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 5:37 pm
Think of all the biblical and saint’s names we could be using. Let’s buck the trend and start naming our boys Ebedmelech, Ichabod, Cunibert, and Agatho; and our girls Gomer, Athaliah, Cunegunda, and Walburga…
February 11, 2009 at 7:10 pm
All I’m going to say is that I think people will like our baby’s name, that is, if the baby ever arrives. 🙂
I will say, it will be awfully tough to avoid naming a boy (or even a girl) Abe if it is born tomorrow.
February 11, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Paul,
You could probably get away with “Lincoln” as a girl’s name, but I don’t know about “Abraham” for a girl. That’s venturing into “Boy Named Sue” territory.
February 12, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I love the Holy Mother. In fact my little Elena Grace calls Mary “Mother Mary” and has mistaken pictures of women holding there babies as the Madonna and Child “Mommy! Jesus and Mother Mary!” She is 20 months. She is named Elena in honor of saint Helen. I wanted a Sophia, but have put that name off until it is no longer in the top 5. I prefer unusual names. Many parents feel the same way. My in-laws are so scared that I will have boy twins – hello Cyril and Methodius! Honoring the lesser known or less popular saints in no way neglects Mary. Not teaching your children about the Theotokos is the real problem.
February 12, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Everyone seems to want an unusual name these days–then somehow every one selects the same unusual name. HA! We ultimately named my daughter after her grandmother and grandfather. Which itself is unusual these days. And I’m not going to tell you, in case I start a trend. (And we have do have a Peter, as well as two Henrys, a Michael, Ryan, Lila, Lily, Emily, among others in the
1st grade. But no Johns or Marys.
February 12, 2009 at 7:52 pm
meilinPR said…
“What’s really worrying about this list is this: who’s naming their kid Ava??”
There is one Ava and one Eva in my son’s second grade class. Considering the origin is the Hebrew “chava” meaning life, I think it quite a lovely name.
February 13, 2009 at 4:21 am
We considered “Mary”, but it really doesn’t go well with our last name. However, both daughters have “saint” first names and both share the middle name “Marie.”
February 17, 2009 at 7:40 am
The real culprit here, while related to changing taste in names, is more likely expanding taste in names. Any of the top ten names in 2007 (2008’s lists will come out in the spring) was given to a much smaller percentage of babies born that year than any of the top ten names for 1950. In other words, more babies were named Linda in 1950 than were named Emily in 2007. “Uniqueness” is more valued today – thus many parents actively steer clear of top ten names. Clearly, of course, it’s true that Mary is not one of the most popular names in the country, and it used to be. However – though my statistical analysis isn’t good – whereas the list used to skew towards the top 10 or 20, it now skews towards a wider range of names somewhat below that, in terms of where the bulk of children’s names come from.