90.8% of all Mabels are dead

[Erato]

Age distribution of names in the United States.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-someones-age-when-all-you-know-is-her-name/

[ann255]

Caught my attention as my mothers name was Mabel.
Fascinating web, anyone know of similar for uk?

[avm228]

Love this!  And as an Anna I am indeed grateful that my name does not pin me to an age bracket.

[sarah]

Have really loved reading this article, most Sarah's in the US are younger than me    It would be interesting to see how they change in other Countries as my Gran was also called Sarah.

 

[bykerlads]

Very interesting.
Am always fascinated by the fashions in first names, perhaps because of having been a teacher.
Few of the names of girls I was at school with in the 1950/60's have remained popular (Susan, Sandra, Pauline, Valerie etc) except Jennifer. Whereas boys' names from that time have still continued to be used during the intervening years:Christopher, Michael, Richard etc.
In the 1970's I had one class in which there were 6 Catherine's (spellings various) and 4 Michelle's!
My son Gregory was one of 7 lads with that name in his year-group at secondary school in the 1990's. Never been any Greg's there before or since!

[Treetotal]

Really interesting.
Carol

[groom]

I read somewhere quite recently that boys tend to be named after fathers or grandfathers to carry on the family names, but girls are often given a different name to their mothers, but may have the mother's name as a middle name.

The same as bykerlads, I had several children with the same names in classes I taught. I felt quite sorry for them as they were always known as Catherine J or Catherine D. One year, when there were 3 Catherines, we solved it as they decided they wanted to be known as Catherine, Cathy and Katie.

[Erato]

In my family, all of the paternal cousins and also my brother got an ancestral surname as a middle name and some got ancestral forenames, too.  I am the only exception; I was named for my maternal grandmother.

[Malcolm33]

I felt quite sorry for them as they were always known as Catherine J or Catherine D. One year, when there were 3 Catherines, we solved it as they decided they wanted to be known as Catherine, Cathy and Katie.

   No need to feel sorry for K K K Katy -

K-K-K-Katy, beautiful Katy,
You're the only g-g-g-girl that I adore;
When the m-m-m-moon shines,
Over the c-c-c-cowshed,
I'll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door.
K-K-K-Katy, beautiful Katy,
You're the only g-g-g-girl that I adore;
When the m-m-m-moon shines,
Over the c-c-c-cowshed,
I'll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door.