Really–Just How Important is Your Given Name?

In Act II, Scene II  of Shakespeare’s 1597 play, Romeo and Juliet,  Juliet says in reference to Romeo’s surname, Montague, that they should ignore his surname which is meaningless to them so they could be together.

Map: Six Decades of the Most Popular Names for Girls, State-by-State

I love infographics (graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly).  And today, I came upon the following map infographic at the site Jezebel.com.  What interested me most was the name Jennifer (my daughter’s name) which first appeared in 1970 and remained the most popular name for 15 years before disappearing from the map altogether in 1984. Upon further research, I discovered that the name Jennifer was mostly used in Cornwall, England, before the 20th century (where most of my ancestors came from according to my DNA and my ancestry research). It became popular in all English-speaking countries, first in the UK in the 1950s, and then in the US as the top name for women born in 1970-1984.

Top Given Names Over the Last 100 Years

Likewise, in the Social Security Administration’s Annual Tally of Given Names, the name Jennifer was the third most popular given female name over the past one hundred years in the United States. Similarly, our eldest son is named Robert, and his name, too, was the third most popular given male name over the hundred year period.  And, looking for our youngest son’s name, Jeffrey, we find that his name also made the list at #29 over the hundred-year period.

My family today actually has more than our share of Brandon’s (#41 on the list).  We have one grandson, one great-grandson, and one nephew all named Brandon and spanning three generations.  As I look over the lists of both males and females, though, I can find possibly only one name from each list that doesn’t seem within my family tree:  name #100 on both sides: Shawn and Crystal.  I guess that makes my family absolutely average, as far as naming conventions go.

So, below is the Social Security Administration’s table that shows the 100 most popular given names for male and female babies born 1914-2013. For each rank and sex, the table shows the name and the number of occurrences of that name. These time-tested popular names were taken from a universe that includes 169,233,019 male births and 165,941,917 female births.

Popular names for births in 1914-2013

	Males		Females
Rank	Name	Number	Name	Number
1	James	4,866,619	Mary	3,611,970
2	John	4,739,937	Patricia	1,566,673
3	Robert	4,663,044	Jennifer	1,461,186
4	Michael	4,274,035	Elizabeth	1,460,714
5	William	3,749,398	Linda	1,447,270
6	David	3,532,745	Barbara	1,419,954
7	Richard	2,514,061	Susan	1,107,871
8	Joseph	2,429,076	Margaret	1,075,828
9	Charles	2,202,425	Jessica	1,038,248
10	Thomas	2,189,914	Dorothy	1,009,728
11	Christopher	1,981,942	Sarah	996,176
12	Daniel	1,833,861	Karen	982,864
13	Matthew	1,535,504	Nancy	980,659
14	Donald	1,392,452	Betty	978,903
15	Anthony	1,374,826	Lisa	963,461
16	Paul	1,338,796	Sandra	871,935
17	Mark	1,337,781	Helen	839,049
18	George	1,279,176	Ashley	831,126
19	Steven	1,269,104	Donna	827,839
20	Kenneth	1,250,728	Kimberly	825,188
21	Andrew	1,220,464	Carol	813,104
22	Edward	1,183,885	Michelle	802,726
23	Joshua	1,162,595	Emily	776,588
24	Brian	1,155,378	Amanda	769,412
25	Kevin	1,147,194	Melissa	746,598
26	Ronald	1,073,055	Deborah	738,182
27	Timothy	1,055,093	Laura	737,287
28	Jason	1,008,367	Stephanie	732,475
29	Jeffrey	968,779	Rebecca	727,122
30	Gary	897,536	Sharon	720,198
31	Ryan	891,166	Cynthia	703,977
32	Nicholas	866,148	Kathleen	700,446
33	Eric	861,720	Ruth	690,702
34	Jacob	848,038	Anna	688,230
35	Stephen	842,384	Shirley	680,162
36	Jonathan	803,785	Amy	673,299
37	Larry	801,570	Angela	653,815
38	Frank	792,425	Virginia	605,681
39	Scott	766,917	Brenda	605,336
40	Justin	758,002	Pamela	593,379
41	Brandon	734,956	Catherine	589,636
42	Raymond	730,505	Katherine	584,301
43	Gregory	702,296	Nicole	577,390
44	Samuel	673,653	Christine	571,921
45	Benjamin	660,859	Janet	550,377
46	Patrick	654,333	Debra	550,114
47	Jack	624,651	Samantha	549,656
48	Dennis	611,088	Carolyn	547,182
49	Jerry	604,399	Rachel	543,294
50	Alexander	596,167	Heather	523,369
51	Tyler	564,635	Maria	520,013
52	Henry	552,764	Diane	517,239
53	Douglas	552,541	Frances	507,194
54	Peter	549,126	Joyce	503,943
55	Aaron	542,328	Julie	503,658
56	Walter	539,969	Emma	482,694
57	Jose	535,132	Evelyn	477,717
58	Adam	524,872	Martha	477,345
59	Zachary	513,121	Joan	477,063
60	Harold	510,935	Kelly	468,441
61	Nathan	503,723	Christina	468,006
62	Kyle	468,806	Lauren	456,337
63	Carl	467,691	Judith	449,584
64	Arthur	459,623	Alice	446,529
65	Gerald	440,160	Victoria	446,019
66	Roger	434,033	Doris	441,420
67	Lawrence	432,407	Ann	441,101
68	Keith	430,907	Jean	440,900
69	Albert	426,595	Cheryl	438,916
70	Jeremy	425,094	Marie	438,758
71	Terry	420,348	Megan	433,186
72	Joe	415,584	Kathryn	423,415
73	Sean	409,292	Andrea	420,518
74	Willie	401,244	Jacqueline	415,334
75	Jesse	387,718	Gloria	407,880
76	Austin	382,419	Teresa	406,116
77	Christian	381,911	Janice	403,901
78	Ralph	380,721	Sara	402,166
79	Billy	380,571	Rose	393,573
80	Bruce	376,305	Hannah	393,208
81	Bryan	369,632	Julia	392,864
82	Roy	366,779	Theresa	384,281
83	Eugene	357,110	Judy	380,857
84	Ethan	355,803	Grace	378,602
85	Louis	351,563	Beverly	375,754
86	Wayne	346,862	Denise	370,776
87	Jordan	345,140	Marilyn	367,206
88	Harry	342,952	Mildred	366,723
89	Russell	336,600	Amber	365,710
90	Alan	335,720	Danielle	362,010
91	Juan	328,239	Brittany	355,762
92	Philip	325,446	Olivia	352,263
93	Randy	325,386	Diana	351,810
94	Dylan	321,319	Jane	349,812
95	Howard	316,046	Lori	340,265
96	Vincent	315,590	Madison	336,143
97	Bobby	311,783	Tiffany	333,625
98	Johnny	305,004	Kathy	332,976
99	Phillip	300,279	Tammy	331,500
100	Shawn	298,043	Crystal	326,726
	Source: 100% sample based on Social Security card application data as of the end of February 2014. See the limitations of this data source.

Least Popular Names Given 1880-1932

Then, I looked a little further for least popular names given and found this list on mental-floss.com.

Year	Boy (Rank)	Girl (Rank)
1880	Handy (970)	Parthenia (914)
1881	Okey (972)	Erie (1000)
1882	Ab (943)	Dove (944)
1883	Commodore (925)	Lovey (992)
1884	Spurgeon (958)	Kathern (974)
1885	Fount (989)	Icy (977)
1886	Squire (953)	Texie (987)
1887	Bliss (946)	Lockie (907)
1888	Boss (930)	Indiana (989)
1889	Starling (962)	Easter (967)
1890	Lawyer (999)	Pinkey (918)
1891	Manley (962)	Chestina (974)
1892	Little (914)	Odell (1000)
1893	Orange (1000)	Leafy (933)
1894	Flem (1000)	Ova (986)
1895	Toy (969)	Sister (974)
1896	Josephine (937)*	Clifford (935)*
1897	Henery (1000)	Florance (1000)
1898	Pleasant (973)	Tiny (915)
1899	Fate (972)	Cuba (884)
1900	Gorge (935)	Electa (948)
1901	Joesph (999)	Beulah (923)
1902	Rolla (917)	Bama (942)
1903	Ples (992)	Capitola (982)
1904	Council (989)	Pearly (993)
1905	Son (912)	Wava (967)
1906	Virgle (999)	Carry (971)
1907	Geo (956)	Arizona (949)
1908	Lillian (992)	Lilyan (991)
1909	Murl (1000)	Flonnie (1000)
1910	Lemon (964)	Classie (994)
1911	Wash (978)	Lavada (806)
1912	Christ (940)	Almeta (940)
1913	Louise (982)	Louis (974)
1914	Stephan (1000)	Vella (1000)
1915	Mayo (990)	Dimple (980)
1916	Green (929)	Golden (908)
1917	Elza (968)	Loyce (984)
1918	Curley (998)	Ivory (979)
1919	Metro (982)	Louvenia (993)
1920	Berry (941)	Merry (934)
1921	Reno (969)	Glendora (976)
1922	Author (950)	Gaynell (981)
1923	Burley (994)	Dorothy (995)
1924	Dorman (954)	Mardell (982)
1925	Buddie (973)	Bobbye (990)
1926	Wardell (929)	Willodean (941)
1927	Estel (914)	Gregoria (970)
1928	Gust (996)	Hildred (998)
1929	Vester (984)	Jettie (953)
1930	Otho (972)	Charlsie (951)
1931	Early (1000)	Ferne (1000)
1932	Dock (928)	Jack (992)

But the most interesting piece of information I found was the following abstract of research by Jack Dikian, an Australian born Clinical Consultant whose interests include: developmental disability, mood disorders, cognitive neuropsychology and Quantum Psychology.

The Impact Of A Name On Personality by Jack Dikian, April 2010:

Looking at yourself in the mirror – seeing the person you know so well. Better than anyone – this person called Kate, Kelly, or David. Would you feel the same way about yourself if you had a different given name? Would you still see the person you know so well…

Many of us at some point in our lives have wondered what we would be like if we were given a different name. If we went through school with a different name, if our work mates knew met us with a different name. Some of us may even feel that we are more of a Jennifer instead of a Jenny, or a Sarah with a “h” rather than a Sara.

Not only do some of us have strong perceptions about first names and associate them with success, luck and attractiveness, many people walk around with stereotypes in their heads that can influence all sorts of decisions, yet don’t even realise it, however with very real consequences in everyday life.

This is particularly true in some cultures. For example, in the Jewish culture it is accepted that a name does indeed determine someone’s destiny and health in general. Not only does a Jewish person feel that the given name characterizes the person who possesses it, he feels that when he/she gives a newborn son or daughter their given name, that offspring’s basic personality and traits are being defined, and in a sense, his entire approach to life is mapped out for him in advance.

Having a rare name or a very common one must be a very different experience to live with. With a rare name, one may feel a little more special or even unique. With a common name, one is more likely to have friends (or foes) with the same name, which could only change our ego perception associated with our name.

More importantly, living with a name that we like or one that we dislike does have serious consequences on self-confidence, happiness or the way we relate to others in society. For example, what would it be like if you didn’t always get asked to special your name, or even explain your name when meeting people you don’t know.

According Dr Martin Skinner, a social psychologist at Warwick University-England, people by at large make the most of their given name. Dr Skinner says that efforts can overwhelm the impact of a name. The real consequence is not in the actual name itself, but in the intentions behind it,” says Dr Martin Skinner, a social psychologist at Warwick University.

“Names usually reflect parental aspirations, so someone who wants their child to be taken seriously will give them a name that has weight and is not frivolous – whatever class they are.”

A name certainly plays more of a part than we think, according to Dr Wiseman. While many factors influence how we view a name – from liking a successful actor to disliking your boss – these perception can have a very real impact.

Research has shown that such perceptions can become self-fulfilling prophesies, with teachers giving higher marks to children with attractive names and employers being more likely to promote those who sound successful, he says.

George Clooney regularly tops “gorgeous man” polls, yet his is the first name least associated with attractiveness, and luck in love according to studies, as is for Brian and Helen.

According to Wiseman, who, through his research asked more than 6,000 people about their perceptions of the most popular first names in the UK, observed some strong trends. Elizabeth and James are considered the most successful sounding first names, Lucy and Jack the luckiest and Sophie and Ryan the most attractive.

The author is particularly interested in the impact of given names in an ever-shrinking world. Names such as Elizabeth or a James that may be associated with success in the UK, might carry very different perceptions should Elizabeth or James decide to immigrate.