Why uncommon baby names are surging – By Aysha Imtiaz (BBC) / March 7, 2022
Uncommon baby names are rising across the globe, even in more traditional societies. Why are parents increasingly determined to make children’s names ‘unique’?
My first visit to Pakistan dismantled any precious notions I had about my name’s uniqueness. While a rare curiosity in California, here, it seemed I met an Aysha, Ayesha or Aisha at every corner.
“It’s like you opened a baby name book and didn’t even look past ‘A’,” I’d tell my parents, vowing that when I had kids, I’d choose something out-of-this-world. And so I did, naming my daughter Sidrat-ul-Muntaha, after an enigmatic lote tree believed to mark the utmost boundary in the seventh heaven – literally the point of extremity none can pass.
Baby naming is an emotionally charged process. Parents worry about the long-term impact of a child’s name, and feel they need to do the best job at setting up a child for success. That’s because we know names matter; our given name forges our identity, influences name stereotypes, may dictate the types of jobs we pursue and even predict career achievements.
The trends around how parents choose names for their children are a product of our evolving cultures; they shift as aspirations for children shift. Research shows today’s rising popularity of unique baby names reflects a move from collectivism to individualistic societies, and provides important contextual clues about whom parents want their children to be. Globally, it seems, parents increasingly value unique names to help children stand out, instead of fit in.
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