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04-26-2011 at 6:56 PM
lrachelle8...
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Most Hated Baby Names

The Baby Name Wizard blog had a post on the most hated baby names. She did web searches for conversations about disliked/hated names on message boards, etc.

Below is a repost of a portion of her blog post - you can read the entire thing here:

http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2011/4/the-most-hated-baby-names-in-america

GIRLS

1. Nevaeh (47 mentions). A landslide winner, no surprise. In the most recent edition of my book, I wrote "Nevaeh may be the most stylistically divisive name in America." Grounds for objection included look, sound and origin, the whole package.

2 (tie). Destiny (16). This name seemed to run afoul of two groups: people annoyed by "virtue names," and people who grouped it with other dreamy choices like Heaven and Candy as "stripperish."

2 (tie). Madison (16). The negative reactions to this name were particularly strong, especially in non-standard spellings. Reasons were seldom given; it just seemed to grate on people.

4. Mackenzie (13). Often presented in a group with other Mc- names, which several posters described as "low class."

5. McKenna (9). See Mackenzie above.

6 (tie). Addison (8). Sometimes grouped with Madison, and sometimes held as an example of the #1 most-cited loathing category: "boys' names used for girls."

6 (tie). Gertrude (8). When the conversation focused on "ugly" names, old-fashioned Germanic names like Gertrude, Bertha and Helga ruled.

6 (tie). Kaitlyn (8). The poster child for the #2 most common objection: "made-up spellings." Some people specifically exempted the classic spelling Caitlin from their wrath.

6 (tie). Makayla (8).  See Mackenzie above.

10 (tie). Bertha (7). See Gertrude above.

10 (tie). Hope (7). To my surprise, the objection to virtue names extended to traditional choices like Hope, Faith and Grace.

BOYS

1. Jayden (23). The overwhelming theme for boys' names was a backlash against the rhyming -ayden family. Many felt there were just too many of these names, and "it's getting really old." Others said the names sounded too childish or feminine. The names were often mentioned as a group, but Jayden was frequently singled out.

2. Brayden (16).

3 (tie). Aiden (15).

4 (tie). Kaden (15). See Jayden above.

5. Hunter (9). Objections included "should only be a last name" and "too violent."

6. Hayden (8). Part of the -ayden family but mentioned much less often than the others. It seems to be considered a little more mature and established-sounding than the rest of the clan.

7 (tie). Bentley (7). A lot of contempt was shown in mentions of this name, as people considered the luxury-car association "trashy."

7 (tie). Tristan (7). Described as "fakey" and "unlikeable."

9. Michael (6). The whipping boy for people who scorned "common" names. Names like Matthew, Sarah and Emily also came up several times. (Notably, they were the most likely names to be defended by others in the conversation.)

10. Jackson (5). No consistency to the reasons. Some grouped it with Peyton as "way too trendy," others with Jack as "old-fashioned and worn out." This was the one name where I didn't collapse spellings, since the several people who mentioned Jaxon objected to it solely on basis of spelling.

Other Notables:

- At least three mentions apiece were tallied for Kayla, Kaylin, Kyle, Kyler and Kylie along with the high scores for Kaitlyn and Makayla, suggesting negativity toward that general sound category.

- Two statistically unlikely names ranked just outside the top 10. Star is a very rare name, so the fact that it occurred to so many people suggests particularly active negativity. Tiffany peaked back in the 1980s. That it's still mentioned so often as a disliked baby name leads to me suspect it may have been the "Nevaeh" of its generation.

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04-26-2011 at 7:02 PM
JennV514
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Yes Fun read.

I agree with most, especially Madison. That name is definitely at the top of my Most Hated list.
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04-26-2011 at 7:06 PM
anna7602
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I'm surprised "ugly" but traditional names made the list. I feel like a name has to be really pervasive for me to hate it. I don't know anyone IRL or even on this board who has tossed out names like Bertha, so they're not really at the front of my mind most days.
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04-26-2011 at 7:11 PM
mlf625
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Hit the nail on the head there.
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(read it. you know you want to.)

anderson . september 2008

vivian . february 2010

mabel . august 2012

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04-26-2011 at 7:35 PM
forensicma...
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With the exception of Hope and Michael, this is a pretty good list IMO!
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04-26-2011 at 7:38 PM
overture
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I just really, really don't get the Madison appeal.  It's been riding way too long of a wave that made no sense to begin with. Move on.
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04-26-2011 at 7:48 PM
HannahO28
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Thanks for posting that! I really enjoyed reading it. I wonder how many of those conversations came from this board? I feel like some of them must have. And the list seems pretty consistent with the views on this board overall. 

I love how half of the names on the boy's list rhyme with Aidan.  
 
04-26-2011 at 8:44 PM
kacelle
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Interesting!  I agree with most, although I think Hope is precious.  And Hayden is the only -ayden/-aden name that I actually really like (but only for boys).  
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04-26-2011 at 8:48 PM
tweettyjoh...
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Wow, a good read!  I know several people who have kids with those names and if not anything, the world is saturated with many of those names.
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04-26-2011 at 8:51 PM
cozylittle...
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anna7602:
I'm surprised "ugly" but traditional names made the list. I feel like a name has to be really pervasive for me to hate it. I don't know anyone IRL or even on this board who has tossed out names like Bertha, so they're not really at the front of my mind most days.

Agreed. I have a grandparent set Cletus & Gertrude. Hate the names, but they're not really on my radar as 'awful names' since they're not really in use these days. I chock a lot of it up to generation gap I guess.

And while I tend to really dislike super common names, I certainly don't hate names like Michael! It's just a name I'd never use myself... 
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04-26-2011 at 9:26 PM
rubyjem00
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Interesting article! Kaitlyn tops my personal list of most hated names. But like the article mentioned, I don't mind the original spelling of Caitlin nearly as much.
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04-26-2011 at 11:07 PM
Sari323
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This link is pretty awesome too-

http://jessica-jensen.blogspot.com/2011/04/names-2010.html 
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04-26-2011 at 11:39 PM
SnoopyLuv
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overture:
I just really, really don't get the Madison appeal.  It's been riding way too long of a wave that made no sense to begin with. Move on.

That's the reason I don't like most of those names. Everywhere I turn there is an -ayden or a -son girl name. 

I obvs don't agree with Hope (it was grandma's mn anyhow) and love Michael but agree on the rest of them.

I know about 25 Caitlin/Katelyn/Kaitlyn's. So freaking annoying for everyone to have the same damn name.

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04-27-2011 at 1:25 AM
Eaglefoot2...
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anna7602:
I'm surprised "ugly" but traditional names made the list. I feel like a name has to be really pervasive for me to hate it. I don't know anyone IRL or even on this board who has tossed out names like Bertha, so they're not really at the front of my mind most days.
There is only one thread that comes to mind:

http://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/51435190.aspx

My least favorite legitimate name is Inez. But I agree with you that the -aidens, the McNames, and boys names for girls bothers me more because people bring those up a LOT more often.

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04-27-2011 at 2:57 AM
FuFey
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I might print this out for DH! Thanks!

On the Mc/Mack trend....my friends didn't like that part of Mackenzi, so they went with....Kenzi.  I also came across a Mkena, but I don't recall where.  Ick.

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04-27-2011 at 5:21 AM
GettinNerv...
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I agree with everything except Hope and Michael.
 
04-27-2011 at 8:30 AM
CocoBrynne
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I agree with most of her list, except for Michael
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04-27-2011 at 10:31 AM
alliejo725
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Quite frankly, while I agree with their choices, I consider it a flat-out travesty that Braxton and Ryder aren't #1 and #2 respectively; hell, they don't even make the list! WTF, Baby Name Wizard?
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04-27-2011 at 12:15 PM
feffy11
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Thanks for posting this!

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