If you needed any more evidence that our culture is secularizing, I submit this. Of the most popular baby names in America, Mary doesn’t even make the top ten anymore, according to LiveScience. What does that say about us?
Most popular boy/girl baby names in 1950:
1. James / Linda
2. Robert / Mary
3. John / Patricia
4. Michael / Barbara
5. David / Susan
6. William / Nancy
7. Richard / Deborah
8. Thomas / Sandra
9. Charles / Carol
10. Gary / KathleenHere’s the list from last year:
1. Jacob / Emily
2. Michael / Isabella
3. Ethan / Emma
4. Joshua / Ava
5. Daniel / Madison
6. Christopher / Sophia
7. Anthony / Olivia
8. William / Abigail
9. Matthew / Hannah
10. Andrew / ElizabethThe name Mary had a long go, staying at No. 1 baby girl name from the 1880s through the 1950s…
You’d have to think the secularization of our culture has much to do with the name Mary falling from grace.
February 11, 2009 at 4:29 am
I think it says Americans are getting much better taste in names. Certainly no offense to Our Lady, but “Mary” and the other 9 names at the top of the list for 1950 are asthetically awful names. Now, if parents retained the original Latin and named their daughters “Maria”, that would be awesome.
~cmpt
February 11, 2009 at 8:23 am
Yawn.
Mary has indeed fallen out of the top 10. But in 1950 Linda, Nancy and Sandra were all popular “secular” names. The ratio of girls’ “secular” to religious names for last year is higher than for 1950, but not by much – certainly not enough to imply dire trends in the culture.
And the boys names are arguably more religious, with more instances of classic Biblical and Saints’ names (Jacob, Joshua, Anthony) and fewer English traditional names (Robert, William, Gary) with little recognizable “religious” pedigree behind them.
The fact that “Mary” itself has dropped out of the top 10 could mean many things:
1) Our culture is growing “secular” (as you suggest).
2) The Anglicized “Mary” has fallen out of favor and replaced by several variants (Maria, Marie, Moira, Maura, Molly, Miriam) none of which has enough headcount to make the top 10 on its own.
3) Changing mores make Christian parents uncomfortable with naming their daughter after the “big saint” because it seems haughty. In comparison, “Jesus” is a culturally acceptable name in Mexico but not in the English speaking world. For a caucasian American family to name their son “Jesus” would strike most people as intensely weird, and would have 50 or 100 years ago as well. Too presumptuous. Its possible that the same thing is happening to “Mary.”
BTW – your post contradicts itself. You say that Mary was #1 from the 1880s through the 950s. But the data for 1950 has Mary at #2.
February 11, 2009 at 8:59 am
I don’t know. Here in Germany – which you will agree is as secular as it gets (perhaps with the exception of France and Benelux) – Maria is still on no. 1.
February 11, 2009 at 9:14 am
Well I’m not so sure. I can count at least 8 biblical names from that last year’s list. Now maybe if there’s going to be a sequel on “There’s something about Mary” then the name would be back in business.
February 11, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Nothing wrong with a good Catholic name like Isabella!
February 11, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I’ll bet many people who name their daughter Isabella aren’t thinking about the Spanish queen when they choose that name.
February 11, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I wrote something about this a while ago.
http://homeschoolingmythreesons.blogspot.com/2008/09/draw-your-own-conclusions.html
Decade – Rank – Percentage of baby girls named Mary
1880’s – 1 – 5.6%
1890’s – 1 – 5.6%
1900’s – 1 – 5.2%
1910’s – 1 – 5.6%
1920’s – 1 – 5.7%
1930’s – 1 – 5.2%
1940’s – 1 – 4.3%
1950’s – 1 – 3.2%
1960’s – 2 – 1.9%
1970’s – 15 – 0.8%
1980’s – 35 – 0.5%
1990’s – 39 – 0.4%
2000’s – 58 – 0.2%
Over one in 20 girls were named Mary for decades and decades. Maybe centuries – the stats only go back to 1880, but I bet the trend was the same before then. And these are national statistics; among Catholics it was probably one in ten, or more! Imagine if all of the Jennifer’s we grew up with had been Mary’s.
February 11, 2009 at 2:31 pm
sd’s comment is interesting, but I’m still inclined to believe it has a lot more to do with a lack of devotion to Our Lady in recent decades.
February 11, 2009 at 2:35 pm
The reason for my conclusion is that no other “fad” name has near the staying power that Mary had for decades and decades. I can’t prove it scientifically, but note how numbers 2-10 vary decade to decade, while Mary remained number one. It just seems common-sensical to attribute the popularity and subsequent decline of the name Mary to anything other religious devotion.
February 11, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Also (sorry to ramble on), but while 8 of the 10 most popular boy names today are indeed biblical, I suspect that has a lot more to do with an “old fashioned” names fad. In other words, they didn’t pick those names because they were biblical, they picked them because they were “classic” and just so happen to be religious. But hey, let us hope that all those little Michaels and Andrews find inspiration nonetheless and convert their generation!
February 11, 2009 at 2:54 pm
We thought we were being unique in naming our second son after St. Aidan, only to find out that “Aidan” (and its variants) was, at the time, the most popular baby name in the U.S. Now, despite our intentions of giving our son a good Irish name and naming him after a saint, he will be forever viewed as having been named during the “Aidan fad”.
I’m actually fairly pleased that little Mary Virginia (“aesthetically awful” as her name may be) will not be seen as having been given a trendy name.
February 11, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I knew a couple who was trying to have a baby forever and they were told to pray to Mary for help. They prayed fervently to Our Lady and voila! they got pregnant and then named their daughter something trendy like Ginnifer Emily.
February 11, 2009 at 3:13 pm
What about second names, though? Here in Puerto Rico at least, you don’t see many girls named “Maria”, but there are a LOT of girls with either “Maria” or “Marie” as a second name. There’s a trend here of making up names here, and many of them end with “mari”.
Might I note that I know someone whose second name is “Marie” but comes from a Protestant family. So naming your child after Mary or a saint has nothing to do with devotion. Now, names like “Maria del Carmen” are another thing…
From the new names, “Jacob” and “Joshua” whose connection to the Bible is very obvious, more obvious than say “John”, if you ask me.
What’s really worrying about this list is this: who’s naming their kid Ava??
February 11, 2009 at 3:16 pm
here of making up names, and
“Jacob” and “Joshua” are ones whose connection
Should teach me not to write in the morning =)
February 11, 2009 at 3:51 pm
“Asthetically awful’?! You do have a desire to be a bomb-tosser, don’t you Christopher Michael. I’m not named any of those names and I’m offended on their behalf! Who pray tell are you to make such a sweeping statement?
(As a mom of a 6 year old girl, I do know a few Avas, Sophias, and Isabellas–the trends just seem to blow in…)
February 11, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I wouldn’t worry about the aesthetic sensibilities of some guy wearing a dorky vest like that.
— Someone with an awesome name and not sharing it with you.
February 11, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I think it has more to do with Protestantization (including Protestantization of Catholics) than secularization. There don’t seem to be more secular names in the bottom list than in the top one. What I do see is saints’ names being replaced with Scriptural and “classic” names.
February 11, 2009 at 4:19 pm
“I wouldn’t worry about the aesthetic sensibilities of some guy wearing a dorky vest like that.”
LOL!
February 11, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I find it funny that my friends who thought they were giving their kids unique names were really just giving their kids the same names as everyone else around them.
February 11, 2009 at 5:31 pm
We named our son Peter in 2007. It surprises most people.