The kids got us with this one bc like 80 percent (unscientific but a spiritual truth) of our global supply of Amandas was born between 1980 and 1990 in the American Southeast www.businessinsider.com/gen-alpha-mi... - ThreadSky

amandamull.bsky.social • 373 days ago

The kids got us with this one bc like 80 percent (unscientific but a spiritual truth) of our global supply of Amandas was born between 1980 and 1990 in the American Southeast https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-alpha-millennial-old-people-names-2024-2

Comments

heymandy.bsky.social•373 days ago

Ha, and yet another spiritual truth is there is nothing (except perhaps being named Ashley) that could out me more as a middle class person born in the Midwest in the mid-80s than my specific combination of Amanda + middle name.

(I am in practice, however, the chaotic Amanda that goes by Mandy)

adamenamedamy.bsky.social•372 days ago

Pants! The name "Amy" is Amanda-adjacent.

handle.invalid•373 days ago

There used to be an awesome Social Security Administration site that let you chart out the popularity of names across the years. Last time I checked it didn't have that feature which is a bummer. Totally confirmed why I had never met anyone my age with my name despite meeting lots 5+ years younger.

kellymb.bsky.social•373 days ago

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/rankchange.html still exists! It's updated through 2022.

kellymb.bsky.social•373 days ago

What's interesting to me is the #1 name in say 1960, was way more popular than the #1 in say 2022, both in absolute and relative terms. So even if you pick the #1 name for your kid, they're way less likely to have 11 other kids with their name in their class. Maybe 1 or 2 tops.

amandamull.bsky.social•373 days ago

I think that effect is likely moderated somewhat by demography. Like tends to cluster with like, so you’re probably still gonna get a lot of, say, Olivias and Charlottes in schools full of middle or upper-middle class white kids. (Anecdotally, that’s what I hear from friends with kids!)

kellymb.bsky.social•373 days ago

Very good point! I'd love to see it plotted by zip code but that's probably too identifiable to release. Anecdotally my 2yo has a top 50 name. She met someone with the same name for the first time just recently. She was not amused!

handle.invalid•373 days ago

Thanks! Different now and shorter data timeframe but glad it’s there. We used it to help with naming our kids 20 years ago. We wanted names that were not “out there” but not common and we hit the mark. Looks like my youngest is going to be meeting a lot more younger people with his name though…

kathrynesings.bsky.social•373 days ago

I was the only Kathryne/Katherine/Catherine I knew until I went East to college and half of my orientation conversations involved which one of us was going to use what nickname.

mikepatterson.bsky.social•373 days ago

While a rando trivia fact. But just in case it could be a helpful nugget for an article: in geography that's called Tobler's first law. "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."

I always found it a useful framework for spatially located trends

amandamull.bsky.social•372 days ago

Ahh thanks! That is useful to have a term

jordanb239.bsky.social•373 days ago

theres a school principal named Kyle mentioned in the article and that feels illegal

adinayoffie.bsky.social•373 days ago

When I was in high school, I volunteered at a nursing home, and I remember seeing all the Idas, Harriets, and Leonards, and thinking, "One day, my friends' names will be on these doors." I was super-fun to hang around with in high school.

georgiaontap.bsky.social•372 days ago

Cause in '74

amandamull.bsky.social•373 days ago

I spent my morning drinking a protein shake and trying to decide where to open a high yield savings account, I am not beating the old allegations any longer

hodgepodge.bsky.social•373 days ago

athensmusicjunkie.com•373 days ago

ok but yell if you settle on where to place that hysa

jaymurdock.bsky.social•372 days ago

I like Ally Bank, but others may offer higher rates.

jeffreykeese.bsky.social•373 days ago

I do think it’s funny how many of us millennials spelled kids names diversely (Ashlee, Ashleigh, Ashly) to be unique and then Gen Alpha slaps us with “you’re all Ashleys.”

honestthief.bsky.social•372 days ago

I'm a teacher.

IT HAS NOT STOPPED.

Braedyn
Lynnzie
Jaydyn

I get nervous every time I have to write a name by hand for any reason.

coop0.bsky.social•373 days ago

keep us posted on the hysa I’m also shopping around

gastkatze.bsky.social•373 days ago

went on a rant about capitalism just before I read in detail about withdrawals from an rrsp for down payments and did yoga for a hip flexor, fully embracing defeat

dchauser.com•372 days ago

Given my youngest sister's name is Amanda, this made me chuckle.

cvh.bsky.social•372 days ago

I know Caitlin is eventually going to be, like, Gladys or Ethel and I can't wait.

norbizness.bsky.social•373 days ago

All the Jennifers (thanks, Love Story) in my mid-Gen X elementary school classrooms agree.

jackisgettingold.bsky.social•372 days ago

Mike Doughty can confirm: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1nN_5kkYR6k

amandamull.bsky.social•373 days ago

And the boomer Lindas before them

norbizness.bsky.social•373 days ago

"That spike came after performer Jack Lawrence had a hit in 1946 with the song "Linda," which was written about 1-year-old Linda Eastman, the daughter of his attorney. She went on to become Linda McCartney, the first wife of Beatles icon Paul McCartney." Too weird.

amandamull.bsky.social•373 days ago

Oh wow I had no idea lol

norbizness.bsky.social•373 days ago

I guess I've never heard of that song (it led to 5% of the girls in the late 40s being named Linda), but then again who born after 1990 has any idea what the hell Love Story is. Even Madison would be a bit obscure (the only faked name made popular by an indecisive mermaid in Splash)

jaymurdock.bsky.social•372 days ago

My wife reached a point in the late 80s that her college friend circle had too many Jennifers, so she was known as "Niffer"

norbizness.bsky.social•372 days ago

Interesting trivia: Phylis Lee Isley changed her stage name to Jennifer Jones in the 40s because it was exotic, Jennifer being the phonetic Welsh version of the name "Guinevere."

norbizness.bsky.social•372 days ago

Incidentally I just realized I kind of do that with some of my high school friends lo these many years, there is an alpha Jennifer, one Jenny (she doesn't like it all that much), one or two Jens, and two we just call by their last name (not kidding)

geisty.bsky.social•373 days ago

Jennifer was almost the default X girl name. Topped the charts for something like a decade solid. And I was in love with way too many variations on Elizabeth through school for that to be a statistical glitch.

heyheyfield.bsky.social•372 days ago

Meanwhile Gen Alpha has old people names like Eleanor or Olivia. I guess Millennial parents named them after grandparents?

Also young kids think anyone over 15 is old. I am not going to be offended here. 😂

heyheyfield.bsky.social•372 days ago

I swear Business Insider started the generation battles. Half their articles are about generation differences and how Millennials now Gen Z is not a good worker.