How the hell does name popularity work? I hear people say "When I picked that name it wasn't popular, but suddenly everybody started naming their kid that" all the time. I myself have picked at least 3 names for things I thought weren't popular, only to soon realize they were.
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Do we have weird psychic cultural powers? Are there really predictable trends about which names are gonna get popular again (e.g., "last popular peak was at least 50 years ago, and was used in a x level popular fictional work in the last 5 years")? How do we all keep doing this?
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Because people don't *want* to name their kid (or fictional character or pseudonym or whatever) the next fad name and end up being this generation's Karen or Lisa, so they actively try not to, but it happens anyway! How do we all accidentally keep making the next fad?
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The ambient cultural forces that make one person like a name are acting on other people as well
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yes but what ARE those forces? What tf made me like the name Lucy, Sophie, Abigail, and Freya, before I knew they were just getting popular?
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I believe the strongest influence and why it is cyclical through generations is that many names come from grandparents, parents, etc.
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In Latin America it's common that some names gain popularity after successful TV shows (i.e. soap operas), or because of some famous character, actor or actress, even politicians; and some lose popularity if are those of the antagonists...
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There's a old bit by Derren Brown where he essentially shows the subliminal impacts your surroundings have on your creative output.
youtube.com/watch?v=YQXe1C
It's essentially, like that.
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