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Helpour 2008 vs. 2014 opinons! Warning: kinda long :)
So I went through my old polls the other month and found this one and re-polled it to see how our boardmembers’ thoughts had changed....here's where the names stood in 2008 and where they stand now! It took a while for me to get back to it. :)
(Note: It's hard to figure out true percentages because we can't know how many people chose each selection nor how many people took the poll, but for my non-scientific purposes I figured the percentages based on the assumption that each person selected only one choice for each name, and then took the total number of votes for each name-again assuming they were each only one person-and then rounded roughly to whole/half numbers.)
In 2008: In 2014:
Arden -f 8 22% Arden – f 6 18%
Arden -m 23 62% Arden – m 18 53%
Arden -either 6 16% Arden – either 10 29%
Avery -f 12 31% Avery – f 10 24%
Avery -m 17 43.5% Avery – m 20 47.5%
Avery -either 10 25.5% Avery – either 12 28.5%
Merritt -f 18 50% Merritt – f 6 16%
Merritt -m 12 33% Merritt – m 20 52.5%
Merritt -either 6 17% Merritt – either12 31.5%
2008 - 112 total votes: Arden 33%, Avery 35%, Merritt 32%
2014 - 114 total votes: Arden 30%, Avery 37%, Merritt 33%
1) The popularity of each name has remained fairly constant. The only difference of note is that Arden dropped and Avery rose a bit. Avery was the (slightly) most popular of the three both years.
2) The popularity of the names for both genders (or for either):
ARDEN
Arden decreased in overall popularity. I was much more popular as a male name in both years. In 2008 it was seen less as a unisex name, with voters liking it mostly for boys, but with a decent female-use vote as well. In 2014, however, popularity for both males and females decreased, while popularity as a unisex name increased. This suggests that it may be slowly becoming more popular for girls (typical for unisex and crossover names), though still strongly used, or seen as, a masculine name.
AVERY
Avery grew in overall popularity. Gender figures remained constant. (This surprised me. I figured they would lean much more heavily toward the female in 2014. I wonder if this is because, from what I have seen, BtN members tend to like unisex and crossover names on boys perhaps more than the general public, who seem to prefer them on girls once the crossover has been made – thoughts?) Avery actually decreased quite a bit – 7%! – for girls and rose 4% for boys and 3% as a unisex name. This shows that it may be holding steady as a true unisex name, with firm popularity for both boys and girls.
MERRITT
Merritt just slightly overtook Arden on the overall popularity scale. It significantly decreased in female-use popularity; it used to be 34% more popular as a girls’ name than it is today. To do some dodgy math :), in 2008 67% of voters thought it was good for either girls or both genders, whereas in 2014 only around 47% of voters thought so–more than half liked it better for boys. A 14% increase as a unisex name and nearly 20% increase as a male name would indicate that, like Avery, it is firmly unisex and perhaps even trending toward more exclusive male use – the opposite of Arden. (Again, not what I expected, especially as Merry could be a popular nickname. This makes me want to do a time-lapse poll on Morgan, which I sense is rising in popularity for boys as well.)
So, what does everyone think? Do you agree with the masses (or rather, yourselves)? Should I drag out any of my other old polls – haha?
To give my own opinions, I tend toward preferring most currently unisex (i.e. not Ashley, Lindsay, etc. which I really consider formerly unisex – I welcome disagreement on this point, however) names for boys, but not minding a lot of them for girls either. As for these three: Arden I do see more as a boys’ name, but I wouldn’t hate it on a girl. I used to really like Avery for boys only, but since I’ve heard it so much on girls I’m okay with it now. (Ava as a nickname is quite an attractive pull for its use on girls, I must admit.) To me, it looks feminine, but sounds masculine. So take your pick, I guess! I just hope it stays unisex because I think it’s a great name for either. I have known a male Merritt, but if I were to use this one, I’d probably use it for a girl (Merry as a nickname, like I mentioned). It also looks a bit more feminine to me, I suppose. Merit might look better for a boy, but I don’t know if I like it more in general or not. Basically, I think it’s a great “virtue” name that is underused for anyone, boy or girl!
(Note: It's hard to figure out true percentages because we can't know how many people chose each selection nor how many people took the poll, but for my non-scientific purposes I figured the percentages based on the assumption that each person selected only one choice for each name, and then took the total number of votes for each name-again assuming they were each only one person-and then rounded roughly to whole/half numbers.)
In 2008: In 2014:
Arden -f 8 22% Arden – f 6 18%
Arden -m 23 62% Arden – m 18 53%
Arden -either 6 16% Arden – either 10 29%
Avery -f 12 31% Avery – f 10 24%
Avery -m 17 43.5% Avery – m 20 47.5%
Avery -either 10 25.5% Avery – either 12 28.5%
Merritt -f 18 50% Merritt – f 6 16%
Merritt -m 12 33% Merritt – m 20 52.5%
Merritt -either 6 17% Merritt – either12 31.5%
2008 - 112 total votes: Arden 33%, Avery 35%, Merritt 32%
2014 - 114 total votes: Arden 30%, Avery 37%, Merritt 33%
1) The popularity of each name has remained fairly constant. The only difference of note is that Arden dropped and Avery rose a bit. Avery was the (slightly) most popular of the three both years.
2) The popularity of the names for both genders (or for either):
ARDEN
Arden decreased in overall popularity. I was much more popular as a male name in both years. In 2008 it was seen less as a unisex name, with voters liking it mostly for boys, but with a decent female-use vote as well. In 2014, however, popularity for both males and females decreased, while popularity as a unisex name increased. This suggests that it may be slowly becoming more popular for girls (typical for unisex and crossover names), though still strongly used, or seen as, a masculine name.
AVERY
Avery grew in overall popularity. Gender figures remained constant. (This surprised me. I figured they would lean much more heavily toward the female in 2014. I wonder if this is because, from what I have seen, BtN members tend to like unisex and crossover names on boys perhaps more than the general public, who seem to prefer them on girls once the crossover has been made – thoughts?) Avery actually decreased quite a bit – 7%! – for girls and rose 4% for boys and 3% as a unisex name. This shows that it may be holding steady as a true unisex name, with firm popularity for both boys and girls.
MERRITT
Merritt just slightly overtook Arden on the overall popularity scale. It significantly decreased in female-use popularity; it used to be 34% more popular as a girls’ name than it is today. To do some dodgy math :), in 2008 67% of voters thought it was good for either girls or both genders, whereas in 2014 only around 47% of voters thought so–more than half liked it better for boys. A 14% increase as a unisex name and nearly 20% increase as a male name would indicate that, like Avery, it is firmly unisex and perhaps even trending toward more exclusive male use – the opposite of Arden. (Again, not what I expected, especially as Merry could be a popular nickname. This makes me want to do a time-lapse poll on Morgan, which I sense is rising in popularity for boys as well.)
So, what does everyone think? Do you agree with the masses (or rather, yourselves)? Should I drag out any of my other old polls – haha?
To give my own opinions, I tend toward preferring most currently unisex (i.e. not Ashley, Lindsay, etc. which I really consider formerly unisex – I welcome disagreement on this point, however) names for boys, but not minding a lot of them for girls either. As for these three: Arden I do see more as a boys’ name, but I wouldn’t hate it on a girl. I used to really like Avery for boys only, but since I’ve heard it so much on girls I’m okay with it now. (Ava as a nickname is quite an attractive pull for its use on girls, I must admit.) To me, it looks feminine, but sounds masculine. So take your pick, I guess! I just hope it stays unisex because I think it’s a great name for either. I have known a male Merritt, but if I were to use this one, I’d probably use it for a girl (Merry as a nickname, like I mentioned). It also looks a bit more feminine to me, I suppose. Merit might look better for a boy, but I don’t know if I like it more in general or not. Basically, I think it’s a great “virtue” name that is underused for anyone, boy or girl!
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