Name popularity runs in distinct cycles. He says that when names become too familiar to be desirable, parents choose less familiar names and begin a new name cycle. Associations relate closely to name popularity. This is because people associated the name Adolf with Adolf Hitler, a hated and unpopular man. The name Glenn became associated with John Glenn, national hero.
People tend to stereotype names based on their popularity.
Knowing the importance of name selection and popularity, this researcher conducted a survey to assess changes in name popularity in Bay County, Florida, over a fifty-year span. References for this survey were yearbooks from Bay High School. The researcher allowed some assumptions because of nicknames. The most popular male name in 1931 was James, with five occurrences. No other name ocurred more than once.