When I was a child and didn’t eat my dinner, my mother (like all mothers of her generation) would remind me that there were starving children in Africa. However, she never would take me up on my generous offer to ship the leftover food to those starving children in lieu of my having to eat it.
My friend Jill Youse puts a modern spin on the question of what to do with leftovers. Jill’s problem isn’t food, it is breast milk. After her baby Stella was born, she produced huge amounts of breast milk — far more than baby Stella wanted. She thought about throwing it out, but then she thought about those babies in Africa. She took the step my mother never would: she actually began shipping the milk to Africa. You can read all about her efforts on the International Breast Milk Project in a Time magazine article.
Looking for ways to fund her charity, Jill’s latest idea is to write a fun, smart book on baby names. Towards that end, she has posted a short baby names survey that she is hoping people will fill out. If you are interested, please take the survey and also spread the word.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
I don’t know if you’ve ever pointed to it, but this is a fascinating interactive site (Java applet) that allows you to look at the relative popularity of first names over the last century in the US. Entering “STE” shows, for example, that while the variant STEPHAN was virtually unknown before 1930, it now ranks higher than STEPHEN. And the girl’s name STEFANI arose from nowhere in the ’70s, peaked in 1980, then died a decade later. Great fun.
I don’t know if you’ve ever pointed to it, but this is a fascinating interactive site (Java applet) that allows you to look at the relative popularity of first names over the last century in the US. Entering “STE” shows, for example, that while the variant STEPHAN was virtually unknown before 1930, it now ranks higher than STEPHEN. And the girl’s name STEFANI arose from nowhere in the ’70s, peaked in 1980, then died a decade later. Great fun.
Mack’s link is interesting! Looking at it, it’s a great way to track the popularity (or infamy) of public people, especially if they have an uncommon name.
Presidents:
Franklin Delano — both saw spikes in the thirties
Warren — a spike in the twenties
Dwight — a spike in the fifties
Lyndon — a spike in the sixties
Roosevelt — spikes in the 1900′s and the thirties
Theodore — a spike in the 1900′s
Song names:
Angie (Rolling Stones) — peaked in the seventies, then say a sharp drop
Layla (Eric Clapton and that band) — a spike in the seventies, as well as a current surge
Actors, athletes, other performers:
Sade (female vocalist) — peaked in the eighties, gone by 2003
Aretha Franklin — peaked in the sixties
Sonny (Bono)– peaked in the seventies
Paris — in the waning days of a big peak
Annette (Frankie’s gal) — peaked in the sixties
Elvis — big spikes in the fifties, seventies, and now more popular than ever.
Dean (Martin) — peaked in the sixties; popularity of that name nearly doubled between the forties and sixties
Lamont (Sanford) — peaked in the seventies
Muhammad (and its various spellings) and Ali — exploded in the seventies
Farrah (Fawcett) — peaked in the seventies
Harrison (Ford) — peaked recently; dramatic growth in the eighties and nineties
Kirstie (Alley) — peaked in the nineties
Matt (from Gunsmoke) — peaked in the sixties
Drew (Barrymore) — peaked in the nineties, and again recently
Che — peaked in the seventies
Plus far too many others to mention.
All spikes are relative; peaks show a large growth in popularity from before the celebrity got famous and a drop once their celebrity status started to fall.
Mack’s link is interesting! Looking at it, it’s a great way to track the popularity (or infamy) of public people, especially if they have an uncommon name.
Presidents:
Franklin Delano — both saw spikes in the thirties
Warren — a spike in the twenties
Dwight — a spike in the fifties
Lyndon — a spike in the sixties
Roosevelt — spikes in the 1900′s and the thirties
Theodore — a spike in the 1900′s
Song names:
Angie (Rolling Stones) — peaked in the seventies, then say a sharp drop
Layla (Eric Clapton and that band) — a spike in the seventies, as well as a current surge
Actors, athletes, other performers:
Sade (female vocalist) — peaked in the eighties, gone by 2003
Aretha Franklin — peaked in the sixties
Sonny (Bono)– peaked in the seventies
Paris — in the waning days of a big peak
Annette (Frankie’s gal) — peaked in the sixties
Elvis — big spikes in the fifties, seventies, and now more popular than ever.
Dean (Martin) — peaked in the sixties; popularity of that name nearly doubled between the forties and sixties
Lamont (Sanford) — peaked in the seventies
Muhammad (and its various spellings) and Ali — exploded in the seventies
Farrah (Fawcett) — peaked in the seventies
Harrison (Ford) — peaked recently; dramatic growth in the eighties and nineties
Kirstie (Alley) — peaked in the nineties
Matt (from Gunsmoke) — peaked in the sixties
Drew (Barrymore) — peaked in the nineties, and again recently
Che — peaked in the seventies
Plus far too many others to mention.
All spikes are relative; peaks show a large growth in popularity from before the celebrity got famous and a drop once their celebrity status started to fall.
If you want to see the absolute top names of the 20th century, take a look at this site,
http://www.babynamesgarden.com/Decade.aspx
where they have put together the top 100 names of the entire last century. Even though six more years have passed, there is no doubt that there have been more “marys” than any other female name, at least in the last hundred years. Boys’ names are a little closer — there is little to separate the James, Johns, and Roberts.
If you want to see the absolute top names of the 20th century, take a look at this site,
http://www.babynamesgarden.com/Decade.aspx
where they have put together the top 100 names of the entire last century. Even though six more years have passed, there is no doubt that there have been more “marys” than any other female name, at least in the last hundred years. Boys’ names are a little closer — there is little to separate the James, Johns, and Roberts.
Just some preliminary findings- it seems that 9/10 people who indicate that Friends in one of their favorite shows, also rank the name “Emma” in one of their top 5 choices. Emma was the name that Rachel (Anniston) gave her little bundle of joy. On the show, she first named it Isabelle and then changed it to Emma. Ahh the influence of Friends will live on for years to come!
Here are the first five #1 choices for people who make over 1 million/year and first five #1 choices of people who make under 30,000.
1,000,000: Iona, Julia, Reagan, Allison, K’liegh
Under 30,000: Baylee, Kelby, Tara, Brooke, Chava
Here are the first five responses for selected categories (not most popular, just first five people who responded. popularity stats coming soon)
Teenyboppers favorites – Eleanor, Mary Kate, Annemarie, Beatrix, Bronwyn, Adair
Dropped out or GED top choices: Chantel, Annick, Angel, Abigail, Diedre
Buddhism top choices: Beatrix, Adalynn, Eulalie, Lucienne, Tara
Catholic top choices: Lauren, Ella, Sally, Dylon, Emily, Elizabeth
Just some preliminary findings- it seems that 9/10 people who indicate that Friends in one of their favorite shows, also rank the name “Emma” in one of their top 5 choices. Emma was the name that Rachel (Anniston) gave her little bundle of joy. On the show, she first named it Isabelle and then changed it to Emma. Ahh the influence of Friends will live on for years to come!
Here are the first five #1 choices for people who make over 1 million/year and first five #1 choices of people who make under 30,000.
1,000,000: Iona, Julia, Reagan, Allison, K’liegh
Under 30,000: Baylee, Kelby, Tara, Brooke, Chava
Here are the first five responses for selected categories (not most popular, just first five people who responded. popularity stats coming soon)
Teenyboppers favorites – Eleanor, Mary Kate, Annemarie, Beatrix, Bronwyn, Adair
Dropped out or GED top choices: Chantel, Annick, Angel, Abigail, Diedre
Buddhism top choices: Beatrix, Adalynn, Eulalie, Lucienne, Tara
Catholic top choices: Lauren, Ella, Sally, Dylon, Emily, Elizabeth