Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

You can subscribe to this site via RSS (the humanity!) or .

Naming Your Baby Something Unique

MarketingCharts (which I must admit has become one of my favorite sites) points to a study about the increasing uniqueness of baby names:

Researchers found that in 1955, nearly one-third (32%) of boys received one of the ten most popular names, but by 2007, less than 10% got a common name.

For girls, the percentage receiving common names is even lower. In 1955, about one in four (22%) girls received one of the ten most popular names. By 2007 it had dropped to only 8%.

The article (and study apparently) go on to make some assumptions about what effect this shift may have (including increased narcissism). While I’m not sure I agree with those, it’s fun to think about why this shift has happened and what effect it may have.

May 29, 2009