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Post Info TOPIC: Don't call me Caitlyn: Baby name plunges in popularity
Nobody Just Nobody


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Don't call me Caitlyn: Baby name plunges in popularity
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https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/dont-call-caitlyn-baby-name-plunges-popularity-133637678--politics.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't call me Caitlyn.

A year after Caitlyn Jenner announced her new name and gender, the popularity of the name Caitlyn plummeted more than any other baby name, according to Social Security's annual list of the most popular baby names.

In fact, the four names that dropped the most were all variations of the same name: Caitlin, Caitlyn, Katelynn and Kaitlynn.

"It was inevitable," said Laura Wattenberg, founder of BabynameWizard.com. "Caitlyn was already falling in popularity. Now it is suddenly controversial."

The Social Security Administration released its annual list of the 1,000 most popular baby names for 2016 on Friday. The agency uses the announcement to drive traffic to its website, where workers can start tracking their benefits long before they retire.

Emma was the top baby name for girls for the third year in a row. It was followed by Olivia, Ava, Sophia and Isabella.

Noah was the top baby name for boys for the fourth year in a row. It was followed by Liam, William, Mason and James.

The agency also lists the baby names that increase — and decrease — the most in popularity.

All four versions of Caitlyn fell out of the top 1,000.

In 2015, the former Bruce Jenner, an Olympic gold medalist, shocked the world when she announced that she is now a transgender woman. The iconic cover of Vanity Fair magazine was emblazoned with the quote, "Call me Caitlyn," on top of a picture of a very feminine Jenner.

The issue sparked much debate and an outpouring of support for Jenner in a country that is still evolving in its views of gay marriage and equal rights for the LGBT community.

The first time any spelling of Caitlin showed up on Social Security's list of popular baby names was in 1976 when Caitlin debuted at No. 947.

C-a-i-t-l-i-n has been the most common spelling. The name reached the height of its popularity in 1988, when it ranked No. 44. After 17 years in the top 100 it started to fall after the turn of the century.

Last year, it fell 542 spots — the biggest drop of any name — to No. 1,151.

Wattenberg said it would be wrong to blame Caitlyn's drop in popularity solely to the fact that Jenner is transgender. In general, she said, parents don't want to give their children names that might attract controversy.

It's one reason few parents name their children after politicians.

"Even parents who are huge Donald Trump supporters are unlikely to name their child Donald," Wattenberg said. "In part, we just want to avoid controversy in picking names."

For the record, Donald fell 45 spots last year, to No. 488. Hillary fell out of the top 1,000 names in 2009 and has not returned.

The Social Security Administration's website provides lists of the top 1,000 baby names for each year, dating to 1880. The top baby names that year were John and Mary. John is now No. 28 and Mary has fallen to No. 127.

Sometimes old is new: Emma was the third most popular name in 1880.

The top 10 baby names for girls stayed the same in 2016, though the order shuffled a bit. For boys, Alexander dropped to No. 11 and Elijah cracked the top 10 for the first time ever, at No. 9.

Baby naming experts said parents have long used biblical names for their children. However, there has been a decided shift from the New Testament to the Old.

"Elijah to our grandparents would be unimaginable," Wattenberg said.

Also, parents are getting more creative in naming the little ones. As a result, today's top names aren't nearly as popular as the top names from 50 years ago.

For example, a little more than 19,000 baby boys were named Noah last year. In 1966, about 80,000 babies were named Michael, the top name for baby boys that year.

"Once parents see that a name is super popular, they are going to start avoiding it," said Jennifer Moss, founder of Babynames.com.

Pop culture often influences the names that increase and decrease in popularity, and it happened again 2016.

For boys, the named that skyrocketed in popularity was Kylo, as in Kylo Ren, a character in the 2015 movie, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." For girls, it was Kehlani, as in Kehlani Parrish, a singer and songwriter nominated for a Grammy in 2016.

Neither of these names is among the most popular, but they jumped more spots than any other names. Kylo jumped 2,368 spots to No. 901. Kehlani jumped 2,487 spots to No. 872.



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Ohfour


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Kylo? Really?

And yes, Bruce ruined the name Caitlin for a lot of people...

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Kylo? Kehlani? Ugh.

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lilyofcourse


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Well, my Caitlyn was named a looonnnggg time before Bruce Jenner chose it.

But my Caitlyn has said she is thinking about going by one of her other names now.

I really don't blame her, she graduated with 10 others with some variation of the same name.

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Charley Harper
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LOl I saw this article earlier today, very telling of how people really think about this topic.

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Southern_Belle


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Yeah, I wouldn't use that name now.

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My nickname was very common in my day. At the point where if someone yelled my name across the hall, I wouldn't bother to turn around.

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I can definitely see Michael being popular in the 1960's. It seems like half of the guys I work with are named Michael and they are all in that age bracket.

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Lawyerlady


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I always loved the name Caitlyn. But I struggled b/c I wanted a Katie and I didn't like the variation Katelyn. Although, that's a better choice now, lol!

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lilyofcourse


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I feel in love with the name because the lead in the book I was reading had it.

It's also a Celtic version of Kathryn, which happens to be a great aunts name.

However, in the book it was spelled Caitlin and I changed it to lyn to carry on my dad's and my name.

I still love it.

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"Don't call me Caitlyn."

Okay. Don't call me surprised. No one wants their kid tied with controversy if they can help it.

No offense to anyone that chose Caitlyn (or any variation thereof) before Bruce ruined the name, but anyone that chooses it now, is just asking for their kid to get picked on.

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flan327


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Emma was my choice if I had had a girl!

flan

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If I'd have had daughters I liked Lorna and Rowan

I just have fur kids!

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lilyofcourse


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If Jesse and Aaron had been girls, they would have been Deven and Erin.

If Caitlyn had been a boy, she would have been Zebulon. Zeb for short.

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Charley Harper
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My FSIL and DD want to name their daughter Ariel.

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If I had a girl, she would be Sierra.

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Lawyerlady


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lilyofcourse wrote:

If Jesse and Aaron had been girls, they would have been Deven and Erin.

If Caitlyn had been a boy, she would have been Zebulon. Zeb for short.

 Thank goodness she was a girl!  biggrin



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If I'd had a boy, he would have been Logan. If I'd been able to choose Jojo's name, she'd have been Madeline or Katherine (Katie). I always love Caitlyn, but DH did not. I suspect there's an ex-girlfriend story there, lol.

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flan327


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When I was pregnant with DS2, DS1's sitter convinced him that the baby should be named "John Zachariah."

Just one of many reasons I left...

flan

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lilyofcourse


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Lawyerlady wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

If Jesse and Aaron had been girls, they would have been Deven and Erin.

If Caitlyn had been a boy, she would have been Zebulon. Zeb for short.

 Thank goodness she was a girl!  biggrin

 It's a great great great grandfather's name.

 



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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.

Charley Harper
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I love all my family members names, Luke, Kimberly, Kathleen, Mark. I would have a large pool to choose from.

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Lindley


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I'm so thankful that my dad refused to let my mother name me what she really wanted to.

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lilyofcourse


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I kicked around Sabra for Caitlyn, as well.

That was my grandfather's great great grandmother's name.



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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.

Charley Harper
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The name my mom wanted to name me was a combination of both my grandmothers, just no...

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lilyofcourse


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I went to school with a set of siblings named Ghandi and Gidget.

There was a Bear, too.

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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.

Charley Harper
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