Why do Americans use a more conservative approach to baby names?

The majority of people on YA seem to be American (a lot of answers contain info about the country they are from) and I have noticed they seem to prefer more conservative names compared to Aussies. We seem to use a lot more unusual and imaginative names here. I always thought that would be the opposite. Why do you think this is so?

Why do Americans use a more conservative approach to baby names?
I have noticed that more unusual names are not taken to very well on here. I am in the U.S. and I like more unusual names....but like you said "get a lot of flack about it"


These are names we considered for our next child:





Girls -


Salem Kaine ( this is what we are naming our daughter)


Rellah Marie


Ellery Sinclaire


Merritt Rome


Larken Selene


Sora Masen


Arwen Patrice


Callista Paige


Jensen Ivy


Kyree Myleese





Boys -


Saxon Ridge (name we had chosen if we had a boy)


Bishop Caine


Lincoln Reid


Grant Lawson


Lawson Gaige


Elliot Pierce


Perry Jameson


Foster Mathis


Roman Bennett


Laiken Reid


Tucker Carson





Some people really like them...but very few....most people do not like them at all and I get the "they have to live with this name their whole life" speech.....Sorry, but it's not like I am naming my daughter Cloud!! lol





= )
Reply:I am liberal with my politics and conservative with names. I come from the African American community here in the US and I have seen my share of made up, 'creative' names to last me a lifetime. I have a very conservative name and I am so glad! I have friends and family that constantly have to spell their name out and is constantly asked how to pronounce it. And then there is the names that you have to wonder what the heck was their parents thinking about. Now with the trend of naming girls obvious boys names, I am questioning my own sanity.
Reply:Some people like to use family names that have significance to them. Other people like to 'creatively spell' a more common name: for example, they might spell Caitlin like Kaytlynne or something. Personally, I don't like these and don't think it's all that creative, just hard to spell. Other people like uncommon, but actual names, I don't think you can make assumptions about a country so large as America and Australia though. Certain people just have their preferences.
Reply:i don't think we are conservative at all.





i love unique names, they just have to be legit.





how can someone like a name like Maddesynn? i have seen that on here, from the US. and i dont find that conservative at all.














EDIT: well, actually, it really and truly depends on the person. the top names of australia right now are normal names. the top names in the US are normal and ordinary names. some aussies are imaginative and some americans are imaginative. it really depends on the person. it's not a matter of Americans vs. Aussies.
Reply:I am Australian and find a great variation here of names, from conservative, to way out there strange, to sensible and sweet. I have 3 girls, they all have sensible names, but not boring names. Well I don't think there boring. I think everywhere in every land has a good mix of everything... Hope that makes some sense.
Reply:I am not sure what the answer to that is, but I agree with your observation.





I'm looking to use a slavic (Russian, Ukrainian) name for our future kids and when I ask peoples opinions they often say that they are too much, or a mouthfull or strange.





I'm American, and I do not like normal names, they are boring and not everyone wants to have Michael #5 in mrs. swansons class! ;)
Reply:I agree with the first answer.


Honestly, I think American's go for horrible names a lot of the time. 9I can't stand you know, "Hannah Marie, Peyton Jayde" etc.


Yuck!


I'm an Aussie, living in NYC.


My name is Anya Cate. My daughter is Arizona.


:D I grew up around friends with good names as well. hah.





I don't know, i think we are more imaginative, but they go for different, but just so typical names: Jayden, Kayden, Leiden.. etc.
Reply:Yahoo Answers isn't the best place to find a consensus. Americans can be just as creative with names. Australians can just be as conservative with names.
Reply:ok....................
Reply:Well, I don't know about conservative, but almost all the kids in any given generation tend to have the same sounding names, and you hear a lot of repeats.


Americans like certain sounds, and all the children conform to the same sounding names.


Jennifer was popular when I was a kid, and subsequently we had: Jenna, Jennifer, Jenny, Jen, Jemma, and Ginny.


Parents these days like Aiden, so now we've got: Aiden, Braiden, Kaiden, Jaiden; and 100 other names that are two syllables and end in an -en sound.





Americans like to think they're unique if they spell a kids name wrong or take two popular names and smush them together. Now there's a trend of taking tired, boring, masculine, white-person last names (Anderson, Madison, Edison, Carson) and giving them to little girls, which is just sad.





Another thing that could be contributing to this conservative baby naming that you see is that there's been a huge surge in Evangelism the last decade over here; parents are choosing Biblical names more and more. Even the ugliest ones. I saw the cutest little boy at the park the other day, and imagine my horror when his mother called out for, "Havilah."