How many Jennifers and Amanda’s here got caught in those late 70s name waves?

I don't know that I've ever known a single Dustin. A few Chad's. Matt and Mike are absolutely the top two guy names I've seen in our generation. At one point, I worked somewhere with seven Mike's.

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anarchetype@reddit

I had a friend named Dustin. We called him La Cucafatass and would sing the La Cucaracha song, but you know, La Cucafatass.

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BlueSnaggleTooth359@reddit

I never met a Dustin or a Chad. Tons of Mike, John, Dave, Matt.

Infinite # of Jennifers.

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AldusPrime@reddit

I met so many Matts and so many Justins.

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blownout2657@reddit

I dated three Jennifer’s and married the fourth. So many Jen’s out there.

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wowclassic2019@reddit

Yeah not sure why that wasn't on the list, it was the top name for 15 years!!

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RedditGotSoulDoubt@reddit

Damn. Jennifer had a strong run. What’s that? 15 years?

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guyako@reddit

Yeah, this tracks given the ages of the people I know with these names (including a Grandma Betty, and uncles Larry and Bruce).

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SemperFudge123@reddit

I was born in ‘78 and one of my sisters was born in ‘75. I feel like every third girl I knew in school was named “Jennifer” (or Jenny) and it seemed like it was every other girl in my sister’s grade!

My wife and I were just talking about this phenomenon with our 14-year-old daughter the other day and she just cannot comprehend how common that name was. It seems to have dropped off the face of the earth these days though.

I only knew a couple girls my age named Amanda but knew a ton of them a few years younger than me.

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NotScottBakula@reddit

1980s kid, only had one Dustin or Chad in my school growing up. Oddly enough, not many repeat names except for Michael and John. Hit high school, multiple Jennifers and Kristies and Amandas.

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CY83rdYN35Y573M2@reddit

I swear, it seemed like damn near every girl in my class was named Jennifer.

This also explains why my mom knew so many damn Judys and Debbies.

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spinereader81@reddit

My mom was a Cindy (another overused boomer name) and she knew so many Debbies!

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CY83rdYN35Y573M2@reddit

Yeah, Cindy was a big one too. I wonder if Cinderella (1950) had anything to do with that?

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

Debbie is absolutely a core Boomer name.

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DecemberPaladin@reddit

Well now, I'm not gonna talk about Judy. In fact, we're not gonna talk about Judy at all, we're gonna keep her out of it.

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ApatheistHeretic@reddit

The mid 50s Bebra must be true. My FIL married) divorced one Debbie and later dated another. They were all mid 50s births.

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taleofbenji@reddit

All the variations of "Aiden" can probably be lumped in there.

Which are: Braden, Caden, Jayden, Hayden, and others.

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spinereader81@reddit

My poor cousin picked Aiden in part because it was rarely used in our country. Then it blew up about a year later! Before that the only Aiden I'd ever heard of was the actor Aiden Quinn.

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OrthopaedistKnitter@reddit

Shudders in Jackson/Jaxon/Jax

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DirtRight9309@reddit

nice try diddy

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walter_grimsley@reddit

Can confirm. Loads of Jennifers in my school. Most weren't very nice either come to think of it.

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madman032@reddit

I don't really understand this chart. I know Michael was the #1 boys name in the US for about 50 years

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Least-Back-2666@reddit

Anything in the Bible wouldn't be a "trendy" name. They're always in the top ten.

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janellthegreat@reddit

The chart is not #1 names. It is names with sharp rises and steep declines. Michael never had a sudden rise to popularity nor a quick abandonment.

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fidgetypenguin123@reddit

It seems to be about peak popularity. Basically a name that was really popular then it wasn't/it stopped becoming a name many people used. People have named their son Michael for a long time and they still are, like a lot of other popular names that didn't make this list.

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TK-385@reddit

Robert, William and James are usually in the top ten boy's names too. They've been there for a few decades now.

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AldusPrime@reddit

It'd be funny if the chart was totally made up.

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Feisty-Extension-20@reddit

I went to school with 27 Jennifers

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Least-Back-2666@reddit

I only knew 2 but dam I just really thought I liked the name..

Wait a minute..

Jennifer love Hewitt, Jennifer Lawrence.. I'm starting to see a pattern here.

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toomuchtv987@reddit

My freshman year in colorguard we had 35 girls total and 6 were named Jennifer. We had 1 Amanda, 2 Jessicas, 2 Ambers, and 1 Brittany.

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CharlieMoonMan@reddit

John Eddie!!!!

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Feisty-Extension-20@reddit

I literally have no idea, sorry

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Basic-Delay@reddit (OP)

16 Jenns, 10 Jennies, and then there was her

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Edgarmustavas@reddit

Found a house, aroused my joust, Jenifa, oh Jenny.

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CheezeLoueez08@reddit

I have a Jennifer cousin on each side of my family. Both similar age

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AvenhausArts@reddit

It's the sweet shine of,

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chaBANG@reddit

gif

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Surfer_Sandman@reddit

'82 here.... I don't know or remember ever interacting with a Dustin. Ryan's and Bryans's a ton, Jason sure, Chris was common too. Grew up in California.

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Sharpshooter188@reddit

Ive been on my networking course work too much. I thought these were wifi channels at first. Lol

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bwaarp@reddit

1980 here. I went to high school with a handful of Chads and Dustins, but they were far outnumbered by Michaels, Christophers and Jasons.

The waves of Jennifers and Amandas = on point. We also witnessed the Fall of the Julies and the Rise of the Ashleys.

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Slim_Margins1999@reddit

My older sister is ‘79. She’s a Jennifer. Lol

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garaks_tailor@reddit

I remember in elementary school I think it was 5th grade we had 7 Jennifer's in a class of 28.

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CanadianSpectre@reddit

1980 here. My high school had an abnormally high number of Bryces.

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

I never knew a Brice growing up, but was good friends with one in my 20s. Now my 11 year old daughters best friend is a Brice too.

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

I went to school with a bunch of Ashleys but almost never see that name as an adult now.

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CuriousLands@reddit

OP mentioned the charts don't include names that are long-term popular, so that diver Michael and Christopher, I'm sure. Where I lived, Jason was maybe a short-term popular name, yeah, maybe not as much as Dustin but more than Chad. I wonder where the data comes from for the chart! It probably matters.

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Basic-Delay@reddit (OP)

Really surprised Matt isn’t on the guys’ chart

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Fair_Blood3176@reddit

Or Ryan

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JLLIndy@reddit

I know so many Ryans and Brians.

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janellthegreat@reddit

The chart is names which had sharp rises and sharp declines. Matt has never had a metoric rise, nor has it ever fallen out of popularity.

You meet a Jennifer, she very likely was born in the 70s to early 80s.

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taleofbenji@reddit

I don't think Matt is a name that peaked. It's just always popular. People are still naming their kids Matt.

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JLLIndy@reddit

My little brother Cody (‘87) had 3 or 4 other Cody’s in his class of about 40.

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VectorJones@reddit

It's interesting how Madison peaked as a girl's name in the early 2000s, roughly 20 years after children of the early '80s who saw this began having babies.

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BugEquivalents@reddit

Anyone ever meet a Jennipher?

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handsomeape95@reddit

Do you see what happens, Larry!? This is what happens when you're born during WW2, Larry!

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YourGuyK@reddit

I always loved that Dawson's Creek had main characters with unusual names; Dawson, Pacey and a girl named Joey. But even they realized that they had to have a girl named Jennifer to be sonewhat realistic to the 90s.

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onsinsandneedles@reddit

When Larry met Jennifer.

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kgruesch@reddit

I just can't imagine a toddler named Harold. Or Larry.

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BiggestTaco@reddit

Aiden?! Fucking AIDEN was the most popular boy's name in 2010? Do better America.

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janellthegreat@reddit

Not the most popular. The one with the most sudden rise to popularity in that time period.

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dance-9880@reddit

I assume this is a US based graph? Jennifer and Amanda were common xennial names in Australia also, but my name was the most common name given to girls in Australia in the year I was born. Thanks, I hate it.

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janellthegreat@reddit

It's based on the US social security data

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bibliophile224@reddit

I was supposed to be named Jennifer, but then the neighbor across the street when my parents moved in was named Jennifer. Instead I became one of about 6 different "Carrie" in my grade school class of 45 kids, each and every one of us with a different spelling. I am actually grateful my spelling is different, because it makes me stand out just a little bit.

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nessynoonz@reddit

When I was at school, it seemed like every girl was a Sarah!

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TheSnacktition@reddit

I worked in a call center years ago. At one point we had seven women named Sarah on the floor. The nicknames got crazy trying to differentiate.

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MexicanVanilla22@reddit

So many Saras, Ashleys, and Lindsays.

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not_another_amanda@reddit

User name checking in.

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DuranDourand@reddit

Both of my sisters.

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Any-Jury3578@reddit

I used to work for an OB/GYN. The number of patients born in the 1970s and early 80s named Jennifer was high. It was the most common name for the decade in my area.

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fixxer_s@reddit

My Ex is an Amanda. My HS crush/close friend was a Jennifer (went by her middle name though). Married to, well not one of those. Funny how things work out

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queenofcaffeine76@reddit

My middle school was three years. We had six (and later 7) classes a day and changed class schedules six times a year. I never had fewer than three Jennifers in any class I was in.

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fireworksguaranteed@reddit

Me! I'm a Jennifer Leigh, born in '77.

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scifithighs@reddit

I'm glad I got my grandmother's name, but I'd also prefer to be a Jennifer rather than Makenzie or Makayla or McWhatever.

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DecemberPaladin@reddit

You don’t see a lot of Maureens anymore. That’s a shame; it’s a nice name.

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lunchboxdeluxe@reddit

As soon as I saw that huge lump I knew it had to be Jennifer lol

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SokkaHaikuBot@reddit

^Sokka-Haiku ^by ^lunchboxdeluxe:

As soon as I saw

That huge lump I knew it had

To be Jennifer lol

^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.

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Curiousone_78@reddit

No Karen's? Or Kadens? Seems like every 50 year old woman is named Karen and every 18 year old guy is a Kaden.

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HopelessMagic@reddit

We named our daughter Amanda after a Boston song we loved. 😅

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lochnesssmonsterr@reddit

No but am super salty about that early aughts “Sophia” peak - the reason being that’s it’s my middle name and once my classmates found out about it in like grade 4 they teased me mercilessly for it years!! Years! Mercilessly! (It was deemed an “old lady name”)

How many of those “hahahaaa you have an old lady name” girls named their kids Sophia? At least 3 to my knowledge!

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Ok_Researcher_9796@reddit

It's funny, the most common names for boys are Michael, John, William, James, etc. Where are all these Chads and Todd's? I do have one cousin born in the 80s naked Dustin though.

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Vintage_Visionary@reddit

A-MAN-anDA hug and kiss?

gif

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Pizzasaurus-Rex@reddit

I wish there were more young Larrys out there in the world.

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fidgetypenguin123@reddit

When I worked in a school 20 yrs ago there was this kid in the 5th or 6th grade named Larry. I thought it was odd considering it was an older name but thought maybe he was a jr or something. Now he would be about in his early 30s (which makes me feel even older now.)

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CherryBombO_O@reddit

Where are the Cathy's and Amy's? Jeff's, John's, Michaels, Davids, and Mark's? Yeah, I know, lower on the lists but these names are so popular.

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ElizardbethBennet@reddit

Four of the six violinists in my middle school orchestra were named Jennifer, plus one viola player, one cellist and our bassist. But interestingly, no Amandas.

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Theboyneedsthis_@reddit

Friend of mine married an early 80s, Jennifer, and they had an early 2000 teens Sophia.

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RaechelMaelstrom@reddit

I have two people in my family from the peak of these name trends.

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GeorginaNada@reddit

For me it was Christinas. Christinas EVERYWHERE

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Amy_Macadamia@reddit

I grew up in a sea of Amys

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OtherlandGirl@reddit

There were 5 jennifers in my 3rd grade class.

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sonsofthedesert@reddit

The f** bellas

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jlily18@reddit

84 Jennifer here

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LazarusDark@reddit

Between the 80s and 90s, I had three different "girlfriends" named Jennifer (and two of them were step sisters to each other). (using quotes for the one in the 80s, because what does a 7 year old even know what a "girlfriend" is for, other than "you hold hands sometimes", lol)

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Negative_Anxiety2877@reddit

I'm Amanda my mom is Jennifer

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TK-385@reddit

When I was a kid there were a lot of girls named Christine (or Christina), Katherine (Catherine) and Elizabeth (Elisabeth).

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fuelvolts@reddit

Every school class has at least 2 Jennifers and an Amanda.

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AldusPrime@reddit

I just realized that the two genders are on different axis.

Jennifer was twice as popular as any boys name ever, other than Larry, and it's almost twice as popular as Larry.

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taleofbenji@reddit

The greatest baby name peak ever is Shaquille, which had a tremendous spike centered on 1994, but which then immediately disappeared.

If you know someone named Shaquille, there's like a 95% chance they were born between 1990 and 1995.

https://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/shaq-attackthe-rise-of-the-baby-name-shaquille/

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