When you hear
name Rex what comes to mind? Unless you had a dog or a horse named Rex as you were growing up, you probably imagined someone like an older man in a tweed jacket sitting in a dark, book-lined study as a small fire burns happily in fireplace. When you hear name Angelica do you imagine long, flowing hair and chiffon dresses? Somehow name Rex sounds masculine, doesn't it? And Angelica definitely sounds gentle and feminine. Aside from fact that names have images associated with them, why is it that Angelica just sounds right for a girl and Rex sounds right for a boy?Like so many attitudes we have, gender preferences in naming are at work deep in background. And it's hard to put our finger on what exactly reasons are that we like what we like and choose names we do for our sons and daughters.
Let's explore a little what's working behind scenes, We'll use top 5 most popular names in 2003 according to Social Security Administration as examples, keeping in mind these are generalities and parents have almost as many reasons for choosing a particular name as there are names.
PARENTS TEND TO CHOOSE A "SERIOUS" NAME FOR THEIR SON, LIKE MATTHEW AND MICHAEL (#4 and #2 top male names) AND TRENDY, MORE CREATIVE NAMES, LIKE MADISON (#3 top female name), FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS
What's a "serious" name? John. Robert. William. Names that are constant favorites, year after year. Why is it that parents don't stray too far away from classic names when naming their sons? In 1965 sociologist Alice Rossi published a study titled "Naming children in middle class families." Her findings were that boys are generally given family names and conservative names. The reason? Parents are more serious about male role and see a boy as contributing to family prestige. So, parents are more cautious about bestowing a trendy or unusual name. Her study is decades old now, and though findings are still generally true, there does seem to be at least a slight shift underway with unusual names like Chase, Channing, Gavin, and Trey appearing in name pool for boys.
Madison, #3 top female name in 2003, didn't begin making popularity lists until 1980s. So it's had quite an impressive rise in popularity. (That's typical of trendy girls' names. They seem to come out of nowhere and all of a sudden seem to be everywhere.)
Madison is an English surname that means "son of Mad or Maud." You'll find gender preference for this name is often listed as unisex, but it's pretty much been taken over by girls, along with Taylor, Dylan, Morgan, Drew, Bailey and Shannon. It's a one-way journey for a name from unisex to feminine, and more and more names make trip every year.
More creativity and leeway in naming a daughter means there are a lot more options. That's why most parents say it's easier to choose a name for a daughter. There are virtue names (Honor, Hope, Felicity), gem and mineral names (Coral, Crystal, Ruby, Jade), nature names (Willow, Aurora, Daisy) and place names (Sedona, India, Phoenix) that are overwhelmingly choices for girls. Only an occasional name like Mica, Jett or Austin in these categories is holding its own in male territory.
