You don't have to be expecting a baby to be thoroughly reeled in by The Baby Name Wizard. It's a blog run by Laura Wattenberg, who has written a book of the same name. The blog is part psychological insight, part market research, part pop culture and 100% fascinating.
In fact, occupational first names are more popular today than ever before, with 14 of them among the top 500 names for American boys. But while the boys of the 1880s were anointed Kings and Admirals, 21st-century boys are being named for humbler stations. They are workers and tradesmen: barrel makers, goods haulers, stone workers. Which is to say, Coopers, Carters, Masons.
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The blog itself provides plenty of food for thought, but the real wow of the site is the Baby NameVoyager. The NameVoyager allows you to type in a name and will graph its popularity over time from 1880 to the present. See how little Shirleys filled the kindergartens of the late 1930s; see how todays' classrooms are curiously devoid of Gertrudes. Perhaps Gertrude is due for a resurgence, like Sophie and Isabel...
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