As geeks, we want to infuse our lives with the things we love, RPGs, Cthulhu, movies, comics, and such. When it’s time to name something,1 we tend to want to give a tribute to those things. Thankfully Social Security tracks name popularity and I can prove to you that geek names are on the rise. Here are the stories of how these ten geek names got to be chic.
- Connor – As in John Connor of Terminator. Surnames are hot, but this didn’t take off until 1987 – three years after the Terminator movie.
- Logan – Most popular of the geek names. It didn’t really take off until 1976 right after the release of the “new” X-Men including Wolverine a.k.a. Logan. The history of this name is tied to comics and you can spot boosts when the Wolverine limited series and solo comics launched. Other X-Men names: Xavier, Iliana.
- Ryker – The spelling is more Marvel (General John Ryker from the Hulk comics), but I think this comes straight from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It only appeared on the name list in 2003 after the end of the series. Other Star Trek names used today: Anika, Kira, Nerys, Jadzia, Tiberius, Kirk.
- Willow – A tree name forever but only a popular moniker when Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured Allison Hannigan’s character in 1997. Other Buffy tributes: Xander, Angel.
- Serenity – Another Whedon contribution. It follows the trend to name your child, especially a girl, after a virtue. Browncoats know it boosted in popularity after the Firefly series and the Serenity movie. Other Firefly names: River, Kaylee.
- Rohan – Also used in Sanskrit, Rohan means “horse country” to most Americans thanks to Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. This name didn’t chart at all until 1995 and peaked with the release of Return of the King. Other Lord of the Rings references: Arwen, Eowyn, Orlando.
- Trinity – While having some religious connotation, Trinity jumped a massive 135 points up the scale when The Matrix was released.
- Evangeline – This name didn’t chart until after Lost premiered in 2004 and was a big break for Evangeline Lilly. Sawyer, also a character on Lost, saw a boost of 125 points at the same time.
- Ayla – Similar to Layla, Shayla, and Kayla, Ayla got exposure from a female Twi’lek Jedi in Attack of the Clones. While her spelling is Aayla, the sound is the same and the name enjoyed a big jump after her return in 2005’s release of Revenge of the Sith.
- Cullen – From Edward Cullen, sparkly vampire hero of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. The books did nothing, but the movie made the name rise almost 300 places in 2009. Esme experienced a similar jump in 2008 going from not charting to the 100 spot.
Will we be overrun with Frodos and Chewbaccas? Probably not. If these trends continue, it looks like we will have hoards of sparkly vampire children.
- child, dog, character [↩]
3 Responses to “Geek Names are Chic”
We chose Trinity both because of the Matrix and the religious connotation. The hard part came when we found out she’d have a sister. What were we supposed to name her? Switch? Oracle? We settled on a name from a Kevin Smith movie, Dogma: Bethany. Our goals were 1)interesting. “Jodi” always set me apart in the classroom, but I hated that more boys were called Jodi than girls. So I definitely wanted something girly for girls. And as church-going geeks, we wanted something to honor both gamerdom and the Christ. 2)Spellable. Again, all the times I’ve had to spell my name, as simple as it is, because -y and -ie were more girly, drove me nuts.
Good blog. I like to see research!
You were actually one of the gamer families I thought about when I put this article together – though you are not the only one I know with a little Trinity. I hadn’t realized Bethany had any geek connection until you pointed it out. I’m a big fan of under the radar geek names – and we chose them for our girls as well! I’ve heard ( myself included!) many mothers express a wish to keep their child’s names intresting and maybe more unique while still being an actual readable and pronouncable name. When we chose Iliana, we made the choice to stay with the most accept spelling – so that it woul dbe easier on her and everyone else as opposed to the Marvel spelling, Illyana.