Uncommon baby names become more and more popular. As populations are growing people want to make sure their babies have unique names. Baby naming is a highly emotionally charged process. Parents want to make sure they do a good job at setting their baby up for success. A child’s name can have a long-term impact. Our given name forges our identity, influences name stereotypes, and it may dictate the types of jobs we pursue and even predict career achievements. Studies show that unique-named people are perceived more suitable for unique jobs.
As cultures evolve, so do baby names. The rise of unique baby names reflects a move from collectivism to individualistic societies, and it reflects who the parents want their children to be. Globally parents increasingly value unique names to help their children stand out rather than fit in.
In previous centuries, tradition and conformity were driving name giving. Parents did what always has been done. In the 1600s, the top three names in England for boys and girls accounted for half of England’s population. Name giving was founded in religious and ancestral ties. Children were named after moral attributes as well, such as Faith or Mercy.
The baby boomers were the first parents who wanted to be cool, and who wanted their children to be cool too. With the rise of the internet in the 1990s, the millennials took the desire for distinctiveness a step further. These parents were used to create usernames as unique identifiers for a social system. They were also worried about their name being taken already. The 1990s also brought baby name statistics. Annual rankings of the popularity of names and their associated attributes. This made people more competitive in giving unique names. Instead of wanting to be the number one of the annual rankings, they wanted to avoid the top of the charts and give less common names. Today parents signal their style and values with names.
However, chasing unique names may not always be the ticket to success parents want it to be. Parents may feel like giving their child an advantage in life with a unique name, but in practical terms it is not clear that it works that way. Popular means well-liked. Highly distinctive names can be polarizing. In any case, giving a child a name is an act of love. It is influenced by personal dreams and cultural values and it is built on the desire for their kids to live their own life.
