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There is no doubt thatunusual baby namesare becoming more and more fashionable.
There have actually been a surprising number of strange baby name trends throughout history.
The practice of naming babies after saints helped to give rise to many new feminine names.
Philip would be written asPhilippa, Alexander would be written asAlexandra, and so on.
Fishing in a tiny pool of names
Things hadn’t improved too much by Elizabethan times.
Most parents stuck to the same 30 or 40 names.
Virtuous names in a Puritan world
The Puritan movement took holdin the late 16th century.
Puritan names often reflected their religious values.
Some baby namesgot downright kooky.
In 1676, a man named Dancell-Dallphebo-Mark-Anthony-Gallery-Cesar named his child after himself, continuing the long-winded tradition.
Some of these names alone would be enough to cause a lifetime of misery.
Other horrifying names from this era include No-merit, Forsaken, Sorry-for-sin, and Fly-debate.
One name that is particularly troubling for modern audiences ofThe Handmaid’s Taleis the ominous-sounding Handmaid.
The name Handmaid is a terrifying symbol of how little power women had in this time.
Similar naming patterns were also followed in colonial America, creating quite the headache for genealogists and researchers.
The name hasn’t just beenoneof the most beloved names for baby girls.
In 2017, it was still ranked pretty high at 126.
The name isn’t exclusively a feminine one, either.
Until 1972, Mary saw steady use as a boys name.
What’s in a (middle) name?
For most of history, middle names simply didn’t exist.
They first started cropping up in the late Middle Ages, but even then middle names were quite rare.
By the turn of the 20th century, most Americans had them.
In the 20th century, many prominent figures used their middle initials professionally.
Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Gerald R. Ford used their middle initials.
As social scientist Wijnand A.P.
If they want to appear interpersonally warm or athletic, then middle initials don’t work."
Some parents took things a step further, drawing influence from theBoer War.
After the British colony ofRhodesiawas established in 1889, Rhodesia became a given name for girls.
Once a British colony, it makes sense that there is significant English-language influence in Hong Kong.
In fact, English is stillone of Hong Kong’s official languages.
What’s puzzling, however, is the English names that are in use in Hong Kong.
It’s not uncommon to find babies named Devil, Treacle, or even Whale.
Stephen Matthews, an associate linguistics professor at the University of Hong Kong explained the trend toThe Atlantic.
“In a way, they’re asserting their Hong Kong identity.”
These names aren’t all popping up out of nowhere, either.
Many of these regal names go way back.
Today, the name is seeing an upward trajectory for both boys and girls.
The nameLuxsaw an astonishing 75 percent increase over the previous year, whileLudwigwent up 42 percent.
In 2009, baby name expert Laura Wattenberg spoke toThe New York Timesabout the phenomenon.
In that year, Jayden rose to the top of the baby name charts.
The “n” name ending had been the most popular ending for two decades at that time.
“It has taken over in a way that no ending has taken over before, for boys.”
