Why You Keep Hearing the Same Baby Names (No Matter What the Stats Say)
Baby names are more diverse than ever. So why are there four Liams in your daughter’s preschool?
These Old Favorite Baby Names are About to Come Back
After generations of neglect, a surprising style is turning the fashion corner
What is the Generic American Year?
The America of “Little Timmy” is still a cultural base line. When was that America?
Today it’s Blessyn. A Century Ago it Was…
Names like Blessyn and Amazyn that transform uplifting -ing words are a purely modern phenomenon. Or are they?
The Great Gospel Baby Name Convergence
A classic set of baby names with wildly different trajectories have gathered at a single point. And like any good celestial convergence, this meeting is portentous.
With this Stewardess, a Generation of Names Took Flight
Why did so many parents in the mid-20th-Century choose names like Vicki? A fictional stewardess may point the way.
The Typical Name of Every Decade
How do the typical girls’ and boys’ names sound? And how have they changed?
Justyn Time: A Name Mystery
If you’ve never heard a name before, how can you feel that you know something about it—or a person who bears it?
When Everything Changed
Is there a “before” and “after” moment in modern American history? A time when the trajectory changed, when we started living and thinking differently?
The Secret Lives of Jenny and Jessie
Psst…you know Jenny and Jessie, right? They’re the standard nicknames for Jennifer and Jessica, the two names that dominated American fashion for decades. No names could be more familiar. Well, once upon a time Jenny and Jessie weren’t the same nicknames-next-door that we know and love. In fact, they weren’t […]
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