What's In A Name?

7/23/2018

The title of the blog says it all.  What's in a name, and I was curious what were the top girls' names in 1949.  Spoiler alert for those of you much younger than me, no dinosaurs were roaming the earth at that time!

The top four names in 1949 were: James, Robert, Linda and Mary.  Where did my name appear on this magical list - 230 (clearly, not a very popular name).  But, Jeff's name came in at 245. So, my name was just a tad more popular than his.

Fast forward to today.  For the 8th year running, Sophia has been the top girls' name. That's a normal sounding name. And, then names become odd (to me, so don't send me hate mail), Pasley, Apple, Blue Ivy (why not green ivy?), Birdie Joe, Ever Lee Wilder, Wisdom.  And, the list just goes on and on.  

When giving a name to a child, you need (and you know this), that the child will have said name for the rest of their life.  We named our middle son, Scott.  We thought it was a strong name, and not much chance of his name being called out incorrectly in class. We knew that if Scott became a rocket scientist, or the President, for instance, his name would be hard to mispronounce, and easy to remember - Dr. Scott Bassett!

Which brings us to Andrew, our youngest son.  He is named Andrew Todd. We knew that as a child, he would be called Andy, and he was. But, we also wanted to give him a name (Andrew), for probably his adult years. Andrew is named for my Grandfather, whose name was Andy, and my Uncle named Todd.For reasons this many years later, when we were looking for an appropriate name, we knew that merely naming him Andy, it wouldn't be a good sounding professional name.  You know, like introducing him, as let's say, Dr. Andy Bassett.  

I think I was the last person to start calling Andy, Andrew.  The name Andy no longer seems to suit him, as he goes forth in his career. I guess I am still thinking of him as Andy, and perhaps I always will.  

So there you have it: Patti, Jeff, Scott and Andrew!

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