When people have kids they suddenly tend to pay lots more attention when those names crop up elsewhere. So naturally we notice when others have the names Audrey or Grace.
In an age where trendier-sounding names like Emily, Isabella, Emma, Ava, Madison, Sophia, Olivia, Abigail, Hannah and Elizabeth top the popularity charts, we thought we were being totally original when we picked "Audrey." In 2006 - the year she was born - it was only the 68th most popular name. In 2005, 2004 and 2003 it was 77th, 80th and 78th, respectively, and before that it wasn't even in the top 100. But then in 2007 it was the 51st most popular name. And in 2008 it was 49th.
Classic-sounding names like Audrey have made a resurgence. Naturally we'd like to believe the rise in that name's popularity was spurred by our own originality, but on the other hand we'd rather not know that there are a bunch of other girls who've taken the name Audrey as well.
But we didn't start any trend - the name entered the top 100 baby names after 2002 and we jumped on board in 2006. But if you look at the chart the trend existed long before that. After peaking in popularity just before 1930 (Audrey Hepburn was born in 1929) the name declined in usage until 1970, and since then it has enjoyed upward momentum.
And there have always been people using the name Audrey - it's just that now we're paying attention. What is Clark and Ellen Griswold's daughter's name in the Vacation movies, for example? Audrey. Here's a little-known piece of trivia: What is Michael Myers' middle name in the Halloween movies? Audrey. There's French actress Audrey Tautou who played Sophie in The Da Vinci Code. A 6th century English princess was named Audrey (and also known as Etheldreda) and Shakespeare used the name for Touchstone's comic sweetheart in "As You Like It." And of course there's Audrey Hepburn, the most well-known Audrey to most of the world.
We've met a number of girls in daily life named Audrey as well, one of whom is in Audrey's weekly music class. (Her mother has two daughters who, ironically, are named Audrey and Grace - the only difference is the ages are flipped around.)
And who wouldn't like the name Audrey? It has an Old English origin, it means "noble strength" and it has a classic ring to it like few names have.
With Grace we knew we were picking a popular name. In fact we almost had to - my wife suggested the name early and then Audrey picked it up and started calling as-yet-unborn Grace "Baby Gracie." The name caught on amongst the family and that was basically it.
The name has a Latin origin and means "favor" or "blessing." In Greek mythology the three "Graces" were goddesses of nature: Aglaia (brilliance), Thalia (flowering) and Euphrosyne (joy). Famous people named Grace include singer and actor Grace Jones and actor and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly. And Grace has a nice classic ring to it, just like Audrey.
In terms of popularity, Grace was 25th in 2008, 20th in 2007 and in the mid- to high-teens since 2000. As the chart indicates, it has steadily been increasing in popularity for awhile.
Interestingly the name Grace bottomed out in terms of popularity at the same time Audrey did - roughly 1970. I don't know why but can imagine some forces that may have been at work.
The fact that there was a lower number of births per 1,000 people occurring in the 1930s (depression) and 1940s (WWII) doesn't explain the declining relative popularity of names, but those events combined with what people were experiencing during those periods might.
Perhaps parents who were in their child-bearing years were nostalgic for better times, memorializing names from the past. In the 1880s, for example, the most popular names were Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Margaret and Helen. Mary remained the #1 most popular name in every decade until the 1980s, except during the 1950s when it was #2. Anna was popular until the 1950s. Elizabeth and Margaret were popular until the 1960s. Helen entered the top 10 in the 1890s and that lasted until the 1950s.
All those names remained prominent from the late 1800s through and beyond the 1930s and 1940s while names popular among even earlier generations like Ethel, Florence, Ida and Mildred started to fade. In the 1950s and especially the 1960s when new cultural ideals were being developed, a new crop of names sprang up like Susan, Karen, Linda, Deborah, Patricia and Maria, supplanting those that had their roots in the industrial revolution.
But the popularity of these newer names diminished in the 1970s when parents began to broaden their scope significantly - possibly because they didn't feel compelled by nostalgia or weren't as hemmed in by the counter-culture. Names like Jennifer, Kimberly, Michelle, Angela, Amy and Melissa became hallmarks of the top 10. And classic names like Grace and Audrey began a resurgence.
In the sense of picking names, the world became one's oyster. Lately actors illustrate this point best (and garner more attention on themselves) by choosing baby names like Apple, Lourdes, Harlow, Suri, Phinnaeus and - my favorite - Pilot Inspektor. (For them the world is less an oyster than it is a bowl full of marbles.)
Speaking of actors, our daughters have the same names as the two famous ones pictured here - Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Both actors were born in 1929 and both were backstage at the 28th Annual Academy Awards at this moment.
From our standpoint it's a fun reference but mere coincidence. (As in, we aren't the sort of weird parents who would pick names for their kids because of a photo like this one.) And while I could see Audrey becoming an actor, with all her personality and spunk, so far I doubt that is Grace's destiny. But what can one really predict when his daughter is only 5 months old, much less 2 or 3 years?
And regardless of the popularity of their names, Audrey and Grace are as special and unique as can be. And in the end that's all that matters.
