The US blog 1964 has a post on the declining popularity of the name 'Mary'. This in the same breath that the Holy Father announced his desire to see more Christian names coming to the fore at baptisms.
Well, the sad fact is, that in Great Britain, the top name for a girl today is (according to the 2008 figures from the Office of National Statistics) Olivia. Mary does not appear, certainly not in the top 10 and, I suspect, the top 20.
This is sad. And I am allowed to be smug because we have three daughters all called Mary! Finola Mary, Mary Sinead and Catherine Mary - not a bad route to go for Catholic couples.
But, back to the States. Whilst Mary as a name has suffered a decline, Joseph has maintained a steady unchanging level of popularity. Why? One might ask. Is Mary deemed to be just too plain?
It would be good to see Joseph climbing up the popularity charts in GB but, Mohamed in all its various spellings has the monopoly - a sign of the times in which we live.
Well, the sad fact is, that in Great Britain, the top name for a girl today is (according to the 2008 figures from the Office of National Statistics) Olivia. Mary does not appear, certainly not in the top 10 and, I suspect, the top 20.
This is sad. And I am allowed to be smug because we have three daughters all called Mary! Finola Mary, Mary Sinead and Catherine Mary - not a bad route to go for Catholic couples.
It would be good to see Joseph climbing up the popularity charts in GB but, Mohamed in all its various spellings has the monopoly - a sign of the times in which we live.
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| Three sisters - three Marys! |
Great picture & post! If I had known I was going to have 8 daughters I think I would have called them Mary first ie Mary Kate, Mary Rose, Mary Patricia etc As it is though our 5th daughter is Mary & we called our 2 miscarried babies Sophie Maria & Frances Maria. Love your girls names..
ReplyDeleteA funny story... My mother-in-law didn't know her first name was Mary until the 5th grade! Apparently Irish tradition dictates that every girl's first name is Mary, but usually the child goes by her middle name.
ReplyDeleteNo one informed my mother-in-law of this tradition, until a teacher called her Mary and she told her her name was Kathleen. The teacher, showing her the roster, explained that her first name was indeed Mary. Who knew?