Trends are a fickle thing, no?
They often predict the clothes we wear and the food we eat and how we decorate our homes. They even matter when it comes to what we name our children.
But while some names peak in popularity and then slowly fall back down the charts again, others manage to cling onto their spot and remain a name many wants to use.
In the US, a biotechnologist recently applied techniques he used in chemometrics to chart the
trends in baby names based on the Social Security Administration database from 1880. Unlike a
similar previous study, where trendiness was based on how quickly a name gained and lost popularity, David Taylor based his charts on not only that, but also just how popular the name actually
was.
So what was it, I hear you ask, the most popular US baby name of all times?
Are you ready?
Linda.
Yup. Good, aul Linda.
Possibly the most normal sounding name ever, no? And while today, extremely few baby girls in the US are given this name at birth, Linda reached its peak in 1947 (with 5.48 percent of baby girls getting this moniker), and no other popular name since have ever reached even as close to Linda at it’s peak.
In comparison, Sophia, which is often referred to as the world's most popular name for baby girls, reached its US peak in 2012, when 1.2 percent of girls born were given this name.
