Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Baby Names, Youth, Politics and Religion.

I am once again in the position where I have to start thinking about naming a soon to arrive baby. This article in NPR has me thinking a little:

The reason for more outlandish-sounding names cropping up in conservative quarters is simple, Wattenberg says. Women in red states tend to have their first children earlier than women in blue states. A 23-year-old mom is more likely to come up with something out of the ordinary than one who is 33.
That's not to say all baby names in places like Mississippi sound much different from those in Massachusetts. Fashionable names such as Emma, Jacob and Jayden are about equally popular all over the country.

For the record, I will not be naming my child Emma, Jacob or Jayden. Well maybe Jacob. But certainly not Jayden or Emma.

However I am wondering how to convert this insight into the Israeli religious reality. I have anecdotal reasons to believe that Israel is experiencing a boom in "modern" (or weird/soppy) names. Is it possible this is because people are getting married younger? at least in the MO community?

 The other trend seems to be into unisex names. I'm wondering what can possibly explain that trend? is it an effect of feminism? This seems likely, since girls with boys names are more common than the other way around.

I'm open to thoughts/Ideas...

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