Oddities and Awesome abound!
:: If it seems like virtually every 30-40-something woman you know is named “Jennifer”, well, here’s why. This also shows that in about ten to fifteen years, the world will be run by Emily’s, Emma’s, and Sophia’s.
(And please tell me that the recent surge of Isabella’s is not because of Twilight. I’d hate to think that such an awful book is going to live so long in American consciousness.)
:: In many places, you get a ticket if you leave your car parked for too long. Apparently not so in a town in China, where if you leave your car parked too long, something else happens.
All for this week. More next. Maybe. Who knows. Hmmmmm….
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Going by the Social Security Administration's baby name database (http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi), "Isabella" is not popular solely because of Twilight. Although the name was the 319th most popular girls' name in 1993, by 2004, it was already up to #7. Twilight came out in October 2005 and took about a month to get to #5 on the NY Times' Best Seller list, so the bump from #7 to #6 in 2005 was probably not due to the success of the novel.
That said, the film adaptation was released in 2008 and the name topped the list in 2009 and 2010. The popularity of the name "Isabella" appears to have initially reflected popular trends before coming to influence them.
(If you look at just "Bella," there's no doubt that the films were responsible for that name's popularity – jumped from 122 to 58 from 2008 to 2009.)
Here's a link to the SSA's website: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
Through my wife I actually know four different women who had daughters in the last five years and named them Isabella because of Twilight. Weirdly, though, they call their girls "Izzy" instead of "Bella." Namer's remorse?
When we were making a roster of names for my daughter in late 2003, Isabella was on the list UNTIL I looked at the SSA trendline. I think it was #14, but with a bullet. That's what got us (OK, me) off that name.
A name is like a nose, if it doesnt fit when you are young should never change it as you will grow into it. I dont think you can ever go wrong with an old fashioned name. Trendy names on the other hand, get stupid fast. Can you imagine being a 50 year old looking for a job and having a name like ty'won or trulee? I honestly think Ebeneezer would be more less embarrassing.