letter has been pretty perennial but is now showing signs of falling.

K - A "modern" letter, much more popular from the second half of the 20th century forward than before (although starting to decline).

L - Gradually declined through the 1990s, but is now returning fairly strongly.

M - Another perennial letter, although a little less common now than in the past.

N - Fairly perennial, but more common in recent years (Nancy did most of the mid-century propping for the letter).

O - Same pattern as the other vowels (hence Olivia sneaking in a generation earlier as I described when not many "O" names were popular).

P - Like "D" a letter that peaked mid-century (once again allowing Patricia to show up a generation later when the letter was going out of style).

Q - You'll start to notice that many of the "high Scrabble value" letters were pretty uncommon until recently, and have spiked in the past decade or two.

R - Another "mid-century consonant" now in more of a fashion limbo than at its height.

S - More common among today's living adults than in earlier or later years, but only modestly lower now.

T - A Gen-X favorite letter, at its highest in the 1960s and '70s.

U - Follows the same "vowel pattern" as the more common vowels, apart from the "Unknown" placeholder.

V - Most common in the early years of the 20th century, but on name forums is showing growing approval (and thus a potential for coming back in style in a few years).

W - Like "F" a letter more common with the early years of the stats than later, although William itself did most of that contribution.

X - Same path I cued you in on with Q's entry.

Y - Uncommon at the start of the chart, but among the living generations has had its ups and downs (with a limited set of names though).

Z - Similar to "Q" and "X" but did show some use earlier on the charts.