Let’s Hear It for Unusual Names

I have a friend who gave birth to a baby boy last week and named him Silas. Another friend gave birth to a boy six weeks ago and named him Titus. Although these are both New Testament names, I had never met anyone with those names in my lifetime. Turns out they are still unusual, but are gaining popularity.

According to the Social Security Administration (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/), Silas was the 254th most popular name for a boy born in the United States in 2009, its highest ranking in the past century. Titus moved up to the 439th most popular name for a boy, after not registering in the top 1,000 boy names before 1960.

It turns out a lot of biblical names are trendy these days. Jacob, Ethan, Joshua and Noah are all in the top 10, but you would have a tough time finding somebody my age with those names.

Some names — mine for instance — are perpetually fashionable. John and William ranked first and second from 1911-1920. They have both been in the top 20 ever since, until John dropped to 26th last year.

I like unusual names. Whenever my wife and I have nursery at church it’s a fun collection: Lael, Diesel, Elliott, Radley, Abner, Malloch.

Some once-popular names fall into oblivion. My sister-in-law Betty had plenty of company when born in the 1940s, but Betty dropped out of the 1,000 most popular girls names in 1996. My wife Patricia grew up with a lot of people with the same name, but there are few Patricias in the maternity ward cribs anymore.

Some names are cyclical. Emma and Grace were popular in the early 20th century, then waned, and now have made a roaring comeback.

I’m all for the uncommon names, baby or not. And I have adult friends with the monikers of Kendi, Sesha, Renelle, Samson, Hally, Nisha and Samson.

While Bible names are increasingly popular, I doubt if we’ll see a spate of babies named Dorcas, Festus, Methuselah or Eutychus any time soon. But watch out for Silas and Titus. They’re on the march to the top.