EAVESDROPPING / Listening in on Southland folks

According to Edward Callary, editor of “Names,” the journal of the American Name Society:

The 10 most popular girls’ names in the 1990s are (in alphabetical order):

Amanda

Ashley

Brianna

Brittany

Haley

Jessica

Kaitlyn

Katherine

Megan

Sara

The most popular boys’ names are:

Andrew

Brandon

Christopher

Jacob

Joshua

Matthew

Michael

Nicholas

Tyler

Zachary

So, how does all of this jibe with the most common names among the 225 residents of the Kingsley Manor Retirement Home in Hollywood?

Let’s just say they don’t get too many pieces of correspondence from Medicare addressed to Megan and Brandon. According to administrator Bruce Udelf, the big names among the residents, ages 65-105, are:

Men:

David

Francis

Henry

James

Leo

Ralph

Robert

Stanley

Thomas

William

*

Women:

Alice

Betty

Dorothy

Helen

Josephine

Louise

Mary

Mildred

Ruth

Virginia

*

And now a word from our expert:

“Nowadays, most parents choose a name for their kid based on how it sounds alone, without the surname,” says Callary, professor of linguistics (with a specialty in names) at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

“In the past, names for either sex were given to children because of tradition and to keep the name in the family. Today parents want children to be seen as individuals. Tradition isn’t quite as revered.”