Where you live, are all the boys named __aden?

Thread Starter

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
I've remarked often over the years how many __adens there are in/around my daughter's age group. I've joked that every sporting event, awards ceremony, etc sounds like an attempt to see how many letter combinations will fit in front of __aden. Aiden, Brayden, Trayden, Jayden, Rayden and Hayden are probably the most common but there are others; so many others, and some of them are incredible. My daughter goes to school with people named such things as Slayden, Shaden, Spayden, Kayden, Tayden, Grayden, Layden, Blayden, Zayden, and Stayden. That's not all, there's more but I can't think of them all and I'm sure you get the picture.

Last week at my daughter's 15th birthday party, the magnitude of it really hit me as her boyfriend Aiden was standing next to a kid who had just introduced himself as Hayden, who says to another boy "hey Kaden, is Jayden's phone still broke? He still isn't answering. I think he's with Hayden (different kid, same name as himself) but he won't answer either." That was eerie but it got worse, as it dawned on me that out of the 6 boys who were at my house, 5 of them were __adens, and they were trying to rally more __adens to come. The jokes just wouldn't come anymore. They no longer seemed funny.

We live in a small town and it feels like an __aden twilight zone to me now and I can't shake it. I'm thinking this must be an isolated thing; it can't be across the nation. A localized feedback loop that resulted in an explosion of __adens, just here. I'm sure there are just as many __aden names on the outside but there's no way they come up as frequently as this. Am I wrong? Is this thing everywhere? I'm talking about no less than 1/3 of the boys having __aden names, possibly closer to 1/2, no exaggeration.

Is your locality the same?
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,153
No, but that's pretty amusing. Were there many popular TV characters/actors/actresses/vocalists named _aden about 15 years and 9 months ago where you lived then?
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,069
We have a son named Adin but that's a Hebrew name, and he's an adult with a wife and child, so I fear we are not part of the trend.
 

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
4,764
Not exactly what you describe but down here and in those places where Spanish is the prevailing language, the name María is frequently used followed by a second one. This makes necessary the use of that second name to call anyone with chances to know who are you talking to.

Without looking too far, starting with my mother, sister, ex and daughters plus aunts, cousins I could count easily not less than 30 Marías.
 

Lo_volt

Joined Apr 3, 2014
316
A story that could only have been "made in" America.

Usually it's a specific name, not so much just the last two sylables. My son, born in 1990, had several girls named Heather in his class. There were probably more in the school as well. John was popular when I was young. I had 6 classmates named John in my class. We identified them in different ways. One went by his middle name, Howard. Two were either John B or John F, and another was Johnny. The last two were known by nicknames.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
Not exactly what you describe but down here and in those places where Spanish is the prevailing language, the name María is frequently used followed by a second one. This makes necessary the use of that second name to call anyone with chances to know who are you talking to.

Without looking too far, starting with my mother, sister, ex and daughters plus aunts, cousins I could count easily not less than 30 Marías.
I don't mean to contradict you or anything... but you failed to consider Simplemente María... :p

My wife's name is María Amparo, by the way... ;)


EDIT: For those not in the joke: "Simplemente María" is the name of a very old, and very cheesy, classic latin american tv soap opera...
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
In the US the resurgence of ancient Roman baby names is partly thanks to The Hunger Games,
Roman Names suddenly popular, especially for boys are names such as Felix, Atticus, Julius, Marcus, Cassius, and Cyrus appear in US name charts.
Roman names in the US Top 600 for girls include Octavia, Valentina, Cecilia, Camilla, and Priscilla.
 

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
4,764
I don't mean to contradict you or anything... but you failed to consider Simplemente María... :p

My wife's name is María Amparo, by the way... ;)


EDIT: For those not in the joke: "Simplemente María" is the name of a very old, and very cheesy, classic latin american tv soap opera...
A classic around here as well. Sí sí.
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,069
Strange thing about names. While getting my second CV shot the nice lady giving the shot asked for my 'Christian' name. I thought about it for a while and told her I didn't have one but I did have a Druid name.

https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/and-now-for-something-weird.124706/post-1264073
I, literally, have a Jewish name. That used to be acceptable but with the recent rhetorical shift from "judeo-christian" to "anglo-saxon" I am not sure if that still holds.
 
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xox

Joined Sep 8, 2017
838
Baby names are typically
With recent UK politics, if you see a baby named "Nigel" you know his parents are... challenged.
The EU is NOT a democratic institution. Their tendency to flood communities with large groups of foreigners has only served to destabilize its member states. Not to mention the crippling regulations. So quite the contrary, the British people should be VERY proud of Nigel Farage.
 

jgessling

Joined Jul 31, 2009
82
My 16 year old grandson has a bunch of friends named __den. I can’t keep them straight especially in these confused times. I recognize Aiden because of his bright orange backpack if he doesn’t have it then I just fake it. Grandpa’s can get away with a lot, part of my well earned privileges.
 

jgessling

Joined Jul 31, 2009
82
Regarding Anglo Saxon. I’m about as white as anything but I ain’t that. My ancestors were Vikings from Norway. First immigrated to farm in Canada, then drifted South to Minnesota and later disbursed all over the place. Ufta!
 

Thread Starter

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
No, but that's pretty amusing. Were there many popular TV characters/actors/actresses/vocalists named _aden about 15 years and 9 months ago where you lived then?
Not that I'm aware of, but I didn't live here then.

Not exactly what you describe but down here and in those places where Spanish is the prevailing language, the name María is frequently used followed by a second one. This makes necessary the use of that second name to call anyone with chances to know who are you talking to.

Without looking too far, starting with my mother, sister, ex and daughters plus aunts, cousins I could count easily not less than 30 Marías.
I think that's an old thing, and common in all the countries that Spain, eh... "influenced." My wife's family in the Philippines probably has as many Marias as yours. My nieces (sisters) are both named Maria (Maria Catarin & Maria Cassandra).

A story that could only have been "made in" America.

Usually it's a specific name, not so much just the last two sylables. My son, born in 1990, had several girls named Heather in his class. There were probably more in the school as well. John was popular when I was young. I had 6 classmates named John in my class. We identified them in different ways. One went by his middle name, Howard. Two were either John B or John F, and another was Johnny. The last two were known by nicknames.
Yeah, it's like some names are overused, consistently or in surges, throughout the ages (like mine, Charles, less popular these days but still a classic) and some are mercilessly overused and abused, just for a blip in history and then forgotten. For example, give me a name like Rhonda, Lance, Mildred, Ava, or ...Schmayden, and I can probably tell you how old that person is (+/- 2 years).

I always know when I see a name of a boy, man, actor etc named Nigel, he is going to be British! ;)
This __Aden thing is a new take on the previous point. I suppose people finally got tired of naming their kids the same thing as all their peers and wanted to infuse some originality into it, but lacked all capacity for the task, so defaulted to [random scrabble tiles] + [the name everyone else is using].

Not to hijack this thread but the idea of calling "white" Americans "anglo-saxon" is historically idiotic on top of the other obvious idiocy. I... never mind, not appropriate...
If we are able to discuss race with candor and good will, I will point out that this concept of [random letters] + [the most common name], (or alternative, wacky spelling of the same exact name) was "a thing" in the American black community prior to the __adenpocalypse. For example Deshawn, Dashawn, Keshawn, Keishawn, Rayshawn, Keyshawn, Rashawn, Kashawn, Rashaun, Tashawn, Tayshaun, Tashaun. I would say the __sha[u/w]ns beat the __a[y]dens to the game by a decade or so. But in the black community I never saw anything so rife as this. The total fixation on just one name in the white community (or at least in my local white community) is baffling.
 

ElectricSpidey

Joined Dec 2, 2017
2,757
Not to hijack this thread but the idea of calling "white" Americans "anglo-saxon" is historically idiotic on top of the other obvious idiocy. I... never mind, not appropriate...
Funny thing, this remark reminded me of one of my favorite movies (West Side Story) where the white gang is referred to as "Anglo Saxon" but contains a mix of nationalities including the leader who is Polish.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
Funny thing, this remark reminded me of one of my favorite movies (West Side Story) where the white gang is referred to as "Anglo Saxon" but contains a mix of nationalities including the leader who is Polish.
I'd say that the term Caucasians would be more accurate to describe such gang...
 
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