When you think of old names, what comes to mind? Now if you’re anything like me, you may be thinking Gertrude or Cheryl. But it seems that time has caught up with us, at least according to one woman.
Family content creator Steph Pase claims that millennial names have become old after conversing with her children.
A mom realizes that millennial names are considered old after talking to her daughters about the kids in their class.
Name trends come and go, but like with most things, as we age, things change without us even realizing it. Case in point: old person names.
Pase has two young children aged 6 and 8, and an innocent conversation with them sparked a realization that was difficult for her to wrap her head around. So she took to TikTok to share her disbelief.
“You know what I find wild,” Pase started. “I have an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old, and the names that they say, like their friends’ names, I can’t even pronounce.” She continued, “I said to my 6-year-old … do you have anyone in your year called Sarah or Alex or Jack or Daniel?”
Perfectly normal, classic names that never go out of style, right? WRONG!
She was met with laughter as her daughter replied, “Like the old people’s names?”
The mom was struck by the fact that, according to kids, millennials have become like her parents’ generation in terms of names.
In the ’90s, Michael and Jessica reigned supreme as the most popular names of the decade, according to the Social Security Administration.
Christopher and Ashley came in second, with Matthew and Emily in third. Rounding out the top five, Joshua and Sarah take the fourth spot and Jacob and Samantha fifth.
For Gen Alpha, these are the names of the elderly, not the names Pase recalled from her own childhood as being “old,” like Karen.
Now, her kids are referring to the names she’s familiar with as old.
Commenters agreed the names most common to them have since aged out.
“As a primary school teacher, every year it gets further and further from the names I know, yet the kids don’t know any different,” one commenter said.
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Others mentioned names that have gained popularity when it comes to Gen Alpha kids. “Luna, Harper, and Arlo are the new Ashley, Jessica, and Stephanie,” the most liked comment read.
Some felt that baby names have just become weird, with parents treating the naming process for their kids as a chance to be unique.
Gen Alpha names may not be as unique as we think.
Research based on data from the Social Security Administration shows that the most common girl names of Gen Alpha include Olivia, Emma, Sophia, Ava, and Isabella, while for boys, Liam, Noah, James, Elijah, and William are the most popular.
Each of these are pretty classic names, so how come we keep hearing about unusual names popping up everywhere?
There are two likely explanations. One is that these out-of-the-ordinary names attract more attention online and in parenting groups, and suddenly, everyone’s buzzing about them.
Another explanation is that names that aren’t necessarily unusual, but more so uncommon, don’t catch on because more traditional names are able to maintain their hold in “baby name trends.”
For example, Michael has been in the top ten names for all generations since Gen X.
What millennials have to remember is that generation trends are cyclical, and what’s old can very quickly become new again. All millennials have to do is wait. By the time Gen Alpha is parenting their own kids, they’ll be just as shocked when Olivia and Liam take the old title.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.
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