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Help[Opinions] What names do you think will be popular in 2100?
A bit of a fanciful post, but I was briefly studying name trends and the years between peaks in name popularity in the U.S. for currently popular names for a story set in the future. The biggest gap between their peak popularity from the past to now was 141 years (earned by Henry), while the shortest gap between peaks was 78 years (earned by Charlotte).
Out of a very modest pool of 7 names, the median gap between popularity peaks came out to be 116 years.
With that in mind, I was curious what names people thought might be popular in the next century! Will the Brittanys and Tiffanys have their triumphant returns? Will the names that have never left the US Top 10 or Top 100 since 1880 continue hold their spots? Will the rise of a minority-majority population bring a whole new slew of beautiful names to choose from? Will religious names fall out of favor with the downward trend of religious-indentifying people in the U.S.?
Let me know what YOU imagine naming conventions might be like, and what names you think may make a debut or rise from the ashes!
Out of a very modest pool of 7 names, the median gap between popularity peaks came out to be 116 years.
With that in mind, I was curious what names people thought might be popular in the next century! Will the Brittanys and Tiffanys have their triumphant returns? Will the names that have never left the US Top 10 or Top 100 since 1880 continue hold their spots? Will the rise of a minority-majority population bring a whole new slew of beautiful names to choose from? Will religious names fall out of favor with the downward trend of religious-indentifying people in the U.S.?
Let me know what YOU imagine naming conventions might be like, and what names you think may make a debut or rise from the ashes!
Replies
Yeah I'd say your guess will be right. 90's and Y2K names will come back in a big way, they are already starting to creep in. By 2100, 90s-00's babies would be the great-grandparents (or great-great grandparents) and that seems to be a popular naming cycle.
I think religious names will actually get MORE popular, because religious people seem more interested in having kids. There may be more atheists/ agnostics than ever before, but they aren't the ones with big families. I think we'll see a (even more than now) stark juxtaposition, of trendy/unique names next to super conservative religious names. And I think "foreign" names will be a huge contributing factor as climate refugees and migrants from booming populations overseas become more prevalent. Indian names in particular will start to become more mainstream.
Looking at the bottom of the US lists, I wouldn't be surprised at all if these names were somewhere in the Top 100 by 2100:
Abner, Ephraim, Eliezer, Boaz
Mary and Maria
Yousef, Yaakov
Darwin
Vir or Veer (m)
Van
Zev
Ayah, Aya
Names ending in -ani for girls - Aylani, Kahlani, Laylani, Meilani, Avani
Names of 90's "It girls" - Whitney, Lisa, Shannon, Winona, Andie, Cindy, Julia, Jennifer, Yasmine, Monica, Aaliyah, Brandy, Britney, Christina, Denise, Liv, Uma, Nia, Renee, Gillian, Gwen, Jodie/Jodi, Mariah, Aishwarya, Raveena, Sonali
I think religious names will actually get MORE popular, because religious people seem more interested in having kids. There may be more atheists/ agnostics than ever before, but they aren't the ones with big families. I think we'll see a (even more than now) stark juxtaposition, of trendy/unique names next to super conservative religious names. And I think "foreign" names will be a huge contributing factor as climate refugees and migrants from booming populations overseas become more prevalent. Indian names in particular will start to become more mainstream.
Looking at the bottom of the US lists, I wouldn't be surprised at all if these names were somewhere in the Top 100 by 2100:
Abner, Ephraim, Eliezer, Boaz
Mary and Maria
Yousef, Yaakov
Darwin
Vir or Veer (m)
Van
Zev
Ayah, Aya
Names ending in -ani for girls - Aylani, Kahlani, Laylani, Meilani, Avani
Names of 90's "It girls" - Whitney, Lisa, Shannon, Winona, Andie, Cindy, Julia, Jennifer, Yasmine, Monica, Aaliyah, Brandy, Britney, Christina, Denise, Liv, Uma, Nia, Renee, Gillian, Gwen, Jodie/Jodi, Mariah, Aishwarya, Raveena, Sonali
A world containing lots of Winona and Gillian people would be well worth living in. Pity I won't be there to see it!
I think Ani names are a fad that will be gone in a few decades.
Yeah well I thought -lyn names wouldn't last that long. I guess we'll have to wait and see.