6 Bad Baby Naming Trends
I am utterly fascinated with baby names. As a 15-year-old, I asked for a baby name book for Christmas. I am intrigued by baby name statistics. I religiously read this fantastic blog dedicated solely to baby name info and trends. I pour over the Social Security Administration statistics every time they are released (annually on Mother’s Day weekend, in case you are curious).
And I stressed about our son’s name more than just about anything else while I was pregnant. My husband and I didn’t agree on any names, and I was so focused on finding the perfect name, I could think of little else. It wasn’t until after our baby was born that we even settled on his name. I was terrified that I would pick a name that was too popular, or one that people hated. So much so, that I refused to tell anyone the names we were considering because I didn’t want to hear negative feedback.
According to Laura Wattenberg, aka the Baby Name Wizard,
There’s name rage in the streets. People write in to us raging against what their neighbors name their babies. Everyone wants to be different. That’s the No. 1 thing we all have in common.
This is clearly a topic of interest for me, nay, an obsession. I recently read an article about 10 Ridiculous Baby Naming Trends, and as I spend so much time thinking about it, here are my least favorite baby naming trends.
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Anything that Rhymes with Aidan
Aidan is the anglicized form of the Irish Aodhan (little fiery one). It is a fine name - if a bit overused. Somewhere along the way people started making up new spellings of Aidan as well as naming their children anything that rhymes with it. Aiden, Kaden, Zayden, Haiden, Jaden –there are 41 different rhyming names ranking among the top 1000 boy names. It's been done, can we just move on all ready?
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Swapping Ks for Cs
I don’t care how much you like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, please don’t name your kid Khloe instead of Chloe. Also not a fan of Konnor, Kassandra, Kamila, and Kolton. Keep your Cs please. image : flickr | adrants
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Kreativ Spelling
Okay, we get it. Everyone wants to be different. But if you like the name Olivia, please just spell it right. Alyvviah will rue the day her parents decided to be different.
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“Twilight” Names
I own all the Twilight books, so this criticism deals solely with the names of the series. Do you know what the #1 boy and girl names in the US are right now? Jacob and Isabella. With other names like Bella (48), Edward (136), Alice (172), Emmett (273), Jasper (286), Cullen (413), Rosalie (509), Esme (921) quickly climbing the charts. Just promise me you won’t use Renesmee, mmkay? image : flickr | Kid's Birthday Parties
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Spelling it Backwards
One of the top girls name in the country is Nevaeh (with Neveah also ranked for some reason). This is actually the word heaven spelled backwards. This “hidden” meaning isn’t so hidden – and is something I can’t get behind.
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Boys Name for Girls
If you have a little girl named Ryan or Tyler, you probably see the name as a gift for your daughter. You have given her a strong and unusual name in hopes that she will be strong and unique. But here’s the thing, there is a naming arms race taking place and the girls team is destroying the boys. Girls are continuously taking over naming territory with the names switching sides never to return. There is a cultural double standard in which it is charming to give a girl a masculine name, but incredibly undesirable for a boy to have a name that reads feminine. As a mother of a son (who mourned the loss of a beloved name to the girls team), I am begging, pleading, leave the boys names to the boys. image : flickr | quicheisinsane
What are your least favorite names and trends?
In case you are curious, read about the least controversial baby names at Baby Name Wizard.
A-to-the-MEN! Every one of these is a peeve of my own. I recently met a little girl who has the name Elliott. When I told her mom that my son’s name was also Elliott, she was geniunely surprised that it was a “boy’s” name. Blarg! The same thing happened with the men in my family, three of which are “Courtney”s. It was a boy’s name with my grandfather, started to become a girl’s name when my dad was born, and now, my poor brother just flat out has a girls name. In-SANE!
@Kersey – My son’s name is Elliott too! Even spelled the same way!! Go Team Elliott!!!
Also, I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY with all of these!!
yes, yes, and yes! i also despise the ugly names that combine two different lovely names: i few i’ve heard: trayger, taylie, kyson, kyler.
My least favorite names are beginning-of-one-name-plus-the-end-of-another ones. We know a family who have two sons, Kysen and Trevin. Their names drive me crazy.
P.S. I don’t think people should avoid Twilight names just because they’re in Twilight, but I think naming your child after someone in Twilight is just awful.
i LOVE boys names for girls! frankie, charlie, elliott, jo- all of them are so cute for a boy or a girl. it’s crazy to think that whitney, courtney, allison, morgan, leslie and lindsay were all male at one point now they have so much more of a feminine vibe. i think a boy could still pull off any of those just like a girl everett or billie could work on the right girl. when it comes to names i say just use what you like- trust me it will all sound dated in 20 years and at some point your kid will wonder what you were thinking so just pick something you love.
My son’s name is Ayden.
Maybe you should write about something a little less offensive rather than picking on other people’s children’s names.
I’ve got an Elliott too, and I’m hoping his name stays in BOY territory for at least his generation! I chose two-L’s, two-T’s in hopes it looked more masculine,
My daughter’s name is Rhyan (pronounced Ryan) Elizabeth. So is a little girl on my baby sister’s softball team. My younger cousin’s name is Logan Nicole. And my nurse in labor and delivery has a grand-daughter named Elliott (they call her Ellie). To each their own, but I have gotten many compliments on my daughters name (all except from her dad but he decided a long time ago to run out on us so I don’t really care).
I had no idea that Isabella was a name from Twilight! I am due in 6 weeks with an Isabella! Now I might have to rethink that!!!
I dislike the last name first trend. It’s too pretentious.
I think following trends is stupid. Especially the boys name for girls. But what does my opinion matter as long as the parents are happy with the name… I love my daughter’s name & it fits her perfectly… It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. At least she’ll be the only one with her name in her class
Elliott is a last name first…meaning it being a last name trumps its use as a boy or girl name. Its actually a family name and so if I chose it for a boy or girl, that would be my choice and if someone had anything to say about it (negative) I would slam it in their face, with a swift…what right to do you have to weigh in on my choice of name for my child? OH BOY I would love it for one of these opinionated parents who dont have a problem ONLINE speaking their disapproval of such and such names, to say something to me about any of my kids names….lets just say they would be running away in shame! But then again, people behave one way in public and another online.
To the author, good for you that you have manners to at least pretend to be happy even if you dont like the choice.
I just want to agree with your recommendation of babynamewizard. Also, the related book. Good blog there, too.
It is cracking me up that the person who wrote about people not having a problem posting online but wouldn’t dare say something to her face chose to sign her post ‘private’. Hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.
One benefit of all those parents who try to be unique in naming their kids? Those of us who name our children normal traditional names will still have the only one in the class with a name that doesn’t require repetion and spelling to understand- not so for the 5 different Aiden/Kaden/Tredans.
To each their own. Some people say my kids have crazy names (Arianah, Marco, Dayshia[Deja] Destiny, Desiree, Ysabella[ Eee -sa- bella] and Ylianah[Ee-lee-ah-nah]and I don’t care. They are unique and fit their personalities.
I HAPPEN TO LIKE SOME OF THOSE NAMES.
MY GRANDSON NAME IS BRAYDEN AND OUR FAMILY / FRIENDS LOVE IT TO. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT I GUESS.
I think lots of these are on track. The thing about trends, though? Sometimes you can’t anticipate that a name will become trendy. Aiden seemed unique when my sister chose it ten years ago, Ella was classic, but different, when I picked it 5 years ago (but I selected it long before), and my two friends with little Alices named their daughters just before twilight became the rage.
I have a pretty trendy name – can you say mork and Mindy – but then again, my generation took some classic names and made them feel overly trendy too. Names are so personal and often have family associations, etc. I think the most important thing is that your child’s name is something they won’t want to change later to avoid embarrassment.
you know what ma’am,? you should be completely ashamed of yourself.there are such beautiful kids and babies out there with amazing names.wether a girl is named elliot or a boy is named courtney those are the names that there parents gave them and thats what makes them unique. also i would like to add in ,just because a child is named bella or edward it has nothing NOTHING to do with twilight,i think they are perfect so stop all this nonsense and respect these children’s name cause would you like if someone made a blog about your name and saying its bad or somthing NO!
You know what makes me cringe? Judgmental “writers” who think it is ok to make fun of a child’s name. It’s a word. The fact that you think one name is more acceptable than the other is pretty arbitrary and quite frankly all this does is put more negativity out in the universe. Happy about that?
My fiance and I had a very difficult time agreeing on a boy name; namely he would reject everything I offered out, lol. After months and months of him shooting down my choices finally offered out Jayden and I liked it enough and he picked it so he couldn’t shoot it down so I was happy. Then I went to work and told everyone and had a tidal wave of “My son is named Jayden” “Oh I have an Aiden” “Did you say Jayden with a Y, my son’s name is spelled Jaiden” etc from coworkers, employees, bosses, everyone I knew… My fiance and I had to rethink after that. We finally decided on Jayce. It is a good name and it suits him well, but I would have much preferred a 2 syllable name, no particular is just my preference
I dunno how I feel about the trends, but I just think you should do whats right for you no matter what anyone else says. My husband and I had a hard time deciding what to name our daughter at first ( I chose the name of my first born daughter back in 8th grade lol) and he wanted something else.We ended up naming her after his sister who passed away the year before he and I met, and one of my grandmothers I was very close to. Our little Tian Patricia. And my husband, his father, and his grandfather are all named Dominic so if we have a son he will either be Dominic (dunno middle name yet) or Giovanni Dominic (my hubby’s middle name first, the first name middle) I guess that’s my trend- family names lol
this is funny i do have an isabella but its the middle name and i love the name edward but i love old names i would have named my 2nd dd and older name too but the hubby really wanted macy so thats what we have also im not a fan of heaven spelled backwards at all but to each there own your baby the two of you have to come together at pick what you like
I named my son Aidan 7 years ago before it was as popular. I named him because of the Irish meaning obtained through a baby name book given to us by my grandmother. I agree it has become overly popular to the point where he is in 1st grade now and I have been correcting the spelling of his name with his teachers since Pre school. Usually because they use the “Aiden” spelling. I don’t regret for one moment naming him. Nor my second born daughter whose name Emily is amongst the most popular. But the name chosen by me because since I was a little girl, I dreamed of having a daughter named Emily. My third is Owen whose name ranks somewhere in the 50 range according to the SSA yearly update. However, this past year alone more people have been using it. While I respect your opinions on overused or creatively rhymed names, there are some of us out here who name our children
not because of the popularity of the name but the meaning it gives to our family. The race to be different or the same didn’t hinder in choosing baby names
So, I pretty much agree with EVERY SINGLE THING YOU JUST SAID!!!
Thank-you!
Agreed on everything!
i don’t agree at all. i wanted to name my son kayden when he as born however i couldnt because the loser father wanted it something else. but i wish i had named him Kayden. also i know a few braedans and other boys named caden as well. stop picking on other ppl’s childrens names seriously? how would it make you feel if someone wrote a post about ur kid’s names and made fun of them?! its not nice to bully and be a B8tchjust because you can write a blog.
I’m right there with you. My niece goes to school with a girl named La-ha. Pronounced La dash ah. REALLY?!!? Why would you do this to your child? The trend I’ve been noticing lately is Keegan and Teegan for boys. I suppose it’s better than AudioScience. But ugh, it’s just a personal feeling, I just don’t like it. To you folks freaking out because of what she wrote. She isn’t making fun of a little kids name, she is expressing disgust with parents. Get over it.
Personally I have two sons. Isaac and Peter. While some may have a problem with Peter because of the whole penis reference (personally I haven’t heard someone use peter referring to a penis in a long time) I like it. They are both simple, biblical old fashion names.
I can’t stand the name Aiden or its derivatives. HOWEVER, I have a nephew named Ayden. Of course I love him.
I so agree with you on ALL OF THIS, Madeline! GO YOU.
Also – my parents/grandparents hate the names we’ve chosen for our kids: Felix & Penelope. Both traditional names, but old fashioned. Go figure. There will always be haters no matter what the name is.
Amen to every point the writer made! Right now the effort to be “unique” is leading to a whole generation of children with names that are all starting to sound the same, which means they’re NOT unique. In fact, at this point Jane is a unique name because it’s so uncommon! A couple of posters did make a good point, though: You don’t always know what name will become trendy, and when you choose it, it might not be. I find it interesting that several of the people disagreeing with the writer and getting defensive also have misspelled posts with no capitalization. Not really a judgment; just an observation. Maybe it’s a generational thing–people more likely to use the trendy names are also more likely to “write” this way and use text speak. And one more point: Stop being so defensive, people! The writer isn’t making fun of the kids; she’s making fun of the parents who gave the kids those names.
Thank you… I agree with you completely. Its not just twilight, remember when Friends was popular? Everyone ran out and named their girl Emma, since that’s what Rachel named her baby. I agree with you totally on the misspellings, have you read the book Freakonomics? It points out how important it is to name your child, not just for you, but the more crazy and unique the name is.. the harder it will be in the long run to get hired for a job, therefore you really have to think about this stuff in the long run.. not just short term.
Ha! I named my son JaKob Edward way before Twilight was a twinkle in Stephenie Meyer’s eye. I chose to spell it with a K because of his Scandanavian heritage which more commonly use the K spelling. The Edward comes as a tribute to my stepfather whose middle name was also Edward. Sometimes people choose names based on things other than “trend” and honestly this article is offensive to people who do choose those names. And this attitude of thinking is what makes people feel badly about their names. I think if you don’t like a child’s name you just keep it to yourself.
I understand that names come in waves/trends and I can’t wait until names like Esther, Alfred, Irene, Frederick and Elsie come back into favour. We made up our names list while trying to avoid the really popular/trendy names at the same time. Honestly, I already anticipate my kids being in a class with 6 Aiden/Jaden/Braeden combinations (‘Which Aiden are you talking about honey?”) and a dozen Emilies (or Everly or Evalee or Emma). Sometimes parents forget that while they may like the name, their kids will forever have to append their last name so people will know which Jaden is being spoken about (or they’ll have to spell it “Aiden with an i or with a y?”) or that people will know exactly which decade their child was born in.
Oh and I don’t understand why people are getting all offended about this. Honestly, if you know you named your child one of these terribly popular names for reasons other than that they were popular or before they became so popular then you have no reason to be so defensive! It’s the sheeple who just follow the trends that are the problem (and think that my spelling a name in a creative way that they’re being so unique).
Heh, remember the “Jennifer memo” for girls born in the late 70s? I had like 4 of them in a class of less than 100 students.
I can’t STAND -en names aiden jayden braden IT’S BEEN DONE. haha. Funny post
Keep em coming.
My baby girl name is “Bella” and I had that picked out YEARS before Twilight was even written. I’m sticking with it
I’ll be glad when the whole “-den” and “-se(o)n” naming wave is over!! I am a preschool teacher and I swear it’s like reciting a tongue-twister rhyme evertime I call roll!! “Okay friends, line up when I call your name…. Aiden, Jayden, Hayden, Zayden, Braedon, Brendon, Payton, Bryson, Larsen…”…REALLY?? And I’m not making that up or exaggerating!! It’s hilarious! I went traditional with naming my boys–Jack and Mark…funny how “traditional” becomes uncommon!
I think its sad when you love a name that gets wrapped up in passing trends. (For example, my husband and I love the name Isabella and we will use it someday despite its enormous popularity.) I think if you really love a name for your little one you should use it — trends and nay-sayers be damned.
This was great, I totally agree. Sorry to the people who are offended – but really, whatever name you chose, you obviously loved and there’s no reason to be upset that someone else doesn’t like it.
I’m obsessed with names too – would love to see more posts from you on this topic!
I guess you wouldn’t be offended in the least if I told you that the name Tate, to me, sounds ridiculously pretentious and very much high school jock wannabe. But hey, that’s just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own
cheers.
All of the above who have agreed with this blog post and feel no shame in dissing childrens’ names obviously do not know how insulting it is to have their child’s name being seen as ‘bad’. Put yourselves in their shoes and imagine if someone were to criticise your choice! My son’s name (Jack) doesn’t fall in any one of the categories above, but I would never dream of publicly announcing my distaste over certain children’s names. I think it’s really unclassy and uncalled for. They’re babies’/kids’ names forgodsakes. Please think before you write.
You people aren’t getting it. This isn’t about making fun of kids names. I don’t even see it as expressing disgust in the choices of the parents as someone above said. This simply expresses the author’s personal feelings towards the names. And honestly, if you can’t handle hearing other people’s opinions without freaking out about them then I suggest not reading anything that might pertain to you. Everyone should be able to take a little bit of criticism, be it good or bad. And frankly, if you can’t handle it you really need to learn how because that is something that you need to be able to teach to your children.
I find interesting you said “I was terrified that I would pick a name that was too popular, or one that people hated” but yet you are also promoting this kind of terror by expressing negative comments towards baby names.
You didn’t tell anyone the strange choice of naming your baby “Tate” because you were terrified but do you realize you are are doing to others just what you were afraid it would happen to you? To get a negative feedback?
I agree with you in some ways regarding name trends but you could have written this article in a less offensive way.
Naming a child is scary to many women and reading this article can make this decision a lot harder.
Just put yourself in other people’s shoes. I DOUBT you would or will like when others make fun of your child’s name or call him Tater tots.
Hopefully next time you decide to write an article about names it will be something more informative than bashing.
ohhhh booo hooo, the author has a negative opinion of your child’s name! seriously … it’s a blog. it’s not like she’s insulting your child to his or her face. she just has a difference of taste, which she is writing about in a personal opinion piece. stop being so touchy people.
I totally agree with all of your points. I can’t believe that Neveah is popular, too. Haeven backward? Did the mom know how to spell HEaven? What? I have a friend who works as a counselor in a school with almost only black students. The onlywhite girl is named Diamond! Seriously?
Hahahahaha. Renesmee. I was outraged when I first read Breaking Dawn and saw that name. Dumbest ever.
ok, first question, how in the WORLD do you even pronounce Renesmee? seriously?!
and the trend i really kind of dislike, which isnt listed, are a) families who rhyme their kids names (especially twins), and/or families who name ALL their kids with the same first letter (there’s a family in town that has like 9 to 11 kids, mainly ALL boys, and all the boys first names begin with J)
LOL Guilty of the “k instead of c” thing. My stepson is Kolton, and my 18 month old is Kord. As a teacher, I wanted a name that didn’t have bad associations for me, so we went as unusual as possible, without being flat out weird.
I can’t stand the whole lets name my kid after alcohol trend. Jameson, Jack Daniels, Brandy, etc etc
Hello! I was born 28 years old and my parents named me Kamila. I was born and raised in Poland. My parents did not intent to swap the K for the C. They chose this name because they thought it was beautiful and this is how it is spelled in Slavic countries back in Europe. Just saying…
All I have to say is please really think about the child before naming him/her my name is Edna Sarai I hate the name Edna with a passion HATE IT!!!! And Sarai has to be repeated to every one I say it to and got mispronounced on my graduation I’m gonna legally change my name to Sarah cause I like it and can actually be pronounced and it’s expensive my friends just started calling me
Sai so I don’t punch them in the face when they call me Edna did I mention how much I HATE that name >.<
I love this! People who are offended, do you really think your child is going to be reading this blog? My parents named me Gretta, a combination of my grandmother’s names Gertrude and Etta. I get very tired of saying “Greta with two T’s” when spelling out my name to EVERYONE. However, I am glad I was not an Amanda, Ashley, or Jennifer that dominated my year of birth. I chose well known, impossible to misspell names for my boys that were unpopular the year preceding their births-Luke and David. Many older people seem relieved to hear their names. And they are names that are fitting for an adult as well. Lots of names look cute on a baby, but think about the fact your kids have to hold on to their name through their career and long after you’re gone. The -den trend makes me sad. It’s not original, its not special, no matter how many fancy letters you try to put in there.