Name Popularity Over Time
This is the coolest toy! It charts the popularity of names over time. For instance, Sadie peaked in popularity in the 1900’s at 93, dropped out of the top 100o completely in the 1970’s, and is up to 195 as of 2003, the last year charted.
Jay peaked at 90 in the 1960’s, and is now at 350, but there are a bunch of boy and girl variants that have made it onto the chart recently. Deborah peak at 5 in the 1950’s, and is all the way down to 617 now.
I love how speedy the chart is in displaying the graphs as you type the names. I’ve been wasting time playing with it for most of an hour after finding it mentioned at Tigerhawk.
Hey, thanks for the link!
The question is whether some version of the Uncertainty Principle will kick in—that is, if people can determine whether a name is currently popular, will it influence their naming decision? If so, how? Will more popular names become more popular, or will they regress to the mean more quickly? And will Hester stage a comeback? (Not banking on this last one.)
Posted by Jack on 02/12 at 03:22 PMWe have used popularity in our naming choices for sure. Sarah was too popular, Sadie was the alternative form of it and had other benefits, so we went with that instead. I think that helps explain some of the subtle, even not so subtle, shifts that happen. You see some of the most popular names of the past just plummet after they peak.
Posted by Jay on 02/12 at 03:30 PMOkay, that thing is addictive! Interesting if you put in a name like “Rhiannon” which only starts to show up in the last decade or so.
Posted by Ith on 02/12 at 03:49 PM
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