While looking into search patterns for baby names I stumbled upon the fact that parents to be or other people that has an interest in baby names are divided into to major groups. Nothing special about the fact that people belongs to different groups but this one shows a trend that has been gaining strength for the last 5-10 years.
On one side we have the parents that are searching for phrases like “top 100 baby names”, “top ten baby names”, “popular baby names for girls” etc. All of these phrases have in common that the surfer is looking for what everyone else is naming their baby.
Now don’t get me wrong… There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to call your baby a commonly used name. There can many reasons for wanting to name your baby boy or baby girl the same name as most other kids. A reason could be that you want the baby to be socially accepted when he or she grows up and starts playing with other children.
Another reason would be that it might be easier for the baby to get called in for a job interview and maybe even get the job. It can be a tradition in the family to name the babies the name that ranks number 1 in the previous year.
There can be a lot of reasons for naming a baby after the majority of the babies born in that time period. This is not the part that got my attention.
What got my attention was that on the other side there is a similar large group of parents that is looking for the exact opposite. They are searching for phrases like “unusual baby names”, “odd baby names”, “unique baby names” etc.
Again the reasons for wanting an unusual baby name can be many and I can only guess what they might be but from what is happening in society I think that some of the most obvious reasons are these:
You want to show the outside world that your baby is something special. By giving your child a name that only a few people carry then you have made them special. They now have a name that will (probably) be easier for other people to remember because of the fact that they haven’t heard the name before.
A second reason can be that it has become a trend to name you child a unique name. Over the years this trend has been increasing and like with the common name a special name can now apply status as well.
Why people are divided into these categories no one knows. There is naturally still the third category left and that are the ones searching for neutral baby names. It is hard to say anything specific about these search patterns but it is a fact that they exist and there is nothing right or wrong no matter what category you might fall into.