After their baby is born, parents ask themselves, "What name will we give to our new child?" Choosing a name for a child is a very difficult process. Parents must consider several factors and finally decide on a name to represent a new life that has just come into being. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines the word name as "the word(s) that someone or something is known by," but a name goes deeper than that (qtd. in Dunkling 6). A person's name serves as their identity for the rest of the life. As F. M. Cornford states in Religion and Philosophy, "The name of a thing is its soul" (qtd. in Dunkling 6).

If a child has a bad name, it will give them an inferiority complex for the rest of their life. "Experimental evidence shows that persons with undesirable or unattractive names tend to be handicapped in their personal, social, and work-related activities" (Mehrabin). According to an Italian proverb, "[One] who has a bad name is half hanged" (qtd. in Phillips 225). On the other hand, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches"--Proverbs 22:1 (qtd. in Phillips 225).

When considering baby names, parents base their decision on several factors. Some of these are famous peoples' names, Biblical names, family names, traditional names, ethnic names, meanings of names, connotations of names, alliteration among siblings' names, etc. Another important consideration when nameing a child is "how the general population will react to the child's name and how that name (which becomes a lasting part of the child's identity) will influence the ways in which others react to the child himself" (Mehrabin).

The spoken sound of the full name should be pleasing to the ear. Short, choppy names are unpleasant, and long, multisyllabic names can be tongue-twisting. A name must also be individualistic. No one wants a name so common that twenty people turn around when they hear it, nor does anyone want to have the same name as their father. When a boy constantly has "Jr." or "III" trailing his name, "the son may feel this as a burden laid on him, a pressure to comply with the paternal desires and to mold his personality and career accordingly" (Richman 8). In this researcher's data of new baby names in Bay County for 1996, almost 9% of the males had a name including either Jr., II, III, or IV (Birth Announcements, 14 Jan. to 24 Mar. 1996).

Mrs. Jody Wobser is a mother of six children and is pregnant with a seventh. She believes that a child's name is important because that child will have to live with it for the rest of his life. "It's permanent," said Jody. Jody and her husband, Jim, choose names for their children by several means. First, the Wobsers use alliteration; all eight of the family members' names begin with the letter J. (Initially, the alliteration among the mother's, father's, and children's names was unintentional, but the Wobsers felt that it wouldn't be fair for the new baby not to be a J and not to fit in with the rest of the family.)

A child's name must also be individualistic. None of their children have the same middle initial, and none of them are juniors. The Wobsers consider the definitions, meanings, and connotations of names, too. Mrs. Wobser feels that the definition and meaning of a person's name give personality and character to that person. They use traditional, Biblical, family, famous and friends' names (Wobser). Albert Mehrabin, Ph.D., states in Selecting Attractive and Beneficial Baby and Adult Names that "Many parents select names for their babies using the name of someone they like or admire (a relative, a movie star, a politician, a character in a book, a childhood friend)" in the hope that their child will grow up to show some of the same qualities that the person had (Mehrabin).

The six Wobser children are Jake, Jaclyn, John, Joe, Jayme, and Jared. The name Jacob Frederick is after the western movie "Big Jake," starring John Wayne. Jacob is also a Biblical name. The middle name, Frederick, is both his father's and grandfather's middle name. The name Jaclyn Teresa is from the movie star Jaclyn Smith and Mrs. Wobser's best friend, Teresa. John James is a traditional name. The name John has several good connotations in the Bible, and the name James comes from his father. Joseph Charles also has a Biblical name. His middle name, Charles, is after his father's best friend in high school. The name Jayme Kathleen comes from her father (Jayme is a feminine form of James). Kathleen is the name of her mother's old friend. The youngest child, Jared Vaughn, shares the name of his mother's father, Ed Vaughn, except the Wobsers wanted it to start with the letter J to continue tradition.

Name patterns among baby names are costantly emerging. The popularity of names depends on the fads, trends, familiarity, and current connotations of names. "It's been shown repeatedly in studies that at any given time, the names people prefer tend to be those that are most popular," but "when names become too familiar to be desirable, parents choose less familiar names, until those names become too familiar, when a new cycle of popularity begins" (Richman 1). Name patterns can also depend on associations, stereotypes, and popular influence of the time. "For example, the number of children named Adolf declined rapidly during World War II, and the number of Glenns increased dramatically after John Glenn's space flight" (Richman 1).

What are the most popular names in 1996? What patterns seem to be emerging among new baby girls and boys? How do these changes compare with patterns of the past? To answer these questions, this researcher collected data from the "Birth Announcements" section of the Panama City News Herald for the first twelve weeks of 1996. The birthdates of the babies ranged from January 1, 1996 to March 16, 1996. There were 168 males and 165 females (for a total of 333 babies) born in this time frame. The names were separated into boys and girls, and first and middle names. The following list contains the most popular boys' names, followed by the number of times each occurred.

Boys' First Names

• Austin--8
• Tyler--7
• Christopher--5
• Michael--5
• Ryan--5
• William--5
• Brandon--5
• Jonathan--4
• Cody, Coty--4
• Anthony--4
• Christian--4
• Tristan--4
• Andrew--4

In 1990, a national survey showed that Michael was #1, Christopher was #2, Andrew was #6, Jonathan was #9, Ryan was #12, William was #15, Brandon was #16, and Anthony was #20 (Richman 31). The names Austin, Tyler, Cody, Christian, and Tristan have all just emerged to the top in Bay County. There are several places where these names might have originated. Coincidentally, several of them are names of currently famous people. For example, on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, Austin Peck plays a character named Austin Reed. On the NBC Friday night sitcom Step by Step, Sasha Mitchell plays the character Cody. The name Christian cold have come from the movie star Christian Slater or from the actual meaning of the word. In the recent movie Legends of the Fall, Brad Pitt played a character named Tristan.

The following list contains the most popular boys' middle names, followed by the number of times each occurred.

Boys' Middle Names

• James--9
• Michael--9
• Lee--8
• Alexander--6
• Allen, Allan, Alan--6
• Christopher--6
• William--4
• Edward--4
• Wayne--4
• Jacob, Jacoby--3
• Malik, Maleik--3
• Dean, Deane--3
• Anthony--3

In the 1990 national survey of first names, the name Michael was #1, Christopher was #2, James was #7, William was #15, Jacob was #19, and Anthony was #20 (Richman 31). The names Lee, Alexander, Allen, Wayne, Edward, Malik, and Dean were not popular first names in 1990, but now they are emerging as popular middle names in Bay County. The name Allen could be popular because of Tim Allen, star of the ABC sitcom Home Improvement. The name Wayne appeals to a generation familiar with Wayne and Garth from the movie Wayne's World. Malik is the name of a character on the popular NBC drama series ER. Dean Cain plays Superman on the ABC show Lois and Clark.

The following list contains the most popular girls' names, followed by the number of times each occurred.

Girls' First Names

• Sarah--5
• Katelyn, Kaitlyn, Caitlin--5
• Emily--5
• Rachel--5
• Brittany--4
• Catherine--4
• Kristen--4
• Brianna--4
• Ashley--3
• Amber--3
• Madison--3

In the 1990 national survey, the name Ashley ranked #1, Brittany was #4, Sarah was #5, Emily was #12, Rachel was #14, and Amber was #15 (Richman 31). Recently, the names Katelyn, Catherine, Kristen, Brianna, and Madison have become popular. The movie The Bridges of Madison County could have made the name Madison popular.

The following list contains the most popular middle names for girls, and each one is followed by the number of times it occurred.

Girls' Middle Names

• Nicole--11
• Marie--10
• Ann--9
• Renee--8
• Lynn--7
• Michelle--5
• Elizabeth--5
• Kay--4
• Danielle--4
• Elaine--4

The only girls' names from the 1990 survey in common with the above list were Elizabeth, ranking #10, and Nicole, ranking #20 (Richman 31). Some of the other names, like Marie, Ann Lynn, and Kay, have always been common girls' middle names, but Renee, Michelle, Danielle, and Elaine all seem to be emerging. Renee Russo is a new actor on the movie screen starring in In the Line of Fire and Outbreak. Michelle is the character name of the little girl on the ABC show Full House, and Elaine is the character name of a lady on the NBC sitcom Steinfeld. Danielle Steel is the well-known author of several best-selling novels.

Other patterns exist among these emerging baby names. The variations in spelling are more evident in girls' names than in boys' names. For the girls' names Catherine, Katelyn, Brittany, and Renee, there are three variations in spelling. Most parents spell boys' names traditionally. For the names Christopher, William, Michael, and James, there isn't room for much creativity. Mrs. Jody Wobser feels that you can be more liberal and less traditional with girls' names. The more creative the name, the more feminine it looks. She also thinks that the letter y in girls' names is feminine. Boys' names, on the other hand, must be traditional, conservative, tough, strong, hardworking, and responsible because the male plays that role in society (Wobser). Some parents use boys' names for girls because it is okay for a girl to exhibit traditional male characteristics. However, it is normally not okay for boys to have girls' names because society stereotypes femininity in males as sissy or otherwise undesirable (Richman 8).

In the survey of emerging name patterns in Bay County for 1996, most of the boys' names have not exactly recently emerged. Compared with the 1990 national survey, they are the same traditional, conservative names for boys. The girls' names seem to be emerging into new, creative, liberal expressions.

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Works Cited

• "Birth Announcements." News Herald [Panama City, FL]. 14 Jan. 1996, 6E; 21 Jan. 1996, 7E+; 28 Jan. 1996, 7E; 4 Feb. 1996, 8E; 11 Feb. 1996, 7E; 18 Feb. 1996, 8E; 25 Feb. 1996, 8E; 3 Mar. 1996, 8E; 10 Mar. 1996, 7E; 17 Mar. 1996, 8E; 24 Mar. 1996, 8E.
• Dunkling, Leslie. The Guinness Book of Names. Enfield: Guinness Publishing Ltd., 1993.
• Mehrabin, Albert. "Selecting Attractive and Beneficial Baby and Adult Names." Online. America Online. 6 Mar. 1996.
• Phillips, Bob. Phillips Book of Great Thoughts and Funny Sayings. Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1993.
• Richman, Daniel Avram. From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names. Boston: Little, Brown, 1993.
• Wobser, Jody J. Personal interview. 5 Mar. 1996.