A few weeks ago, I asked my readers to vote on which three of the top ten names for each gender they prefer. After one week of voting, I gave the three most requested boy names and the three most requested girl names a popularity profile, which includes not only my predictions for the name selected, but also my opinions on how the name in question reached such a high position, the origins and meaning of the name, and the extent of time the name has claimed a spot in the elite top ten. The profiles of the reader-decided top three will be released over the course of the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for more articles regarding this series!
And at the very top of the podium, what all of these profiles have been leading up to, sits the enduring William. Classic, timeless, and evergreen, this age-old moniker hasn’t left the top 20 in the past 100 years, and held the #2 position for 2 decades (from 1900-1920)! Despite his remarkably consistent popularity throughout the years, William peaked in 1920, with roughly a shocking 4.5% of all baby boys born that year bearing the name. William has never reached #1 in the U.S., although he does hold the title for Sweden, and currently sits at #3 in the states. But in order for a name to have such unwavering acclaim, there needs to be several factors motivating mass quantities of parents to choose it for their child, and William has plenty of those.
When analyzing William’s popularity, we observe his steady #2 rank from 1900-1920, before he slowly began his descent to #20 in 1992, his all-time low. After 1992, William began to climb again, until he reached #3 in 2016. This trail of popularity is due to what I believe to be tradition. It’s no secret that in the past, fathers would often pass their own names on to their sons, producing the likes of John Smith IV having a dad called John Smith III. While this is still a plausible occurrence today, it’s not quite as common. However, the trend of naming your child after his father was at the height of popularity around the mid 40s, and in that time period, most of the expecting fathers were in their late 20s or early 30s, meaning they were born in the same time period that William was a #2 name. Therefore, you get a whole new generation of William Jrs. This trend fell out of style in the 60s, when all of the William Jrs. were expecting, and that explains the dip in Williams for the next couple of decades. However, none of that explains William’s climb back up the charts. I believe that the resurgence of Max, Ben, and other classic mini names pushed the nickname Will, leading to another boom of Williams. Liam, William’s unexpected short form, eclipsed him in popularity in 2018, helping this timeless appellation win over parents who like Liam but want a longer full name for their son. And, similarly to Benjamin, William doesn’t have 1920s, 1980s, or 2000s written all over him. He’s truly a classic, and that also appeals to many parents who don’t want to choose a name tied to a certain time period.
After scrutinizing William’s fascinating popularity, I’ve come to the conclusion that #3 is where William will stay in the upcoming 2019 data. When observing the name’s popularity patterns in the past, we can see that William tends to stay at one spot on the charts for years and years, so I can assume that William won’t let go of #3 for a while. Though it’s obviously impossible to know for sure, I personally hope that this classic remains in the top ten for another year.
~Delphina Moon
How do you feel about the name William, and what do you think the upcoming 2019 data concerning William’s popularity will reveal about this persistent name and the U.S. top ten?
Comments