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According to the Social Security Administration, the most popular baby girl names for 2020 are Emma, Olivia, and Ava. For boys, it's Liam, Noah, and William. You can also find online lists of up-and-coming names, like Luna, Aurora, Maeve, Genesis, Saint, or Baker. It seems these days parents are diligent about assigning unique monikers to their children. Perhaps it speaks to a desire for their children to excel, to rise above the pack. It wasn't always this way. There were two other girls named Janice in my elementary classes alone (we tended to get promoted together). There was also one Janis and one Janet. I can't help wonder what sparked that interest and never asked or heard how my name was chosen. Some names from the past have made a comeback in recent years: Ruby (both my stepmother and my granddaughter), Hazel, or Opal. They seem like old-lady names to me, but after a while they fit. When our son was born in 1971, we chose to name him Marc Geoffrey, which was an effort to use unique spelling, so I understand. He was in second grade before he could spell his middle name, and people who didn't know him referred to him as "Marcy" or "Marse," thrown by the "c" at the end of his name. We learned our lesson and chose a perfectly normal name and spelling for Kelly Denise. I'm not sure if either appreciates the care we took over their names. Names are important and influence attitudes toward the bearer. When I taught teen moms, they spent most of their last trimester taking student polls or debating (often in the classroom) this name or that. I shared our experience with choosing an unusual spelling, to no avail. They came up with the oddest names, and often spelled non-phonetically. I wonder how these poor children (the Qintels and the Nevaehs) have fared. I wonder how their jobs or scholastic prospects will be affected someday. And I shake my head at their mothers' vanity. I suppose I'm just old-fashioned and prefer names that I can pronounce and that make a statement about hope or love or beauty in the eyes of loving parents. I'm okay with that. --Janice
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January 2022
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