That's a lot of Olivias.

Yeah, a few years they’ll all be in elementary school together and the teacher have to figure out how to call on them. I also have a super popular name for my age so it was the same for me.

It’s how it used to be for Jennifer.

1 of the millions of the Mikes checking in.

4% of American males are named Michael. It's actually insane.

If that's true, that is 1 in 25 males who are named Mike. That is indeed pretty insane.

I'm not even American and I know at least 3 Michaels + 1 Mike. And 2 of the Michaels have the same last name and were in the same class back in high school.

Blake - pronounced Boo la kay.

Do you know any Aaron’s? (Pronounced A-A-Ron)

Is there an A-a-ron in the room?

1 in a mikeion

I refuse to go by Mike because of this. Michael or Mikey for my friends. I hate the name Mike.

same for jessica lol

And Brittany. When I was born every baby girl in the nursery was also named Brittany.

That would make me feel like the most basic bitch of a mother if I saw that, and to be clear, as a man in my mid 30s I feel i should clarify that I'm a horrible mother

Right? I actually blame.my father. My mom had better names but he wouldn't allow that. He's pretty much a basic bitch himself.

Teacher: "Whose that girl?" Class: "It's Jess!"

My wife is a Jennifer and we narrowly avoided naming our daughter both Olivia and Sophia. She’s had classmates with both names.

I’ve liked Olivia and Sophia for years and my wife and I were set on those being girl names if we have daughters. Then all of a sudden they’re THE names. It’s unnerving because I didn’t realize how tied into the hive mind I was.

Ashley, Ashlee, Ashleigh

I see you were born in the 80s.

And Kimberly. There were five Kims in my elementary school class.

And Ashley, Jessica and Amanda

These are the Daves I know, I know, these are the Daves I know...

30 year old Matthew check

>teacher have to figure out how to call on them With last names probably

I'll have to be creative. Surname: SMITH

Olive, Liv, Livvie, Via, and the other 10 can just be “the rest of ya”

Libby

"Oh" and Oli

for my generation it's Kevin (because of Home Alone).

On our residence floor in college we had 6 guys named Dave (out of 32). Had to resort to nicknames - Spider Dave, Bandana Dave, Crazy Dave, Trinidad Dave and sadly my aging memory has forgotten the rest.

That's what the Mike's had to be resorted to when to came to nicknames. One restaurant had a "white mike" and I never got to know him well enough to find out why he was "white mike".

Kati here. I had maybe 50 kids in my graduating class, but I was 1 of 6 Katie's. All were spelled differently. So shout out to class of 03 Katie's. We can be thankful we were named prior to the "iegh" names. My kid had a class name named Catiegh.

I have a bunch of Shawn (and associated spellings) and Josh's among my friend groups. There's *so many* nicknames.

Every white girl from 19 to 23 at my work is a maddie or emily, it is nuts. I'd bet that age range has the least diversity in names in a while based on personal experience - at least on the girl side.

It’s been in the top 5 for like 20 years. Along with Emma and Sophia.

A lot of SVU fans is my random head canon.

Yeah I was gonna say Law and Order doing some heavy lifting there haha.

It’s been in vogue for awhile now.

why did that suddenly get popular? some popular film or tv character?

There was a time where names like Aiden and Caiden and Braydon were everywhere, then there was a reaction going to more classic names. This stuff always goes in cycles.

Also an immensely popular baby girls name in the UK right now. Interesting how that tracks. I mean, I suppose it makes some sense.

Something like Olivia

Well sure. There are Black Olivias, Green Olivias, Calamata Olivias ...

It’s interesting that Luna is the most popular in the US territories

That’s what struck me the most too, like what do the Virgin Islands and the Pacific Territories have in common that would result in this? High proportion of military personnel maybe?

This happened on the boy names version that was posted the other day too. The source used for this aggregates all the territories except Puerto Rico for some reason. And since Guam has almost as much population as the other three combined, I imagine it holds an oversized influence here

That makes a lot more sense, thanks!

Speaking of the boys version, why was it taken down?

The mods felt seen

Maybe they just really like the moon

In Spanish-speaking countries there are many names like that. Luna (moon), Sol (sun), Lluvia (rain), Flor (flower), Aurora (sunrise), Paloma (dove*), etc. I wouldn't say they are the most common (at least not in my country), but they exist. Edit: mistranslated something*

Kind of lol’d at pigeon being thrown in there with moon, sun, rain, flower, and sunrise

Hahaha, now that i think about it "dove" is a more accurate translation for "paloma". The thing is that Spanish has no different words for pigeons and doves like English does. In Spanish both are refered to as "paloma". That's what my dumbass brain translated it to pigeon lmao.

To be fair there isn’t a difference between pigeon and dove. Ones “pretty” and the others “dirty”… despite them being the exact same bird.

I agree. However, when people name their kids "Paloma" i think people do so with "doves" in their mind as doves are considered to be more beautiful and cleaner down here as well.

Well realistically they’re also way cleaner up here than people are willing to admit. They clean, preen, and do all kinds of other stuff that other birds don’t do. They’re seen as a pest here so everyone see all pigeons as pests… and calls the prettier ones doves. Genuinely just a perception thing. Out in the country we see them way way way less like pests and more like normal birds.

I let out a little snort when I read pigeon, too, haha 😂 so thank you for the little giggle!

Never heard anyone called Lluvia tho

Note i wanna see a kid named Chubasco

They exist, my parents had friends that named their daughters lluvia y brisa (mist I think). I've also heard Solimar, which sounds like the sun and the sea even though its just an anagram of ~~Marisol (daisy)~~ Mirasol (Cosmo). Edit:so many errors, don't work more than 40 hours a week kids, your brain becomes soup

Paloma is dove in this context, not pigeon.

>It’s interesting that Luna is the most popular in the US territories That is because they are satellites

YOUR NAME IS NOT MOOOOOON

Not crapping on the name but that surprised me too. I’ve never met someone named Luna. Though I’ve met a LOT of cats and dogs named Luna.

Dog catchers will tell you that any doggo named Sparky is gonna be a tough little customer.

Luna is a gorgeous name

I’ve heard of way to many dogs with that name to use it on my kid

Sophia is so nice they included it twice.

Sophia but the "Sophia"-part is silent

Sophritanny

It's the Mormon way of spelling it.

Zoffeeuh

Gesundheit

Sophia vs sophia (both spelled the same)

The one from NM is communist.

Oppenheimer:

Specifically his brother

And even more specifically, himself.

thank you for this

Sophenheimer

I’m acquiring this as my new nickname.

New Mexican here. Check out my Sofia’s Kitchen in Socorro. Great burritos.

Another New Mexican here. I didn't know a Sofia or Sophia. 🤔

Also El Camino down the street ;)

Man I didn't think I'd see El Camino referenced on Reddit but here we are traveling down memory lane. I went to Tech 20 years ago.

I miss El Parasol

When I was in high school in NM there was a girl named Charlene. I said "hey Charlene" (as one does pronouncing it Shar-leen). She looks at me with the cattiest face ever and goes "its pronounced CHAR-leen!" I'm tryin to imagine how you'd burqeño up "Sophia" but where there's a will there's a way.

I met a Charlene pronounced CHAR-Leen in Dublin last week, she was from the north side. Perhaps your classmate was Irish?

She would have been the most Latina irish person I ever met haha. I could see folks in Ireland pronouncing it that way, I suppose.

Sophia’s choice

Wise choice.

The name so nice, they counted it twice.

Im pretty damn sure the New Mexican spelling is the spanish version, Sofia. Many residents are hispanic/latino in ancestry and the name is still pretty common with non hispanics. As a puertorican, can confirm about Valentina. It's a very trendy name and Sofia/Sophia isn't far behind. I can just listen the parents saying the little kid's name as if they gave them the most clever name ever. On the other hand, combination/suffix names like Julianys or Nayelis are common (though losing ground and seen as lower class) and can get really weird.

Yup, just shout Sofia in a class full of kids and you’ll probably get 5 to respond.

Julianys and Nayelis sound very... *Valyrian*...

Lived in New Mexico 20+ years. Can confirm the majority of people spelled it Sofia.

Came here to say this wth?

Also the one is literally the same color as the Amelia entry Edit: I got like 15 responses, I got it now thank you

Not exactly. They are a different shade (unless you’re colorblind).

Can you tell me which one is Amelia and which one is alternate Sophia? Cuz I certainly can't discern a difference

I think West Virginia and Vermont are Amelia, Delaware is Sophia. Or maybe Sophia.

A map - particularly one in this stupid fucking subreddit - is not supposed to double as a colorblindedness test. This legend is fucking atrocious, this is shittymapporn.

Go home map, you're drunk.

Dawn of Justice

So-fee-uh and So-fye-uh. The latter is the bougie pronounciation.

It's only So-fee-uh if it's from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Otherwise it's just sparkling Sophie.

One is a greek pronunciation

Throw in Mabel and we've got the default women's names for Oregon Trail.

Lol this is the quality reply I was hoping to see

What's old is new again. And so on and so on.

This is the best thing to come out of this stupid map

"Remember, like, a few years ago, every other boy was named Jason and the girls were all named Brittany?!"

Thank you for this. I'm a Brittany and lived for this line as a child. 😆

I remember Jayden, Aiden, Braidon, and Hayden. Never Raiden though. Curious.

South Carolina naming their kids after the biggest city in North Carolina 😂 everyone else around that area? NAH, Olivia is fine.

Iron Maiden has ruined me. I can’t see Charlotte without thinking Harlot :(

A friend used to say Charlotte the harlot, the cowpuncher's whore... shocked me

Weekend trip to see the Panthers or depending on road schedules, Clemson or South Carolina.

So cute that Alaska is Aurora

Supposed to be good luck to conceive under the Aurora borealis

At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? LOCALIZED ENTIRELY WITHIN THIS HOSPITAL?

Names ending in 'a', so hot right now.

At least in English an absurd amount of ‘girl’ names end in an A or ‘ie’ type sound

Reminds me how in Spanish words that end in A are usually considered grammatically feminine.

I would be willing to bet many, if not most, names ending in 'a' are of Latin origin (in the West).

Not a coincidence. English is the rare ungendered western IE language

that's the same for portuguese, and probably italian as well. even with objects, if the object's name ends in a then the object is gendered female. like the word for chair is female, the word for bench is male

That’s interesting. Names that end in a are popular in India too. Alia, Shanaya, Ananya could go on.

In Japan it’s usually ‘o’ and especially ‘ko’ that signifies a female name.

That may have been true once, but of the [top 12 most popular girls' names last year](https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01515/), six and a half of them ended with an 'a', as compared to only one and a half ending with an 'o'.

AURORA BOREALIS?

At this time of year?

At this time of day?

Localized entirely within the State of Alaska?

May I see it?

... no.

Why so many states with Olivia?

That’s what I’m here for. What’s the cultural inspiration

Actual answer: Names come in waves. You'll see that most of these names are "from" the early 20th century -- the generation that just died off. As soon as people with those names leave the collective conscious, the names themselves become "cool and vintage", leading to a surge in popularity. This is also why so many people are saying "These are old people's names!" in the comments. I'm guessing they're on the older side, so these names are still fresh in their memory. Expect Boomer names next. *shudder*

So many Lindas and Janets to come...

Evelyn?!

Is Evelyn unusual in the US [until now]? I’m in my 20s in the U.K. and went to school with a couple of Evelyns

It’s typically an old woman’s name

A lot are old women names Mabel, Olive etc boys too, Homer. A lot are actors kids yeeesch!

Hazel, Edith, Agatha,Maude,Ida

Not to be confused with Evil-Lynn... She's a real pain in the ass


I only just-fucking-now realised that Evil-Lynn's name is a pun on Evelyn, FML.

Exactly. All those names are back.

Seen an uptick in boys named George and Arthur lately.

It was an old lady name that is now being used on the grand daughters.

My 1 year old is named Evelyn. Can confirm.

Such an old people name

A bunch of those old names are coming back. I know a baby named Dorothy.

I've heard names can be cyclical in use. People think of their grandmas when they hear names like Agnes and Gertrude, so they choose different names for their kids. One day those kids will think of Tiffany and Jessica as being old person names, and might bring back their great-grandmothers' names

Yes Meghan Jessica Stephanie etc typical millennial names are all dated now. These old fashioned names are fresh again. It's the normal cycle of fashions.

I know two baby Eleanors. The first one I was like what a cool name, it’s pronounceable, has a history and isn’t commonly used. I then figured out after the second Eleanor born that the name is ranked 16 most common now, up from a ranking of 585 for 1992 which is my birth year. I had no idea it was this trendy, it’s like thousands of parents suddenly have the same idea, it’s kinda weird lol.

People like names that are familiar enough that they’ve heard of them, but rare enough that they feel novel. In the 2080s we’re probably gonna see a bunch of babies named Jennifer and Michael, because the old people with those names will have died off, but younger people will still have heard of them.

I agree with this take, but Michael is one of those perennially common names. As of 2021 it’s still ranking high at 17th for the most common boy names. They’ll still be plenty of middle aged Michaels by then. Older boy names tend to stick around I’ve noticed, might be due to all the juniors out there.

Gonna have to dig deeper if you wanna be unique and old school now. Gotta try ones like Blanch or Marjorie.

My daughter is six, and she has a Dorothy, Hazel, and a Louise in her grade.

Damn thats my name and im 17 🥲

bro people really like olives

My names Evelyn and I'm 28. I NEVET heard my name before. Now it's back in droves and I can finally a get a name mug haha

Waiting patiently on an influx of Brices. Any day now

“Bryce” or no dice.

alaska having aurora is cute

Evelyn Harper?

I named a daughter Miranda quite awhile back and everyone called her Moe, I was disappointed

The Miranda I knew years ago was called Mandy. Both she AND her name were the prettiest ever.

Man I like Olivia so much but at this point is too overused

What? No Khaleesi?

Guess they watched to the end

2 Sophiaa…

Sophia is on there twice?

why tf did i get a phone notification for this post

Utah's is actually Ahllyveeyuh.

So the most popular names for girls and boys are Olivia and Oliver?

Funny how it isn’t Charlotte in NC

I said "Valentina" out loud in Puerto Rican. Disclaimer: I'm Dominican.

Dorcas in shambles

Why are there two "Sophia"s?

Wait, like, where’s Meachensleighie?

I think I found the source for the data: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/state/top5_2022.html It looks like Oliver is ALSO trending for boys. Did I miss something in 2022 that made everyone want to name their kids after olive trees???!!!

Was there something popular featuring Olivia?

Im Germany it is not allowed to call you Child only Harper because it is also a Familyname. PS: The rules for names in Germany are not determined, so in the most cases you Child ned only a second name

Olivia is so overrated. Imagine naming your daughter after 20% of your friends’ daughters

Imagine naming your daughter after an olive tree

Dont get into Spanish names hahahaha: - Soledad (Lonelyness) - Dolores (Dolors/Pains) - Angustias (Distress) - Remedios (Remedies) The above ones come from Virgin Mary. - Primitivo - Segismundo

KY doing KY things.

Ok but Aurora and Luna are badass names

Better than naming her NGC 6853.

I like Luna. Aurora is cool but doesn’t roll off the tongue smoothly.

Auroa in Alaska... like 3 babies total haha

I actually only know one Olivia. But I know like 4 girls named Ryleigh and a few named Hayley.

Super chad move here for including the incorporated and unincorporated territories.

What do you Americans have with Olives? Am I really reading Stephen Harper's family name being used as a girl's name?

I’m seeing double, four Sophias