names...

I just found this awesome website from the Social Security Administration. I am glad to know it is good for something as it probably wont be around when it comes time for me to get my money back from it.

Using the data there I was able to create some interesting charts illustrating name popularity over the years. If you are thinking that this must have taken a long time, you are wrong, I basically do this for a living (although data is in short supply these days) and I am fast at it. I consider this practice for when I get some new data... First lets take a look at my name:
For some reason Jack was very popular at the turn of the century and took a nose dive right around the year I was born. But fear not, it is now on the upswing! Why? Who knows... All I know is my parents are trendsetters...

The name Roxanne displays almost the opposite pattern (sorry my wife).The popularity of Roxanne (the name not the person) peaked in the fifties and declined slightly thereafter and then sharply dropped off in the 90s.

I wanted to illustrate with this one how one popular person could really make a name live or die... Take Elvis for example. His name was on the decline for 50 years, sliding into obscurity and then in 1956 it shot up due of course to the Elvis Presley's breakthrough performances and album early that year. This peak was unsustainable and decline set in until Elvis Presley's death in 1977 and it shot up again! Almost as much as the first bump... in 1999 there was another spike (I cant really explain this one (the fat vs thin stamp? .. a rerelease of some album?). Any guesses?...
Some names come and some names go... Here are some of the hot up and coming names....Kayla, Jayden, Dakota, Madison, Addison. As an interesting side note other Madisons making the top 1000 include....Maddison, Madisyn, and Madyson....(another side note: Dear Lord, bless these poor children with crazy parents).

Also Addison? What the hell? I realize that this is not exactly common knowledge, but Addison's disease is a hereditary adrenal gland malady that can be fatal. Way to name your kid after a disease... "Hey, get over here Polio... your friends Rubella and Mumps came over to take you to soccer practice."

Anyway, here are some rising stars....
Here are some falling stars... Elmer, Bertha, Gertrude, Mary and Fern. Mary is on the list and is still in the top 100, but considering Mary was at #1 for almost 80 years, she is droppin pretty fast. The others have pretty much gone by the wayside...
I am thinking Elmer if a boy and Maddysyn if a girl.