Study Finds Parents Choosing Less Common Names For Children
LiveScience.com reports that parents are selecting less common names for their children. They study analyzed baby names using Social Security Administration data from 1880 to 2007.
Essentially, today's kids (and later adults) will stand out from classmates. For instance, in the 1950s, the average first-grade class of 30 children would have had at least one boy named James (top name in 1950), while in 2013, six classes will be necessary to find only one Jacob, even though that was the most common boys' name in 2007.
The researchers suspect the uptick of unusual baby names could be a sign of a change in culture from one that applauded fitting in to today's emphasis on being unique and standing out. When taken too far, however, this individualism could also lead to narcissism, according to study researcher Jean Twenge, of San Diego State University.
The study also found that in the 1880s about 40 percent of boys were given one of the most common names. Today, less than 10% of boys are given one of the top ten names. For girls, less than 8% are given a top ten name while nearly 25% of girls were given a top ten name in the 1945.
You can find a list of the most common baby names of 2007 here and you can search for the meaning of names here.
