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Use of 'Mary' as baby name plummets among American parents
Catholic News Agency ^ | Feb 3, 2011

Posted on 02/03/2011 12:49:03 PM PST by Alex Murphy

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To: La Lydia

I thought you might be right but in the last 30 years it went from 37th to 71st.

http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi


21 posted on 02/03/2011 1:39:00 PM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: Straight Vermonter

Hillary was the 131st most popular name in 1992. Within 10 years it had fallen out of the top 1000.


22 posted on 02/03/2011 1:42:33 PM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: stayathomemom

A poe fan!


23 posted on 02/03/2011 1:43:52 PM PST by BenKenobi (one of the worst mistakes anybody can make is to bet against Americans.")
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To: KarlInOhio

Thanks for that page link. To my relief, I got the following message when I did a search:

Barack is not in the top 1000 male names for any year of birth in the last 100 years.
Please enter another name.

I feared that in 2009, there might have been a huge surge in babies named Barack—a lifetime ball-and-chain if ever there was one. Sort of like being named “James Earl ????” in 1977. Anyone named after the Peanut Man surely has got a very legitimate beef to take up with the parents for selecting such a loser name.


24 posted on 02/03/2011 1:45:06 PM PST by DrC
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To: Straight Vermonter

So nobody’s naming their kids Maria, either. I have a Mexican friend who just named her baby “Wendy.” Her first one is named “Jill.” Go figure.


25 posted on 02/03/2011 1:45:54 PM PST by La Lydia
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To: Persevero
In my first real job, one of the other young women had a sister who had named her little girl "Harla". One of the other people working there said to me, "isn't that a pretty name." To which I emphatically replied, "NO".

That was my beginning of people naming their poor children with horrible monikers. I can only imagine what kind of ribbing she took in high school.

26 posted on 02/03/2011 1:46:19 PM PST by LibertarianLiz
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To: La Lydia

Wendy was actually a name invented for “Peter Pan”.


27 posted on 02/03/2011 1:50:26 PM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: Straight Vermonter

And it is a derivative of Gwendolyn.


28 posted on 02/03/2011 1:52:30 PM PST by La Lydia
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I think my negative visceral reaction to “Gertrude” came from looking at my mother’s high school yearbook. They had a Gertrude in their class whose picture appeared by the dictionary definition of “hideous”. And I had an Aunt Gertrude who was a saint of a person, very warm and friendly, but again was less visually appealing than the south end of a northbound horse.

Just never dug “Gertrude” after that. But it beats “Shamika” or some of the other faux names.


29 posted on 02/03/2011 1:52:37 PM PST by jimt
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To: Persevero

Candace is a Biblical name—see Acts 8.27 (queen of Ethiopia).


30 posted on 02/03/2011 1:57:59 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Alex Murphy

I suspect it has a lot to do with young couples today wanting their child to have a ‘different’ name (i.e., Apple). The top 10 in 2009 for girls were almost all unheard of 20-30 years ago.

Our parents were more into tradition, using family names, saints names. These parents don’t want their kid to be “MaryB” OR “MaryS” in their class. They want them to stand out! Instead, now it will be “EmmaB” or “EmmaS” because names are still being used commonly just a different group of names than our parents’ generation.

We have a Mary, a Matthew, and a John. So untrendy.


31 posted on 02/03/2011 1:58:40 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: La Lydia

But there are PLENTY of Shaliquas!


32 posted on 02/03/2011 1:59:35 PM PST by Oldpuppymax
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To: La Lydia

But dey be PLENTY uv Shaliquas!


33 posted on 02/03/2011 2:00:30 PM PST by Oldpuppymax
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To: Alex Murphy

“You ever notice there aren’t many Chinese guys named ‘Rusty’?” - George Carlin


34 posted on 02/03/2011 2:05:18 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: jimt
The name Gertrude makes me think of Stephen Leacock's story "Gertrude the Governess," one of his best. Very funny.

Google the phrase and an online version of the text is the first item on the page.

35 posted on 02/03/2011 2:07:24 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Alex Murphy

Oh that’s sad.In my first comminion class I was one of only 3 girl who were not named some sort of Mary *middle name*.


36 posted on 02/03/2011 2:09:42 PM PST by chris_bdba
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To: Alex Murphy

Oh that’s sad.In my first communion class I was one of only 3 girl who were not named some sort of Mary *middle name*.


37 posted on 02/03/2011 2:09:54 PM PST by chris_bdba
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To: stayathomemom

Did you MIL appreciate your using a name so similar to hers for your daughters’ middle names? My MIL didnt appreciate my BIL/SIL using a derivative of her name for one of their daughters, instead of using HER name.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see my daughter use her grandmother’s original name that was too plain for our generation to use. I suspect (hope) that the upcoming generation of parents will return to more traditional names for their kids. This whole ‘being different’ business has gotten so out of control, the names have become ridiculous.


38 posted on 02/03/2011 2:10:49 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: dfwgator
“You ever notice there aren’t many Chinese guys named ‘Rusty’?” - George Carlin

Rusty would come out as "Lusty".

39 posted on 02/03/2011 2:10:49 PM PST by windsorknot
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To: Bringbackthedraft

I tried to convince my wife to allow me to do just that...well, Thor or Freya...It was met with a resounding NO!! So we settled for Anthony.


40 posted on 02/03/2011 2:12:50 PM PST by BudgieRamone (Everybody loves a bonk on the head.)
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