Things that are unexpectedly the same, Part 2

2. Trends in baby names

What are some of your grandparents' friends' names? What about your parents' friends? What are your friends' names?

Chances are (if your family is Japanese), the first group includes a lot more Chiyokos and Saburos, the second group has more Michikos and 4-syllable names for men, and the last group has a lot of shorter names like Mika and Shota. I haven't done any real research on this, but I have definitely noticed that none of my adults students' names end in -ya, and almost none of the kids' names end in -ko.

In the US, you'll have a very hard time finding anyone under 70 named Gertrude or Walter. A few of my friends' parents were named Linda or Roger, but none of my friends were. My generation had a lot of Jennifers and Mikes, but apparently those are both a bit rare now.

In both the US and Japan, you can get a fairly good idea of how old someone is just from his or her name.

Interestingly, the authors of language textbooks often use names from their own generation when make up characters. My Japanese textbooks were full of characters named Hanako and Taro, and junior high schoolers in Japan read about characters named Steve and Mary - which haven't been popular names in at least 30 years!

The top names for babies in 2010 were Sophia for girls, and Aiden for boys. I've never met a Sophia or an Aiden in my life! I must be getting old.