Revenge of the Jennifers

First - I apologize for the technical difficulties (lightning frying my modem, Time Warner Cable being a-holes, being at my parents' for Thanksgiving, getting a cold that won't frakking go away). But, I'm here.

One of the things I missed in my absence was BabyCenter.com's annual list of the year's top baby names. It's important to note that this is not the Social Security list of names that were given to actual babies born in 2010, but instead a survey based on names volunteered to the site by parents. So. keep in mind that it skews toward a) people with Internet access, and all the class/education privilege that implies, and b) people who are impressed enough by the name they chose for their kid that they would submit it to a website.

This survey's top names this year are Sophia and Aiden.

In Freakonomics, there's a chapter about names. I haven't reread the book in awhile, so I'm pulling from memory here, but basically the authors' theory is that elites (both in class and education) glom onto certain types of names for their kids, which then filter down through the non-elites (who are trying to emulate the elites by picking "classy" or "sophisticated" names) until they're considered lower-class. That's why the early-60s versions of Sophia and Aiden aren't among this year's top names.

In 2005 when Freakonomics was published, the authors predicted that, based on what the wealthiest, most educated Americans were naming their kids, Celtic and so-called "traditional" names would soon explode in popularity. Lo and behold, five years later we have not just Sophia and Aiden, but also Olivia, Ava, Liam and Connor.

I would feel like kind of a jerk making fun of what other people name their kids. That's kind of a personal decision. But the trends do interest me. Going purely on anecdotal personal experience here, because I haven't done anything like comprehensive research, it does seem like parents try to remedy the trauma of their own names when it comes to their kids. One of my grandmothers has a very unusual (as in, the only one I've ever met) name, which I think is also beautiful. All three of her children have very much usual names. Is it all those Jennifers and Megans who are reaching back to old-school names in the hopes of finding something distinctive for their own kids?

Maybe. Or not. We are talking about individuals here. For instance, I was never, ever the only Sara anywhere I went growing up. (Most of the rest of them were Sarahs, but whatev.) One of my other sisters was also one of at least three in every class or activity she was in. But another sister probably still can't find an appropriate "(Insert Name Here)'s Room" sign at Cracker Barrel.

But we were all named after family. My mother swears that she only knew one Sara(h) (and that a middle-aged co-worker) when she named me. And yet we're all still on the 2010 top names list.

Family names are big in my family, and maybe that's a Southern thing, I don't know. What I do know is that, when I have kids, I won't fret too much about what's popular and what isn't, because obviously there is some freaky hive mind going on there, and it's pointless to try and fight it.

By the way, for all you "let's just spell it with a Y!" people out there... The no-H thing wasn't something my mother did to be cute. That's how the person I was named for spelled it. And also Fleetwood Mac.