What were they thinking?

What on earth, do you suppose, went into the creative process that resulted in my being named Thayne? It seems that my parents got together and somehow rejected all the really common names as too familiar. Even though my Great Grandfather and HIS father were both named Joseph. Even though my Grandfather and his father were both named Arthur. No, sadly, they were looking for something better. Something that would say "Hey, I'm unique!! Please kick my ass!"

As my luck would have it, though, somehow they passed over dozens of real good beating-inducing names. According to the Social Security Administration, in 1961, 1 out of every 20,000 children were named Adolph. 15 years after a lunatic in Germany killed a few million people, it's already acceptable to name a kid Adolph. It was the 761st most popular name that year! Thayne didn't even make it in the top 1000.

Likewise, Fidel, 1 out of 20000 kids. Ivan, 1 out of 3200. At the height of the cold war, they managed to find a name less popular than two Communist despots.

Maybe they were looking for a good TH name. Like Thad. #721 Or Thaddeus, #533. Heck, even Thor was in the top 1000. (971).

I'm thinking the naming rule should be that first names should be in the top 200 list. Give them a weird middle name if you really must. (I was lucky enough to get both.)

And if they really DID intend to get my ass kicked, Eugene, Clarence and Reginald were all in the top 200. And Chauncey and Cletus both made the top 1000.

They must have just hated me. At least that's what my brothers Dave (#2) and Eric (#38) always said.

SSA names
Baby naming wizard