I Went to School With Twenty-Seven Jennifers*
At the beginning of each school year, I am always interested to hear about the names of Husband's students.
Most of the students he is teaching right now were born in 1992-1993. (It kills me to know that these children were infants when I was a junior in college, which really doesn't seem that long ago!)
This year, the most popular names in my husband's classroom are (comprising a variety of alternative spellings) Zachariah, Jacob, Taylor and Caitlyn.
Caitlyn is particularly popular, with 9 of his 45 female students named that. (Or Kaitlyn, Katelyn, etc.) It seems like perhaps Caitlyn is to the 90's what Jennifer was to the 70's, at least in our little corner of the world.
If you have some time to waste, you can to the site below, and find out all kinds of fascinating information about the statistical popularity of yours and any other commonly used name in the United States.
Name Data Compiled by the Social Security Administration. (Warning: This site can be strangely addictive.)
Then come back and tell me, what was the number one name the year YOU were born?
My year, of course, was one of the years of Jennifer.
LM
Mike Doughty, 27 Jennifers - go hear it on Youtube here (although I will admit that the grammarian in me takes issue with the line "you might the one that I have been seeking for". )
posted by LawMommy at 10:23 PM
20 Comments:
I don't even have to look to know I was born in one of the Jennifer years. There were 5 Jennifers on my floor in the dorm my freshman year. The funny thing is I was almost a Jennifer, and for the first 10-12 years of my life I wished I had been a Jennifer. Then I realized how many Jennifers there were, and suddenly I was okay with Elaine.
Dude. It's Jennifer for my birth year, too. My name was number 21 for the year. One short of the top twenty. So close, yet so far.... :)
Jennifer's tops my year too. My older sister is a Jennifer so I dodged that bullet & instead deal with the million different variations of Kristen.
See what a difference a few years can make? (I have a child born in 93, you know.) Lisa was number one and Jennifer had only reached as far as #10.
Jennifer. I remember every other girl in high school being a Jennifer. There were only two other Rachels.
It pains me that Ava's name is now #4 in popularity. It was still in the triple digits back in 2001. :(
Yes, that is addicting. My year it was Michael and Lisa. That is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I was Jennifer and Michael. Kelly was #16 for my year.
Jennifer in 1970; my name was #7 on the list, which surprises me -- I didn't know that many Melissa's growing up and don't meet that many today, either. Hmm. Where are they all?
I, also, was born in a Jennifer year. And not surprisingly, I remember at least four Jennifers from first grade. And three Michaels (the number one boy name) and there were four Christophers (the number two boy name) in my first grade class of about 25. Crazy. Thanks for the look into my past!
Lisa was number one my birth year...Jennifer was down at number ten(I think I am older than you) and my name was #20.
Our daughter's name still isn't in the top 1,000 spelled the way we do it but the traditional way Ansley it is finally in and at 697.. of course Ainsley is very popular and so Annslee gets that a lot!
My daughter teaches elementary school in Brooklyn NY -- she has three Sophias in her class! She keeps them straight by calling them, instead, "Miss Murphy, Miss Johnson," etc.
As for my birth year, 1956, it seems that Mary, Debra and Linda were top of the heap.
I was born in 82. Jennifer was STILL the most popular name in 82, just so you know...but more interestingly, the name Emily rapidly increased in popularity since my inception. And, I am fully going to take credit for that fact. By 96, it was (and still is) the MOST popular girls name. Your Welcome, America.
My name was number 3 in popularity in 1967. I figured it would be up there since I run into a lot of Michelle's my age. Cool thing is that all my children's names are in the hundreds and some really high hundreds and of course Bronte's isn't even coming up. (I heard her name in the movie "Greencard" and have been in love with it ever since) She's the only one with an unusual name though versus just being uncommon.
Great site Gretchen!
Um Yeah, Jennifer. I am one. and did that SUCK. I went by jenny when I was little, then Jen in high school and professionally Jennifer and now back to Jenny cause "miss jenny" sounds the best for friends kids.
but seriously, it sucked.
Year of the Jennifers here too. Although my name was number 10 on the list - gag. I only knew a very few Nicoles growing up though, thankfully.
Jennifer was #1 my year too. But I don't remember A LOT of Jen's in my class. Usually enough for one to be Jen, one to be Jenny, one to be Jennifer. So, about 3. Small school.
For some reason, I feel like there were more Jessicas.
"Blonde is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth in the last 30 years. Please enter another name."
Hot tip: Name your kids Blonde Justice.
I was knee deep in Jennifers. And, unfortunately Melissas. And the funny thing is, I don't get called Michelle, Mary, or some other popular M name. Nope, I get called Jennifer.
I too realized a harsh reality the other day. The children that were BORN the year my husband graduated highschool, have now graduated highschool.
I was born in a Jennifer year. My name was #13 on the list which was surprising since I was the only Nicole in my class throughout grade/high school.
Ugh! Mine was #6 for my year. Gross. I'm glad to say that Diesel, Kinhly, and Lola will never be on those lists. :-D
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