Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A Kid by Any Other Name is Still a Kid

I was sitting at my daughter's soccer game last night, listening to parents cheering on their kids, when I realized that a lot of today's popular names weren't even around when I was a child. I can't remember knowing a single Kayla, Kaylie, or Kylie when I was a tyke, but they're everywhere now. Or Cheyenne. I never heard of a girl with that name until last year, when I noticed THREE throughout the summer on the soccer fields, although to be fair, one was spelled Sheyanne. Two of my daughter's friends are named Morgan; my best friends in junior high were Sandi and Diane. I love the name Michaela, but I haven't seen it spelled traditionally since my friend christened her baby 18 years ago. All the young girls with that name, and there are a lot of them, go by Mykayla now.

When I was little, boys were named Johnny and Randy and Kevin; they seem to have been replaced by Cody and Tristan and Brendon/Brandon/Brennan.

It's weird to think that my own name may some day be considered old-fashioned. Maybe it already is. I really don't know. Or care. 'Cause I'm that grouchy Old Lady Kim who leans out her window and shakes her fist at those pesky Jasmines and Parkers running across her lawn.



Dinner last night: spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic toast, green salad

Exactly one year ago:



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have Parker (the girl) in playground who plays with Reilly and Morgan. All the boys have traditional names. I love th old names.

Rachel (Diary of a Recovering Chocoholic) said...

My name's fairly traditional- Rachel- but it still gets mangled quite often. People put in Q sounds! or extend it to be Rachelle and I'm like what the heck is wrong with my name that you have to twist it around. One woman insisted on calling me rebekah, because Rachel is hard to say.

Unknown said...

I was an Angie at the height of the name's popularity, which was a pain in the butt. These days if you meet an Angie you can bet she's in the 39-49 age range :) I gave both my boys names that I hoped weren't too popular, but were classic enough to be easily pronounced and spelled and wouldn't be dated. I'm always fascinated to hear the thought process behind people's names for their children!

Lindsay-ann said...

We still have mainly traditional names in England although there are some more modern names creeping in. I like names that are definately male or female but many of these modern names can be either and it's confusing.
Lindsay
x

Michele said...

Come to think of it, I haven't seen a Michele (or a Michelle) in the birth announcements for a long time. I do know a baby named Hazel, though. Blast from the past.

Jessica said...

The names they are a changing. My name was popular back when I was born but I don't hear many kids with it anymore.

Heather~sheaaa6 said...

Love your new cut Kim!! =]

Karen Kaye said...

I was one of 5 Karens in my class and now you never hear of that name for a baby. I guess these names go in stages. My kids go to school with tons of Michaelas and we have a neighbour named Shyanne.

I was in daycare for years so I didn't want to use any name I'd ever come across. Tough decision! We ended up with an Elliott, an Audrey and a Henry. Pretty old fashioned but they're unique because of that.

Thanks for the awesome post. Keep it up!

Karen M. Peterson said...

Wow. Unlike Karen Kaye above, I was always the ONLY Karen in my classes. It wasn't until I got older that I started to find other Karens. I think it's because I was named at the tail end of its popularity.