Pretty stats link of the day
Posted by: andy
Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 08:55
My brother just sent me this curious link:
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.htmlShows you a interactive graph of the prevalence of first names over the last 100 years (I think the data is from the US).
I'd love to hear some theory on why names beginning with "A" were so unpopular in the 1940's and 1950's...
Posted by: pca
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 10:05
Try 'Adolph' and 'Kylie' for interesting results.
The first case may explain your question, in fact.
pca
Posted by: andy
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 10:16
Though Adolph doesn't have quite the same cut off you might expect, it was falling rapidly long before the 30s and 40s. It looks like German names generally might have the same trend, try Otto or Franz for example.
It doesn't explain the "A"s either, Adolph was never ranked very high. It seems to be mostly down to the loss of popularity of Agnes, Albert, Alice, Anna and Arthur.
Wendy is another good example of the Kylie style trend, being as the name didn't exist until JM Barrie invented it.
Posted by: peter
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 11:30
Quote:
(I think the data is from the US
Lots of "Nicole"s, no "Nicola"s -- must be the US. My friend Nicola, who now lives in the US, gets people pronouncing her name as if she were a soft drink.
Also a nonzero number of people called "Randy". Dead giveaway...
Peter
Posted by: andy
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 12:07
I used to work with an American guy called Randy Rustic, it was always difficult to say his name without grinning. There was another American called Rick Turpin (so close) in the same company...
Posted by: boxer
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 12:49
Along different lines, at my old firm, we had a client called Ivor Dick!
Posted by: Dignan
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 13:01
My girlfirend had a firend in elementary school with the last name Wacker. Naturally, her father's name was Richard. It gets better, too. Dick Wacker has his own
plumbing company 
Posted by: Dignan
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 13:05
I saw this site on The Screen Savers, too. I wonder where they get their info from. Is it the Census?
I also wonder what's going on with some of the data. Try typing in M-A-T. What's going on at the top there? There are two more sets of data for "Matthew," but why?
Posted by: peter
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 13:42
Quote:
There are two more sets of data for "Matthew," but why?
One is "Mathew" (one T), one's Matthew as a girl's name.
Peter
Posted by: Dignan
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 13:58
Ahhhh. I see. Sorry, for some reason the colors didn't jump out at me as coordinated. That makes sense. I'm not sure why I didn't notice the one T.
Posted by: frog51
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 14:30
I notice Franz died out before 1910 - wonder if it'll come back now?
Posted by: andy
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 14:45
Sadly Xander and Anya suddenly became more popular in the last few years, oddly though there is no sign of Buffy or Willow
Posted by: frog51
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 15:14
Sitting next to an Emily who is very disappointed at just how common she is. Especially as neither my, nor my children's names are in it - we're just so trend-setting...Yay.
Although, to be fair, you wouldn't find my daughter's name in any study in any country except Iceland or possibly Norway, Eilin being a pretty rare spelling.
Posted by: AudunE
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 15:24
Eilin is a rare name in too Norway. 166 norwegian girsl go by that name
Posted by: frog51
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 15:28
Buffy is there - peaked at position 678 in the 1970's and Willow is currently ranked 530.
Posted by: frog51
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 15:29
Well that's one of the reasons we chose it. The other being that the most beautiful girl I ever met was called Eilin (and my wife agrees with me)
Posted by: Dignan
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 16:29
Quote:
Sadly Xander and Anya suddenly became more popular in the last few years, oddly though there is no sign of Buffy or Willow
Sadly? Besides I think Anya is a very pretty name. Xander has increased, but if you notice, so has Alex and Alexander. Funny, I wonder why Spike doesn't show up
This got me thinking about other TV shows' names. Here's a couple:
-Fox is not on the list. Dana appears to have been big in the 70's
-Bart was big in the 60's, but seems to have died out just as the Simpsons started. Homer had a steady decline starting at the turn of the century. In fact, the only Simpsons name that seems to be on the rise is Maggie. Sadly, Santos L Halper does not register.
Posted by: ashmoore
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 17:16
It must be US only, we name my son Gareth which is pretty common in Wales
But this side of the pond and even more so in Texas, he gets Garrett.
Posted by: Waterman981
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 20:52
It just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing just how unique my name is.
Back in junior high I was repeatedly called to the principals office for another Michael Johnson...
Posted by: JeffS
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 21:23
Heh, I've always thought that
Wayne Kerr has a funny name. And a Christian artist no less! A friend of a friend once asked him why he hasn't changed is name (at least as an artist) and he said "hey, free publicity! People don't forget my name". Side Note: I acually used to live in the same apartment complex as him but we never met.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 22:01
I suppose he pronounces "Kerr" like "cur" and not like "car", then.
Posted by: Heather
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 22:41
Quote:
It just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing just how unique my name is.
Most of my friends are named Michael. Several with the same last intial. The rest of us have renamed the Mike C's tall, grande, and venti.
I got saddled with one of the top trendy baby names of the 70's, but at least it's not Jennifer or some of the stripperific names my dad had picked out.
And BTW, my pediatrician was named Dr Dick Weiner. His parents must have hated him.
Posted by: JeffS
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 14/02/2005 23:53
Quote:
I suppose he pronounces "Kerr" like "cur" and not like "car", then.
Yes, should have probably clarified that!
Posted by: loren
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 15/02/2005 01:21
That is the most well done interactive charts i've ever seen. I could spend hours poking around on there.
Posted by: frog51
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 15/02/2005 06:40
Am definitely puzzled by the inconsistency of results though . . . now it does have my name on it, whereas previously it didn't.
Hmmmm
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 16/02/2005 04:13
Quote:
My brother just sent me this curious link:
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
Shows you a interactive graph of the prevalence of first names over the last 100 years (I think the data is from the US).
I'd love to hear some theory on why names beginning with "A" were so unpopular in the 1940's and 1950's...
You have to watch the scales closely when comparing filtered graphs.
Posted by: bootsy
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 16/02/2005 04:36
Wow... I was a little disappointed when I couldn't find my name on that graph. However, once I figured out to move the mouse vertically over my birth year it popped up immediately.
Considering I work with two other "Brian"s and a "Ryan" it makes sense there was a spike in the late 60s/early 70s. One of the better interactive graphs I've seen... very nice. Impressive.
Posted by: lectric
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 20/02/2005 14:25
Yal'll DID see that you could type your name in the top left, right?
Posted by: boxer
Re: Pretty stats link of the day - 20/02/2005 16:38
Rats! I've just got round to checking out my name, and discovered that I faded out completely around 1920, backing the assertion on another thread: That I'm a bit old Skool!!!!!!