Names

I found an interactive chart that lets you see how a given name has changed in popularity over time. Apparently Oliver shot up in popularity around the year that I was born, so I guess my mom started a trend. Or at least followed a nascent one. Interestingly, although I've only ever met one Oscar in my entire life, compared to five Olivers within recent memory, Oscar's a more popular name. That may explain why people often think my name is Oscar, but I still think that's weird.

The other interesting trend is that the popularity of most of the traditional names like "John", "Charles", "Mary", or "Helen" has tanked over the past century. Although declining relatively constantly, they drop considerably at the same time that "Oliver" and other crazy names like "Isabel" and "Faith" become popular. Well, more popular. What was going on circa 1990 that made traditional names so boring?

I also like the names that spike in popularity and then die down. "Lisa" spiked at the beginning or WWII, peaked in the 60s, and hit bottom when the Simpsons came out. This crazy behaviour probably has to do with the fact that Elizabeth is a solidly popular name, whereas Lisa is a derived name that can become trendy and unfashionable quickly.

To wrap things up, I find charts way too interesting. It's just unreasonable.