A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about the cyclical naming of babies and how generations and Turnings (per Strauss and Howe) impacts popular baby names. A few days ago this earlier post came to mind when I came across an article about the most popular baby girls’ names in 2009. (These would be the Homeland generation: the generation born after Millennials and the one that shares the same archetype as the Silent generation, born 1925-1942.)
Check this out. Notice how the names sound to your ears and the image that you have with the personality that would match such a name.
Design by Rosellen Howell, 1946
- Isabella
- Emma
- Olivia
- Ava
- Sophia
- Madison
- Chloe
- Abigail
- Emily
- Addison
- Ella
- Lilly
- Mia
- Alexis
- Grace
Then look at the most popular female names of 1999, when Millennials were winding down but still Millennials. More Glamour Girl (my child is special) names. Listen to how the names sound and the personality you’d associate — sight unseen — with such a name.
- Emily
- Sarah
- Brianna
- Samantha
- Hailey
- Ashley
- Kaitlyn
- Madison
- Hannah
- Alexis
- Jessica
- Alyssa
- Abigail
- Kayla
- Megan
***
Fast Company has an article based on Linkedin data in which it claims the best names to name your baby and future CEO. In my eyes, this article would be much more valuable were the author and the good people at Linkedin to have given generational theory its due. The article (per Linkedin’s data) concludes the most-likely-to-be-CEO female’s names are —
Design by Rosellen Howell, 1946
- Deborah
- Sally
- Debra
- Cynthia
- Carolyn
- Pamela
- Ann
- Cheryl
- Linda
- Janet
Hmmm, let’s see. Most female (not male) CEOs are in their 50s. So what if we go back and find the most popular female baby names in 1959. (These would be the tail-end of Boomers.) There’s some correlation between popular names for baby girls some 50+ years ago and the more-common names of 50-something female CEOs today. Duh.
- Mary
- Susan
- Linda
- Karen
- Donna
- Patricia
- Debra
- Cynthia
- Deborah
- Lisa
- Barbara
- Pamela
- Sandra
- Nancy
- Kathy
And, not to leave the GenXers out of the conversation, I looked at the top female baby names in 1971 (GenXers are born 1961-1981, so this is the mid-point in the generation).
- Jennifer
- Michelle
- Lisa
- Kimberly
- Amy
- Angela
- Melissa
- Tammy
- Mary
- Julie
- Stephanie
- Heather
- Tracy
- Dawn
- Karen
Cyclical time. Cultural turnings. Rising trends and fading fashions. These things are part of the experience here on this lovely planet. Always there is something being born, something rising up, something being solid and powerful and something fading and moving toward death. To my mind, and as I continue to study generational theory, I find the (approximately) 20-year turnings that occur each time a new generation moves into young adulthood, one of the more compelling, informative and insightful bodies of work.
Leave A Comment