What’s in a Name?

When I was at school, there were five other Sarahs in my class. There were three Pauls, several Georges and two Janes. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABIES CALLED JANE?

Apparently, the Victorians were keen on John and Mary, Myrtle and Clarence. Babycentre revealed that in January 2014  the most popular boys’ names were Charlie, Alexander, Daniel and James and a cluster of daughters named Isabella, Olivia, Sophie and Isla were born. The Sarahs, Elizabeths and Janes of my youth are nowhere to be seen these days. What is it that makes certain names fashionable? Apart from the obvious influence of celebrities, is there some kind of collective audio unconscious that makes certain letters hang together in an aesthetically pleasing way  just as we thought flares looked good in 1974 and shoulder pads rocked 1989? I named my daughters while they were still in the womb and I broke with the family tradition of sticking within a limited palette of name choices. But what is it that makes us love or loathe a name?  Is it an association with people or things we love? Is it just the way things sound?

How did you decide what to name your children?

  Featured image by Huffington Post