I was having a conversation the other day with my dad about how when I talk to people on the phone at work, they can tell that I'm young. I think it's mostly because my voice sounds like I'm young, but something else struck me as I was relaxing getting a massage yesterday. I think my name - Britni - sounds young. Have you ever met a Brittany/Britney/Britni that is older than 25? I definitely can't remember one. Its (Brittany) popularity started in 1985 (the year I was born) and continued until 1998. It finally dropped off the top 20 list of baby girl names in 1999. So I think that's another reason why people probably can assume I'm young. My name wasn't around a whole lot before I was born and just doesn't sound like I'm 35.
Just for fun, here are thirteen other names that were in the top 20 baby girl names in 1985. See if you know someone that's 22 or 23 with one of these names. I'm willing to bet you know more than just one person.
And since we're doing this just for fun here are the 13 most popular baby boy names from 1985:
- Jessica
- Ashley
- Jennifer
- Amanda
- Sarah
- Stephanie
- Nicole
- Heather
- Elizabeth
- Megan
- Melissa
- Christina
- Rachel
- Michael
- Christopher
- Matthew
- Joshua
- Daniel
- David
- James
- Robert
- John
- Joseph
- Andrew
- Ryan
- Brandon
You can check out more baby name lists here. The names have definitely changed- #1 girl from 2006 is Emily (with Emma coming close behind) and #1 boy is Jacob. Neither of which appear on either of the lists 23 years ago. Happy Thursday Thirteen!
14 comments:
Two names that are almost always on these top 20 lists, Ryan and Rachel! They are so common! Thats why all of our kids are going to have super unique names, you know, like Tulip and Anakin. Okay, not really, but they will have unique names, just not crazy ones.
I was just talking to my daughter about this yesterday! Her name is on the top lists now but when I was growing up I didn't know anyone with her name. And you never see a kid with my name, Denise, these days--or even in people your age. It just sounds old to me.
This was a great Thursday Thirteen idea!
I know exactly what you mean about picturing older people with a 'young' name. For example, my dau (5 yrs old) is Alexis and I can't imagine a grandma with that name. :) I know an Amanda, Stephanie, Nicole, and Joseph in that age bracket. I like how your name Britni is spelled.
I know people from both those lists but they're all in their 30s. Happy TT.
Man the names have raelly changed...now it is names like Zander, Avery, Payton, Rylie....yea and most of those are girl names...would you believe that!? I miss the good old names :)
Interesting.
In the book Freakonomics, he discusses trends in baby names. I think they are on a 15 year cycle or something like that, in that names that are very popular among the upper class one year, will become the most popular names among the middle and lower class in 15 years.
And going along with the age thing, like you don't meet many Esthers who don't have white hair. But then again, in sitcoms and stuff, my name always seems to be the name of the crazy aunt. :o)
What a great list! We thought about that when we named our son Jonah- it hadn't been a really popular name in a long time and then the month he was born there were 8 other Jonah's born at the same hospital! WoW! Kindergarten is gonna be rough for him!!! LOL! (Bytheway...I like the spelling of your name...it makes it very original but that's your mom and dad for ya!)
I like doing names that are not in the top 100, but are in at least in the top 300ish, and the most common spelling. But everyone makes of their name whatever they want, and names always grow on you after you know/love the child/person.
There is a great tool called the Name Voyager at http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
It shows you how the popularity of any name has fluctuated since the 1880s. Very fun to play around with.
I LOVE Emma and Jacob...but I don't want to name my kids what everyone else is named.
And, to answer your question. I don't know any old Britinys.
Oh do I feel OLD now. You were born in '85?!?!?!?!
This is exactly why I like I have a unique name. I'm just a couple years older than you (born in '82...though I accidently wrote '32 just now...ha!), and I can think of at least one person with each of those names about my age. One day I hope to give my children fairly unique names (though I'd prefer people to not necessarily have to ask how to spell it like they do mine).
This map of popular baby names shows the current popularity of your name Britni in the US and around the world. The "Compare Names" feature let's you see the relative popularity amongst the various Brittany derivatives.
It happen to me also all the time.
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