Baby name trends come and go, but some names have seen a steady decline in popularity because of technology, society and pop culture. One of the most obvious is Alexa, which peaked as the 32st most popular girls’ name in 2015, according to Social Security Administration data, before plummeting to number 603. The reason for the fall? Amazon released their cloud-based assistant with that name in 2014.
We get it, having a child share the name of the voice command used around the house can be confusing, not to mention lead to teasing and possibly even bullying at school for Alexas. But it’s not the only name parents have been avoiding giving to their little ones.
- Siri - You don’t hear of many moms and dads naming their baby girl Siri since Apple used it for their virtual assistant. The name Siri is now forever linked to this brand and no kid needs that to be their identity.
- Rhona [[Rona]] - It may not have been very popular anymore, but after the Coronavirus pandemic, we aren’t getting a lot of Rhonas.
- Karen - It was the third most popular girls name in 1965, but no one wants to call their daughter Karen now. Thanks to pop culture, the name is now synonymous with someone who’s entitled, demanding and rude, and it represents negative stereotypes.
- Chad - It’s kind of become the male version of Karen, and it’s also used to describe an alpha male.
- Isis - There was a time when this was nothing but a beautiful name, until the U.S. government labeled a group named Isis a foreign terrorist organization.
- Katrina - A hurricane can cancel a name as well, which is the case with Katrina after the deadly disaster in 2005. Katrina was the 87th most popular name in 1982, but fell to 940th by 2012 and has stayed outside the top 1,000 ever since.
- Character names like Anna, Elsa, Homer and Bart - It’s hard to think about these lovely names without associating them with the fictional cartoon characters that share these names. Some kids may love having the same name as a Disney princess, but they may not be a fan of sharing the name Bart with the troublemaking kid on “The Simpsons.”
Source: Parents