baby names
The name mapper function on this website is insanely addictive. You can type in a name and it will map its use for newborns over the past five decade. (Use => within the top one hundred most common boy/girl names for an American state.)
After the whole realization about weird Mormon baby names, I put in the first name I could think of that I'd heard at church before anywhere else--Braden. It cracks the top one hundred boy baby names in Utah in 1991. It then travels to Oklahoma's top one hundred in 1994. Braden falls out of Utah's top one hundred in 2003, but by that time it's within the top hundred in nine other states. (Jaden has an almost identical pattern, starting in Utah in 1994.)
I'm fairly certain that neither Braden nor Jaden are 'hybrid' names (like Renesmée)--smashed-up versions of two relatives' names--but they are apparently examples of Mormon-culture names* that have gotten into mainstream US society.
*well... Braden is apparently Gaelic in origin. Jaden might be connected to Jadon, which is reportedly Hebrew in origin. Mormons know how to borrow names from other cultures in a prescient way?** Hm.
**at least with those two names, at any rate
Other observations: wow, the name Laura has really lost a foothold. Rose has too--its last showing on the map is in 1969. My own (real) first name had its big year in 1971 and hasn't shown up on the map since 1996. The name Chloe has had a boom decade, and is within the top one hundred of all fifty states.
For my amusement I tried the name Farrah. It shows up in two states in 1977--and never before or after.
You know, this post actually started as a rant that I have no chocolate at home.
After the whole realization about weird Mormon baby names, I put in the first name I could think of that I'd heard at church before anywhere else--Braden. It cracks the top one hundred boy baby names in Utah in 1991. It then travels to Oklahoma's top one hundred in 1994. Braden falls out of Utah's top one hundred in 2003, but by that time it's within the top hundred in nine other states. (Jaden has an almost identical pattern, starting in Utah in 1994.)
I'm fairly certain that neither Braden nor Jaden are 'hybrid' names (like Renesmée)--smashed-up versions of two relatives' names--but they are apparently examples of Mormon-culture names* that have gotten into mainstream US society.
*well... Braden is apparently Gaelic in origin. Jaden might be connected to Jadon, which is reportedly Hebrew in origin. Mormons know how to borrow names from other cultures in a prescient way?** Hm.
**at least with those two names, at any rate
Other observations: wow, the name Laura has really lost a foothold. Rose has too--its last showing on the map is in 1969. My own (real) first name had its big year in 1971 and hasn't shown up on the map since 1996. The name Chloe has had a boom decade, and is within the top one hundred of all fifty states.
For my amusement I tried the name Farrah. It shows up in two states in 1977--and never before or after.
You know, this post actually started as a rant that I have no chocolate at home.