There's a well-studied phenomenon called "social diffusion". People of higher socioeconomic status seek out novel, unique, or fashionable baby names and start using them. These names gradually get picked up by families of lower socioeconomic status. Eventually the names become mainstream, and then finally decline in popularity.
this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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Social diffusion is an explanation of how information spreads, not just names.
My understanding is that unique names and neologism have long been a feature of African-American culture where North American Caucasians followed a family naming tradition. I think what has happened is some celebrities have moved towards a unique name scheme. But it feels like a mainstreaming of AA culture more than anything.
The impetus has been there in Europe. Many nations have/had very restrictive rules about names. They'd only have rules against it if people were trying to do it. I had Swiss friends who were very excited that their daughter was born in Canada so they could name her "Sora" which wasn't in the approved name list in Switzerland.
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The Karen haircut makes that picture
That's a Super Saiyan Karen!
she's got over 9000 posts on Facebook!
I would feel bad for Zayden, except that in an alternate timeline where his father was named Brad, Zayden would have been ~~banned~~ named Hunter. So it could be worse. I would rather be Zayden than Hunter.
I work with two guys named Hunter and they're very cool
Most Hunters I've met are pretty cool. Can't say the same about Drew's, Brock's, or Clayton's, but I feel like those are becoming more uncommon as I get older.
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Jesus Christ on a motorbike, that picture just SCREAMS "upper middle class 2008 suburban white family".
I bet they have a large wooden deck out back, an above-ground pool, and a trampoline with one of those safety net cages.
She's a chicken! Run!
Here are my two sons Aiden and Abettin.
Unique names and spellings became popular in the US during the 70s as part of the Black Power movement. The politically conscious black parents didn't want to name their children European names, for some reason. The problem is that these black parents had no cultural link to Africa because that had been stolen from them.
Fist came Arab names. I presume this has to do with the NOI and the black celebrities who converted to it. Some of these names are still popular like Omar and Jamal. Of course Black Americans have no more connection to Islam than they do to Christianity, So black parents just started making new names for their children.
American popular culture tends to incubate in the black community and slowly drift into white culture. So it has gone with the unique baby names.
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Aiden is tradition Gaelic and it means "fire". Caiden is also Gaelic meaning "battle" Braiden is Gaelic meaning "salmon" Jayden is Hebrew for "God will judge" Hayden is old English meaning "hedged valley"
I'd like to see your source for those. I don't know Gaelic so I can't fact check those ones, but I do know a bit of Hebrew, and names that mean 'God X' usually end in el, not en. Also, Hebrew doesn't have an English J sound, it has the IPA J sound though, or English Y sound. The Hebrew word for judge is 'shofet'.
Probably taken from this.
The name is probably a modern invention, formed by blending the "Jay" sound from the 1970s-popular name Jason with the "den" sound from names like Braden, Hayden, Jordan and Zayden.[1] The biblical name Jadon (or Yadon), Hebrew for "he will judge", appears in the Bible in Nehemiah 3:7,[2] but it is unlikely to be the source of the modern name.[1]
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You forgot the best one, Okayden.
Maiden, Raiden
sigh
unzips
Hayden
Paiden? That's a weird one. Payme on the other hand, now that's a good name.
Payme Não
I knew someone with that name. Or at least I assume that was her name because she kept repeating it, like a Pokémon. Incidentally, she was a sex worker.
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What's with your name, buzz?
Ah, a lesser known Daft Punk song.
Those are the names given to the children of all the teenagers I knew who got pregnant in my high school, so they always just remind me of teen pregnancy.
It's been around for a while. Over a decade ago Target ran a cheeky back to school advert featuring a slow pan across school cubbies with lunch pails all labelled with variant spellings of "Braiden". I thought it was hilarious.
Like all the other sounds that come out of your face, what could be up with it?
I feel all wrong now because you decided not to list the first three in alphabetic order.
Meanwhile, in Utah, a pair of new parents are becoming really charmed by the idea of ‘Brexit’ as a name for their next child.
This has all happened before and it will all happen again.
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