Does Your Name Reveal Your Age and Profession?

By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell

Does your name reveal your age? Or your profession?

You bet it does!

If you’re a Baby Boomer Woman, chances are your name is not Emma, Isabella, Charlotte or Harper. Because those are among the Top 10 names for baby girls born in 2016.

In fact, the Social Security Office has kept track of all the baby girl and boy names from the 1880s to the 2010s. That’s how I know that the following are the Top 10 baby girl names from the 1950s:

1. Mary
2. Linda
3. Patricia
4. Susan
5. Deborah
6. Barbara
7. Debra
8. Karen
9. Nancy
10. Donna

The list above comes from a larger list of the Top 200 girls’ and boys’ names from the 1950s.

Baby girl names of the 60s changed. Kind of. Here’s that Top 10:

1. Lisa
2. Mary
3. Susan
4. Karen
5. Kimberly
6. Patricia
7. Linda
8. Donna
9. Michelle
10. Cynthia

They even provide a way to tell the most popular names by your state and birth year!

Here are the Top 10 baby girl names for the State of New Jersey in 1988:

1. Jessica
2. Ashley
3. Amanda
4. Nicole
5. Jennifer
6. Stephanie
7. Lauren
8. Melissa
9. Danielle
10. Samantha

Verdant Labs, creator of an app for baby name research, has tapped pubic records to produce a chart entitled, Top Disproportionately Common Names by Profession. (A tiny version of this is pictured above). Professions on the chart run the gamut from photographer, geologist and football coach to librarian, meteorologist and journalist.

Now that I brought those to your attention, here are the top:

• Photographer names: Hugo, Bruno & Zoe (I did not make that up)
• Geologist names: Leonard, William & Frederick (I expected to see Ross on that list, but didn’t)
• Football coach names: Dan, Mike & Rich (Not one woman on that list)
• Librarian names: Eleanor, Abigail & Margot (Not one man on that list)
• Meteorologist names: Mike, Scott & Jeff
• Journalist names: Jonah, Gideon & Alastair (Again, I did not make this up)

So, if your name is Billy, Joey or Mickey, you might be a drummer.

And if your name is Patricia, Lori or Raymond, you could be a hairstylist.

Or if your name is Constance, Penelope or Stella, maybe you are a social worker.

And, if you’re in your 50s, you may have gone through school with at least one Kimberly, Michelle or Cynthia.

And if you’re in your 40s, you may have played hopscotch or Barbies with at least one Amy, Heather or Nicole.

So, what’s the takeaway from all this? Well, if you want to hide your age, you’d better change your name. And if you’re hoping your future child becomes a judge, consider naming him Josiah, Archibald or Rufus, and not Eddie, Tom or Ben. Because if you do, he might just become a stuntman, and then you’ll never stop worrying.

♥,

PS: Does your name match up with any of the professions? Check out a larger, readable version of the “Top Disproportionately Common Names by Profession” chart, and then tell us in the comment section below.

PPS: If you want to play the Social Security name game, click here.

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