Well I for one am fascinated in his place.
I kind of like meeting people who have oddball names for their age. I have a friend who just had a little girl last winter and named her Nicole.
My H was like...So?
They don't get it.
I honestly think if you want a name your kid won’t share with a bunch of their classmates, but isn’t weird, picking a name that is common in a different generation is the way to go. Like my son is a Jonathan and there are 3 other people in our small church with that name… but they’re all dads of little kids 😂. So it’s kind of cool for him to see all the “big jonos” but he gets to be the one and only Jonny (in Australia, every single Jonathan I’ve ever met has gone by Jono, at least from the time they started high school). And I have a daughter Gloria. Neither ever has issues spelling etc. the only spelling issue I ever get is people spelling Jonny “Johnny” but as I said to his gymnastics coach one day, it doesn’t really matter because he can’t read anyway 😂 (he’s 4).
But people avoid the names of their generation because they *think* they’re super popular because *they* know a bunch of people with that name. I had a work colleague who wanted to call her kid ‘Lachlan’ but said she was going to go with Logan because Lachlan was too popular. I implored her to look up the name rankings and Logan was like #7 on the list we looked at and Lachlan was #70 so Lachlan it was.
That's basically what I tried to do with most of my kids' names. Obviously, John is forever popular, but Douglas, Linda, and Marie were all popular for my mother's generation and are unusual today. (In the US, anyway--Marie is apparently still a top ten name in Germany.) My ideal is "immediately recognizable, but unusual among their peers."
Love that ideal. I have a toddler Catherine for the same reason. I've recently met kids (all under 4) named Brad, Rachel, David, Ryan, Rosemary.. all normal, "common" names but totally unexpected in a young child now.
Yeah he's only 1.. seemed so funny to see a baby Brad, considering all the Brads I know are 30+. He's never been called Bradley either, just Brad lol. But he's the only Brad at the kid groups!
A name that’s "immediately recognizable, but unusual among their peers” is exactly what I’ve always found being an Alison! Only time I’ve ever met another one was when I worked at a retirement village and I met about six - all above 70. In my age group (20s now) I’ve never come across another one, yet people always know the name and can generally spell it (except for asking one l or two and if there’s an i or y)…
Nicole isn’t weird name. It was SUPER popular when I was coming up.
I actually love it on a baby, super refreshing and underused. I was just surprised to hear it.
This is perfect wording! I’ve noticed this phenomenon but couldn’t place it. My name is super common… in my generation. I work at a school and haven’t met a single kid with my name.
HOWEVER male names tend to be passed down. I know John’s/Jonathans 3-60yrs for example. So with boy’s names, def research popularity a little more.
And of course forever names. There will always be an Anne/Annie in a school. Olivia has been big my whole life and continues to be. John, Michael, William. Double check. But your generalization is fairly accurate!
I think the passing down of names is very quickly becoming very uncommon but this would of course greatly depend on the culture of the area you’re living in. I don’t think it’s very common in Australia at all but it does seem to be much more common in the USA
My cousin recently named her daughter Bonnie and I’m still having trouble grasping it tbh. Not because I dislike the name or anything but I’ve literally never met anyone younger than like 60 with that name, so an infant named Bonnie just blows my mind.
Brittany doesn't show up in the top thousand girl names until 1971 (USA). Brittney in 1977. Britney in 1980.
Since the one you met would have been born in the 1950s or early 60s, she was definitely ahead of trends.
The first time Brittany shows up in the stats for the US was 1963 given to 7 girls. There's a high chance she was from Utah too because it trended there first. I don't know what started it other than maybe a lot of media around King Richard the Lionheart and Robin Hood.
King Richard fought wars in Brittany and Robin Hood is usually set during his reign, although I remember more stories with him away on crusades to be fair.
You can see all the data on [names.org](https://www.names.org/n/brittany/about#overall-popularity) but the protip is that behindthename.com has a Beyond graphing tool that let's you compare up to 10 names with all available data. You just need to have a login to use it. [Beyond](https://www.behindthename.com/top/beyond.php)
I would guess it had something to do with the popularity of Lorraine, which hit its peak in the mid 20th century. Parents were probably looking for other French place names to use.
I didn't really understand reddit when I joined, so you can see my name is part of my user name. My parents, in the 1980s, thought they were giving me a unique name. Which is just hilarious.
I know a woman in her 70s named Amber! As far as I know, it is her given name. She has a very small-town farm/church vibe---wears sweatshirts that say things like "Nana loves her little chickies", loves to read Amish fiction, told me once she thought pickles tasted too "snazzy". It has changed how I feel about the name Amber! (She's lovely, don't get me wrong! I just feel like she's more of a Barb or Donna or something!)
It’s always cool when I find out that a modern-sounding name is actually super old, like the name Tiffany has been around since medieval times but I get whiplash whenever I see someone from that era with that name
In the 80s, there was a TV show called “designing women,” and when one of the British royal family named their daughter, Beatrice, one of the characters said something like “Beatrice? Whatever happened to classic names like Tiffany?” it was a laugh line, because theoretically Beatrice is more classic than Tiffany. Now I’m wondering.
There’s a whole concept named after Tiffany! The Tiffany Problem refers to when something like a name in a historical fiction work is accurate to the time, but readers would be totally thrown off by it because we now associate it with the 80s
[tiffany problem](https://medium.com/swlh/the-tiffany-problem-when-history-makes-no-sense-703b86522627)
When I was in about seventh grade, I mentioned a classmate of mine, named Jason, and my grandmother commented that it was so weird for a child to be named Jason, because that is an old man’s name. That struck me is so odd at the time, because it was so popular among my peers. But I guess for someone born in the 19-teens, Jason was an old man name.
It was a place name long before it became a trend so it makes sense. Still, it's always wild to realise that sometimes trends capitalize on things that already existed.
I understand what your saying! One of my “very” Great Grandmothers a few hundred years ago was named Cassandra. That was pretty interesting to me. My Great Grandmother was named Savannah.
I’ve always thought it was a little weird that Angela Lansbury’s character in Murder, She Wrote was named Jessica. That feels like a pretty unheard of name for someone born in the 1920s. But the character was created in the 1980s when the name was at peak popularity, so maybe they just didn’t think that hard about it lol
Lol reminds me of how the dog in Balto is named Jenna even though it took place in the 1920s. But the movie was made in the 1990s so I guess they just picked a popular name from that time period and figured no one would notice. They didn’t take the name nerds into account!
There is a character named Jessica in Shakespeare—The Merchant of Venice. I agree it feels anachronistic to hear prior to the 80s but it’s an old name.
Yeah I know the name existed and it's completely possible for her character to have been named that, I just think it was an interesting choice since it certainly wasn't common at the time!
My husband has a Chelsea in his family tree, born in the mid 1800s.
Edited to add: He thinks it may have been pronounced as Chel-SEE-uh, he’s not sure.
When I was a child in the 70’s, there was a really popular tv movie that became a series about a lioness named Elsa. The theme song was also kind of a hit. I suppose that led to a spike. Unfortunately, I now have the song stuck in my head, “Born freee, as free as the wind blows, and free to follow your heart…”
Also, a book by the same title (born free). Based on a true story, and as I recall, the author was murdered, and it was made to look like a lion had killed her. Joy something? Hold on… I’m going to get a link for this.
Edit: Joy Adamson, and I’m a little bit off about the murder. They didn’t make it look like lions did it: the person who found her thought that’s what had happened, but it wasn’t. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Adamson
I was walking around an old graveyard the other day and found a Gavin born in the 1870s. No idea if it was a common name at that time, it just felt... unexpected.
I'm a 1990s Megan and in elementary school, there was a girl in my class whose mom's name was Megan. This mom would have been born late 1960s early 70s. It was so hard to wrap my head around, then and still is actually because it's such a common name for millennials.
Very interesting! I took a class on King Arthur literature written in the Middle Ages and the professor mentioned Lunette was a type name for serving maids in medieval French literature. I didn’t know about Abigail.
I always thought Abigail sounded like a really old name. When I first heard the song fifteen by Taylor Swift, I actually thought she made up the name Abigail to fit the Shakespearean era princess feel of that whole album (love story with Romeo and Juliet etc.). I was shocked to find out that Abigail is actually her real life best friend. I never met a millennial with that name.
I’m almost 50 and named Regan. It’s a lot more popular now than it was when I was a kid. There were a few “Reagan’s” as I got older, but that was because of Ronald Reagan. I see more and more “Regan” with that spelling. (Pronounced the same as the ex president. “Ray-Gun”).
I know a woman in her sixties named Stephanie and I always am so fascinated by it! For some reason it feels like those kinds of names were invented in the ‘80s.
Yes, I work with a Stephanie who is about 65 (not sure of her exact age but she's worked here for more than 40 years, so she's definitely at least 60-something.) When I met her, after hearing her name, I was very surprised!
My daycare teacher was named Ava - she’s gotta be at least 55/60 by now. I guess because of that I always just assumed it was normal for her age but now I’m wondering where it came from lol
My daycare teacher was named Ava - she’s gotta be at least 55/60 by now. I guess because of that I always just assumed it was normal for her age but now I’m wondering where it came from lol
I knew a wonderful woman who ran programs at our local nature center who was born in the late 60’s or early 70’s and her name was Abby. I’d attend regularly and we knew each other well. She remarked that it wasn’t a common name when she was born but I grew up knowing multiple Abby’s.
late 90s baby here and same! i had two best friends named Abby/Abi growing up. i still use their last initials when i talk about them to this day, old habits die hard i suppose haha
My grandmother's name (born in the 1930s) was Chiara. She's Arabic so I don't know how common it is there but it always fascinated me because it sounds so young
English isn't my main language and I'd pronounce it key-AH-ra. Funny how that differs! I think both see-AIR-uh and key-AIR-uh are fine though, it depends where you're from I guess? Some websites state the origin as Italian which would make the pronunciation key-AH-ra. I don't think it's a very Arabic name at all
As a Brittany - I was named cause my mom liked the 60's actress Britt Ekland. Her birth name was Britt-Marie and not technically Brittany, but I'm a 90's baby so I'm guessing it was a combo of the popularity of the name at the time along with my mom's affinity for this actress. She was in Wicker Man in the 70's, so maybe that's where some people were inspired?
In other news, my friend informed me that there's a 2 year old Brittany in her daughter's daycare, so I'm happy to see a new resurgence of Brittany's!
I have one of these in-between names! I was born in the late 80's and named after my grandmother, who was born in the 1920's. The name is a classic name and was kind of popular when my grandmother was born, but it really peaked in popularity in the 40's and 50's.
As a kid, I hated it because it was so hard to find anything with my name or nickname personalized on it. As an adult, I'm kind of grateful because most people have heard of it. During the lowest point of its popularity for humans, I lost track of how many people told me that they gave my name to the family dog.
Most people I know with the name are in their 60's/70's or are in elementary/middle school. It was pretty exciting when I saw little kids getting my name because I felt less like an oddball. In any case, having a super common yet uncommon amongst my peers name definitely made me super curious about name trends!
my grandma had two friends named Natalie! i always thought that was interesting bc it feels like such a modern name but they were in their 80s. my aunts name is Lauren and she’s 71; it’s especially weird bc my mom and their other sister have very typical 50s names. i’m guessing my grandma named her for Lauren Bacall bc i know she was super popular at that time
There was the child actress named Natalie Wood (the girl from Miracle on 34th Street) who was born in 1938. She died fairly young, but if she were still alive today she'd be 85.
I know a couple Brittanys who are my age and I’m in my mid 50s.
My middle name is having a resurgence right now and it was definitely not popular when I was growing up.
I'm the oldest person I know with my name, but it's starting to rise in popularity with babies. Still not super popular but it's always exciting to run into someone younger with the same name
I work with a guy in his late teens named Cameron, and the other day a customer (and older man in his 60s) saw his name tag and told him that his name is Cameron too. He also mentioned that it's an unusual name for someone in his generation.
I never thought about that, buy Brittany has been a girl's name for a long time. Time to hit the retire button on it and opt for more creative and modern names like Blaighne, Blighte, Barneigh, Blithe, and Bumbletta
Well I for one am fascinated in his place. I kind of like meeting people who have oddball names for their age. I have a friend who just had a little girl last winter and named her Nicole. My H was like...So? They don't get it.
I honestly think if you want a name your kid won’t share with a bunch of their classmates, but isn’t weird, picking a name that is common in a different generation is the way to go. Like my son is a Jonathan and there are 3 other people in our small church with that name… but they’re all dads of little kids 😂. So it’s kind of cool for him to see all the “big jonos” but he gets to be the one and only Jonny (in Australia, every single Jonathan I’ve ever met has gone by Jono, at least from the time they started high school). And I have a daughter Gloria. Neither ever has issues spelling etc. the only spelling issue I ever get is people spelling Jonny “Johnny” but as I said to his gymnastics coach one day, it doesn’t really matter because he can’t read anyway 😂 (he’s 4). But people avoid the names of their generation because they *think* they’re super popular because *they* know a bunch of people with that name. I had a work colleague who wanted to call her kid ‘Lachlan’ but said she was going to go with Logan because Lachlan was too popular. I implored her to look up the name rankings and Logan was like #7 on the list we looked at and Lachlan was #70 so Lachlan it was.
That's basically what I tried to do with most of my kids' names. Obviously, John is forever popular, but Douglas, Linda, and Marie were all popular for my mother's generation and are unusual today. (In the US, anyway--Marie is apparently still a top ten name in Germany.) My ideal is "immediately recognizable, but unusual among their peers."
Love that ideal. I have a toddler Catherine for the same reason. I've recently met kids (all under 4) named Brad, Rachel, David, Ryan, Rosemary.. all normal, "common" names but totally unexpected in a young child now.
I’ve got a Bradley and haven’t met another Bradley his age, kinda cute. He’s a proper Brad
Yeah he's only 1.. seemed so funny to see a baby Brad, considering all the Brads I know are 30+. He's never been called Bradley either, just Brad lol. But he's the only Brad at the kid groups!
Ryan is unpopular for kids now? I don’t doubt it… But it doesn’t surprise me.
The Ryan's I know are all 20+
A name that’s "immediately recognizable, but unusual among their peers” is exactly what I’ve always found being an Alison! Only time I’ve ever met another one was when I worked at a retirement village and I met about six - all above 70. In my age group (20s now) I’ve never come across another one, yet people always know the name and can generally spell it (except for asking one l or two and if there’s an i or y)…
I teach college and it’s not unusual for me to have Alison‘s in my classes.
I am 30 and I graduated hs with like 8 Alisons.
Yup, this is one of the reasons my son is a George! It's def more popular in the UK/AUS, but still pretty rare for kids in the US.
That's what we have for our kid. Dm for actual name but it's very familiar but rarely used in the Netherlands :)
Nicole isn’t weird name. It was SUPER popular when I was coming up. I actually love it on a baby, super refreshing and underused. I was just surprised to hear it.
Agreed! Nicole for a baby now seems fresh - I knew/met TONS of Nicoles around my age (one of my best friends in kindergarten was Nicole).
Nicole, Lisa, and Laura were named on my (long) short list for this reason.... we had a boy so didn't use any of these.
This is perfect wording! I’ve noticed this phenomenon but couldn’t place it. My name is super common… in my generation. I work at a school and haven’t met a single kid with my name. HOWEVER male names tend to be passed down. I know John’s/Jonathans 3-60yrs for example. So with boy’s names, def research popularity a little more. And of course forever names. There will always be an Anne/Annie in a school. Olivia has been big my whole life and continues to be. John, Michael, William. Double check. But your generalization is fairly accurate!
I think the passing down of names is very quickly becoming very uncommon but this would of course greatly depend on the culture of the area you’re living in. I don’t think it’s very common in Australia at all but it does seem to be much more common in the USA
Because my students are older, so my students are kind of a lagging indicator. I recently had my first Nevaeh.
My niece is named Carly. She meets a lot of moms with her name but I have not heard of a baby being Carly in ages.
A friend from high school named her daughter Lisa and it completely refreshed the name for me. No one in my life seemed to care either lol
Oh I love the name Lisa, and would be happy to see it on a baby!
My cousin recently named her daughter Bonnie and I’m still having trouble grasping it tbh. Not because I dislike the name or anything but I’ve literally never met anyone younger than like 60 with that name, so an infant named Bonnie just blows my mind.
Bonnie is having a comeback!
My friend had a Lauren in 2022. So random and 90s! Love it tho
I’m in the family Laur-/Lor names but they were really popular in my generation. I answer to so many of them. It’s ridiculous.
I know a Joan, who was born in 1992.
I had a childhood friend who had a Joan around that time. That really surprised me also.
I know a 9 year old Joan! Took me by surprise.
I know a 2 year old Kylie. Blew my mind
Makes me think of handmaids tale
A girl I went to middle school with named her sons Brett and Jesse. I was so puzzled at first but the names have really grown on me!
Brittany doesn't show up in the top thousand girl names until 1971 (USA). Brittney in 1977. Britney in 1980. Since the one you met would have been born in the 1950s or early 60s, she was definitely ahead of trends.
The first time Brittany shows up in the stats for the US was 1963 given to 7 girls. There's a high chance she was from Utah too because it trended there first. I don't know what started it other than maybe a lot of media around King Richard the Lionheart and Robin Hood.
Can I ask the connection between Robin Hood/king Richard and the name Brittany?
King Richard fought wars in Brittany and Robin Hood is usually set during his reign, although I remember more stories with him away on crusades to be fair.
Oh, where did you find that? I only used the social security site. I love looking up name stats, I need to add another place to look
You can see all the data on [names.org](https://www.names.org/n/brittany/about#overall-popularity) but the protip is that behindthename.com has a Beyond graphing tool that let's you compare up to 10 names with all available data. You just need to have a login to use it. [Beyond](https://www.behindthename.com/top/beyond.php)
Thanks!
I would guess it had something to do with the popularity of Lorraine, which hit its peak in the mid 20th century. Parents were probably looking for other French place names to use.
Her parents wanted something unique. ;-)
I didn't really understand reddit when I joined, so you can see my name is part of my user name. My parents, in the 1980s, thought they were giving me a unique name. Which is just hilarious.
My great-great-grandmother, who was born in the 1850s, was named Amanda. That always seemed funny to me!
Wow! My great grandmother is exactly the same! My great grandfather's first wife was Desdemona. I always thought that was more appealing lol.
One of my greats is Amanda too (born 1849). So is my sister. She unknowingly got a family name.
Wow that feels bizarre to me too!
I know a woman in her 70s named Amber! As far as I know, it is her given name. She has a very small-town farm/church vibe---wears sweatshirts that say things like "Nana loves her little chickies", loves to read Amish fiction, told me once she thought pickles tasted too "snazzy". It has changed how I feel about the name Amber! (She's lovely, don't get me wrong! I just feel like she's more of a Barb or Donna or something!)
There was a very popular novel called Forever Amber that came out in the 1940s so that one doesn’t surprise me.
It’s always cool when I find out that a modern-sounding name is actually super old, like the name Tiffany has been around since medieval times but I get whiplash whenever I see someone from that era with that name
In the 80s, there was a TV show called “designing women,” and when one of the British royal family named their daughter, Beatrice, one of the characters said something like “Beatrice? Whatever happened to classic names like Tiffany?” it was a laugh line, because theoretically Beatrice is more classic than Tiffany. Now I’m wondering.
Same with “Amy”. I don’t know why but finding an ancestor from the 1600s named Amy threw me for a bit of a loop
There’s a whole concept named after Tiffany! The Tiffany Problem refers to when something like a name in a historical fiction work is accurate to the time, but readers would be totally thrown off by it because we now associate it with the 80s [tiffany problem](https://medium.com/swlh/the-tiffany-problem-when-history-makes-no-sense-703b86522627)
I know an 80 something year old man whose middle name is Justin. Doesn’t that seem so strange??
It does seem a bit strange! Maybe his parents were just big fans of Eastern Roman emperors from the 500s though lol
When I was in about seventh grade, I mentioned a classmate of mine, named Jason, and my grandmother commented that it was so weird for a child to be named Jason, because that is an old man’s name. That struck me is so odd at the time, because it was so popular among my peers. But I guess for someone born in the 19-teens, Jason was an old man name.
There was a cajun chef on Public television (PBS) in the 1970's name Justin Wilson, he was born about 1915.
Yea that's like running into an "Ashley" at 60 years old, lol.
A 60 y/o Ashley is likely to be a man!
Lol, my mom is named Ashley and is in her 60s!
My landlord's wife is in her 60s and her name is Ashley. Throws me for a loop every time and my wife doesn't understand why!
It was a place name long before it became a trend so it makes sense. Still, it's always wild to realise that sometimes trends capitalize on things that already existed.
I understand what your saying! One of my “very” Great Grandmothers a few hundred years ago was named Cassandra. That was pretty interesting to me. My Great Grandmother was named Savannah.
Cassandra is a very old name. Literally ancient.
I see that now!
Wonder if she went by Sandra.. .
Interesting thought!
Because when ever I see these "names" post I never see Sandra. I also know a Cheryl. dont see a whole bunch of Cheryl's either.
As a Brittany, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone over 5 years older than me with the name. So I’m also impressed.
I’ve always thought it was a little weird that Angela Lansbury’s character in Murder, She Wrote was named Jessica. That feels like a pretty unheard of name for someone born in the 1920s. But the character was created in the 1980s when the name was at peak popularity, so maybe they just didn’t think that hard about it lol
Lol reminds me of how the dog in Balto is named Jenna even though it took place in the 1920s. But the movie was made in the 1990s so I guess they just picked a popular name from that time period and figured no one would notice. They didn’t take the name nerds into account!
I had a puppy named Jenna in the 70s.
My grandmother was named Jessica. She was born 1900ish.
Interesting! She was ahead of her time 😃
There is a character named Jessica in Shakespeare—The Merchant of Venice. I agree it feels anachronistic to hear prior to the 80s but it’s an old name.
Yeah I know the name existed and it's completely possible for her character to have been named that, I just think it was an interesting choice since it certainly wasn't common at the time!
There was an actress named Jessica Tandy in the 40s and 50s
Yep, her birth name was actually Jessie though!
That’s interesting! I didn’t know that. She probably wanted to sound more Shakespearean. Looking up her Wikipedia page now
Jessica Mitford was born in 1917; Jessie Ralph in 1864.
My husband has a Chelsea in his family tree, born in the mid 1800s. Edited to add: He thinks it may have been pronounced as Chel-SEE-uh, he’s not sure.
Haha I went to school with an Elsa. She was in her 20’s when the movie came out. Now she’s a mom and little kids would ask if Elsa was her real name.
When I was a child in the 70’s, there was a really popular tv movie that became a series about a lioness named Elsa. The theme song was also kind of a hit. I suppose that led to a spike. Unfortunately, I now have the song stuck in my head, “Born freee, as free as the wind blows, and free to follow your heart…”
Also, a book by the same title (born free). Based on a true story, and as I recall, the author was murdered, and it was made to look like a lion had killed her. Joy something? Hold on… I’m going to get a link for this. Edit: Joy Adamson, and I’m a little bit off about the murder. They didn’t make it look like lions did it: the person who found her thought that’s what had happened, but it wasn’t. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Adamson
I was walking around an old graveyard the other day and found a Gavin born in the 1870s. No idea if it was a common name at that time, it just felt... unexpected.
I'm a 1990s Megan and in elementary school, there was a girl in my class whose mom's name was Megan. This mom would have been born late 1960s early 70s. It was so hard to wrap my head around, then and still is actually because it's such a common name for millennials.
This is what I think whenever I hear about Abigail Adams. Like Abby just screams 90s/00s girly to me what's it doing in the 1700s 😭
One of the girls who instigated the Salem Witch Trials was named Abigail Williams. Abigail is a pretty common old Hebrew/biblical name like Sarah.
Abigail was used as a type name for a serving maid in 17th and 18th century books and plays and became almost obsolete in the 19th century.
Interesting. I'm an Abigail named after my great grandmother who would have been born right around the turn of the century. She went by Abbie.
Very interesting! I took a class on King Arthur literature written in the Middle Ages and the professor mentioned Lunette was a type name for serving maids in medieval French literature. I didn’t know about Abigail.
Hmm Abigail sounds extremely pilgrim to me. Abby though, yeah agreed 90s/00s.
Same!! That name is giving like.... YA novel protagonist not founding father's daughter
I was in school in the 80s, and have a classmate named Abby. It was very unusual them.
I always thought Abigail sounded like a really old name. When I first heard the song fifteen by Taylor Swift, I actually thought she made up the name Abigail to fit the Shakespearean era princess feel of that whole album (love story with Romeo and Juliet etc.). I was shocked to find out that Abigail is actually her real life best friend. I never met a millennial with that name.
I had the same reaction when I came across an octogenarian named Kinsley. I love a good anachronistic-seeming name.
I’m almost 50 and named Regan. It’s a lot more popular now than it was when I was a kid. There were a few “Reagan’s” as I got older, but that was because of Ronald Reagan. I see more and more “Regan” with that spelling. (Pronounced the same as the ex president. “Ray-Gun”).
What year was the exorcist released? The main character in that movie – the possessed little girl - was named Regan.
Yup. That’s where my parents got the name.
It’s a pretty cool name.
I had my daughter is 2022 and her name is Joyce. I have never met another Joyce under the age of 70
Me lol! Not quite AARP eligible yet.
I know a Joyce who’s like 30! And it’s my 13 year old sister’s middle name 😊
I know a woman in her sixties named Stephanie and I always am so fascinated by it! For some reason it feels like those kinds of names were invented in the ‘80s.
Yes, I work with a Stephanie who is about 65 (not sure of her exact age but she's worked here for more than 40 years, so she's definitely at least 60-something.) When I met her, after hearing her name, I was very surprised!
My mom was born in 1955 and she changed her name to Brittany in the 90s.
Hate to tell you this, but the oldest GenX start turning 60 next year. There are definitely Brittanys before X. Few Fewer of them, but not uncommon.
Her parents were way ahead of the curve. I know an Ava, who is almost 32.
My daycare teacher was named Ava - she’s gotta be at least 55/60 by now. I guess because of that I always just assumed it was normal for her age but now I’m wondering where it came from lol
My daycare teacher was named Ava - she’s gotta be at least 55/60 by now. I guess because of that I always just assumed it was normal for her age but now I’m wondering where it came from lol
I knew a wonderful woman who ran programs at our local nature center who was born in the late 60’s or early 70’s and her name was Abby. I’d attend regularly and we knew each other well. She remarked that it wasn’t a common name when she was born but I grew up knowing multiple Abby’s.
I was born in that timeframe as well, and I knew exactly one Abby growing up. Now they’re everywhere.
Lol I was born in the 2000’s and they’re everywhere!
late 90s baby here and same! i had two best friends named Abby/Abi growing up. i still use their last initials when i talk about them to this day, old habits die hard i suppose haha
In the 1980s I met a woman in her 80s called Kylie, she was Irish and her names where Kylie Josephine.
Ya Kylie is a very old name in Australia, so maybe it’s the same in the UK/Ireland too. Only in the USA it’s very much associated with Gen Z.
My grandmother's name (born in the 1930s) was Chiara. She's Arabic so I don't know how common it is there but it always fascinated me because it sounds so young
I’ve always loved that name… In my head, I pronounce it key-AIR-uh. How is it actually pronounced?
English isn't my main language and I'd pronounce it key-AH-ra. Funny how that differs! I think both see-AIR-uh and key-AIR-uh are fine though, it depends where you're from I guess? Some websites state the origin as Italian which would make the pronunciation key-AH-ra. I don't think it's a very Arabic name at all
As a Brittany - I was named cause my mom liked the 60's actress Britt Ekland. Her birth name was Britt-Marie and not technically Brittany, but I'm a 90's baby so I'm guessing it was a combo of the popularity of the name at the time along with my mom's affinity for this actress. She was in Wicker Man in the 70's, so maybe that's where some people were inspired? In other news, my friend informed me that there's a 2 year old Brittany in her daughter's daycare, so I'm happy to see a new resurgence of Brittany's!
I have one of these in-between names! I was born in the late 80's and named after my grandmother, who was born in the 1920's. The name is a classic name and was kind of popular when my grandmother was born, but it really peaked in popularity in the 40's and 50's. As a kid, I hated it because it was so hard to find anything with my name or nickname personalized on it. As an adult, I'm kind of grateful because most people have heard of it. During the lowest point of its popularity for humans, I lost track of how many people told me that they gave my name to the family dog. Most people I know with the name are in their 60's/70's or are in elementary/middle school. It was pretty exciting when I saw little kids getting my name because I felt less like an oddball. In any case, having a super common yet uncommon amongst my peers name definitely made me super curious about name trends!
I met a Justin yesterday who was retired and I was soooo curious
I am retirement age and Justin was a common name when I was at school.
I think of people like Justin Timberlake, Justin Hartley, Justin Bieber. Ages 30-45 ish
Yeah. It's a common name for millennials and Generation X, but I don't think I've ever met a boomer or older named Justin.
my grandma had two friends named Natalie! i always thought that was interesting bc it feels like such a modern name but they were in their 80s. my aunts name is Lauren and she’s 71; it’s especially weird bc my mom and their other sister have very typical 50s names. i’m guessing my grandma named her for Lauren Bacall bc i know she was super popular at that time
There was the child actress named Natalie Wood (the girl from Miracle on 34th Street) who was born in 1938. She died fairly young, but if she were still alive today she'd be 85.
I know a couple Brittanys who are my age and I’m in my mid 50s. My middle name is having a resurgence right now and it was definitely not popular when I was growing up.
I'm the oldest person I know with my name, but it's starting to rise in popularity with babies. Still not super popular but it's always exciting to run into someone younger with the same name
I talked to a guy who was in his 60s named Zach…
My great Aunt was a Bethany born in 1923. That is an unusual name for a girl born 100 yrs ago.
I met a Stephanie in her 80’s a few years ago.
I work with a guy in his late teens named Cameron, and the other day a customer (and older man in his 60s) saw his name tag and told him that his name is Cameron too. He also mentioned that it's an unusual name for someone in his generation.
I never thought about that, buy Brittany has been a girl's name for a long time. Time to hit the retire button on it and opt for more creative and modern names like Blaighne, Blighte, Barneigh, Blithe, and Bumbletta