I substitute teach in our local high school district, so I have seen hundreds of names on roll sheets, so I am aware of trends in naming. Amazingly, John, Joe, Richard, Larry, and Charles almost never appear among boy’s names. When I was growing up, Linda was the most widespread girl’s name, and there was at least one Linda in every one of my classes from K through grad school. Now that name has disappeared, as has Lisa, Lynn, Nannette and Ann.
Jared, Dylan and Joshua are some of the boy’s names that are now popular, yet were unknown when I was growing up. However, I am turned off by some of the new girl’s names, like Madison, which sounds like a boy’s name, Brooklyn, which sounds like a nickname for a boxer or a wrestler, and Aspen, which sounds like a painkiller.
As a kid, I was sometimes one of a couple named Bob in a class. Often a couple of kids named Mike.
Now? “Wait, you say your name is “Bob”? THREE LETTERS? What’s wrong, your parents couldn’t spell?”