What's in a name

So I was listening to my favorite podcast Jumping Monkeys, and the guest on the epidose I was just listening to was the author of the book "The Baby Name Wizard". Now this is my favorite book for picking names, given that Larry and I are each engineers it has a graph for each name showing the popularity over time, and I have to say, this satisfies a lot of our inner geek. But I also like the way she shows similar in genre names for girls and boys so if you find one you like but something stops you from making it your favorite, you can continue on to other similar names.

A few things I found interesting. First she said "when you hear a name, you hear a culture that is formed by all the people who have worn that name for generations". I found this really interesting. As a parent picking names, I think I obsessed about it being too popular, but not about who has worn it before. Yet when we hear a name, all we remember is that kid in the 6th grade we didn't like or our Aunt who made a special pie... someone who has worn the name...
I also thought it was interesting that today parents are all seeking for different and unique names, thus those are the names that are the most popular, and the traditionally popular names are not as popular. Also when a name is popular it is used by a much lower frequency becuase of the larger number of names.

Check it out for yourself, and check out her Baby Name Voyager to look up your own name. Please comment and let me know your thoughts!!

Here is Erica (they don't have a graph for Eryca)

Popularity of names starting with ERICA

Larry

Popularity of names starting with LAWRENCE

Isabel

Popularity of names starting with ISABEL

Ellie

Popularity of names starting with ELLIE

Elisabeth

Popularity of names starting with ELISABETH