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HelpRe: Madison ~~
in reply to a message by Leontine
That's interesting, I was just watching a clip of that movie because I was thinking about the name. Wow, it was not very good, heh.
What's weird is, the movie was released in March 1984 and people immediately went from never using the name, to using it. 42 Madisons were named in 1984. I really wish that data was available about names used less than five times, because I'd love to know if Madison was used for one or two girls in 1983, or not.
Because I remember when Splash came out. I saw a trailer, and I remember pricking up my ears at the name and just knowing that it sounded fashionable and "cool" to people at the time. I was only 13. Madeline was also starting to sound fashionable, and Alison was right about at its peak. And there was Dolly Madison the cheap pastry company, which had given the name a potential to have a feminine air as far as I was concerned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Original_logo_used_by_Dolly_Madison_bakeries,_in_the_1970%27s_thru_the_early_1980%27s.jpg
I hated the name for a long time just because I resented it. For being the name of a character I felt was sort of gross, for being like a joke played by Hollywood on everyone (because it seemed to me like the movie's writers had used it as a joke - Madison Avenue = you can sell anything to people - and they must have also known it would sound "cool" to some people), for being a surname/boy name on girls.
In 2006 when my daughter was born I made a friend who had a baby the same age. The baby's name was Matison (pronounced Madison). Well, geez. So the name was real then, and I started to think it had to be OK. It's easy to say, and it does sound so much like Alison and Madeline ... that it's not that bad ...
Now the very first Madisons are turning 30 and it seems like just another surname name / guy name for girls. Like Ashley, Harper, Cameron, Sydney etc. It also "feels" to me like it's in the same style as Brittany and Mallory. I find myself liking Madison more than I like any of those.
I really dislike Addison, though. It makes me think of Addison's disease, and it's like Alison in drag ... and I just dislike Ad-names because I don't like that initial sound.
Oh, and you asked if there are other 'new' names ... there are tons that are new by my standards. Ones I actually like, that are new-ish usages where I am:
Sienna
Isla
Gemma
Fiona
Kaia (prn to rhyme Maia and Gaia)
Skylar (f) - sort of. Not that into it, and hate all other spellings for girls.
Skye
Devon (f) - does not rhyme Kevin ... kind of a GP but I met someone named it and thought it's not so bad.
Quinn (f)
Chelsea - is just OK, not a fave.
Caitlin - similar.
Phoenix (e)
River (e)
Raven (f)
Diamond (e)
Holland - I don't know how I feel about this but it's easy to imagine it as a female name, the way it was easy to imagine Madison as one in 1984...
More that I don't like so much
Khaleesi!
Paisley
London
Avery f
Sawyer
Piper
Riley f and all of this trend (Briley, Braelynn, Raelynn, Brielle, etc)
Ireland
Aubrey
Kennedy
Cassidy
Mackenzie (eh it's OK)
Peyton
Monroe
well it goes on and on
- mirfak
What's weird is, the movie was released in March 1984 and people immediately went from never using the name, to using it. 42 Madisons were named in 1984. I really wish that data was available about names used less than five times, because I'd love to know if Madison was used for one or two girls in 1983, or not.
Because I remember when Splash came out. I saw a trailer, and I remember pricking up my ears at the name and just knowing that it sounded fashionable and "cool" to people at the time. I was only 13. Madeline was also starting to sound fashionable, and Alison was right about at its peak. And there was Dolly Madison the cheap pastry company, which had given the name a potential to have a feminine air as far as I was concerned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Original_logo_used_by_Dolly_Madison_bakeries,_in_the_1970%27s_thru_the_early_1980%27s.jpg
I hated the name for a long time just because I resented it. For being the name of a character I felt was sort of gross, for being like a joke played by Hollywood on everyone (because it seemed to me like the movie's writers had used it as a joke - Madison Avenue = you can sell anything to people - and they must have also known it would sound "cool" to some people), for being a surname/boy name on girls.
In 2006 when my daughter was born I made a friend who had a baby the same age. The baby's name was Matison (pronounced Madison). Well, geez. So the name was real then, and I started to think it had to be OK. It's easy to say, and it does sound so much like Alison and Madeline ... that it's not that bad ...
Now the very first Madisons are turning 30 and it seems like just another surname name / guy name for girls. Like Ashley, Harper, Cameron, Sydney etc. It also "feels" to me like it's in the same style as Brittany and Mallory. I find myself liking Madison more than I like any of those.
I really dislike Addison, though. It makes me think of Addison's disease, and it's like Alison in drag ... and I just dislike Ad-names because I don't like that initial sound.
Oh, and you asked if there are other 'new' names ... there are tons that are new by my standards. Ones I actually like, that are new-ish usages where I am:
Sienna
Isla
Gemma
Fiona
Kaia (prn to rhyme Maia and Gaia)
Skylar (f) - sort of. Not that into it, and hate all other spellings for girls.
Skye
Devon (f) - does not rhyme Kevin ... kind of a GP but I met someone named it and thought it's not so bad.
Quinn (f)
Chelsea - is just OK, not a fave.
Caitlin - similar.
Phoenix (e)
River (e)
Raven (f)
Diamond (e)
Holland - I don't know how I feel about this but it's easy to imagine it as a female name, the way it was easy to imagine Madison as one in 1984...
More that I don't like so much
Khaleesi!
Paisley
London
Avery f
Sawyer
Piper
Riley f and all of this trend (Briley, Braelynn, Raelynn, Brielle, etc)
Ireland
Aubrey
Kennedy
Cassidy
Mackenzie (eh it's OK)
Peyton
Monroe
well it goes on and on
- mirfak
This message was edited 6/18/2015, 10:11 AM
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
fwiw, Madison was used as a female name a few times in 1971, 1975, 1977, and 1979 (5 times in each, except 1971, which was 6).
So it's possible there were one or two in 1983.
1
YES!
Thank you. I didn't look back that far.
I really have an intuition that these fashionable names that are traceable to one stimulus, are really just names that are destined to popularity because of, like, Zeitgeist or something, and the thing that "starts the trend" would be one thing if it weren't another. Someone would have named a female character Madison, if Splash hadn't had one, and it still would have taken off.
For usages like Khaleesi that are pretty original I'll buy that the one thing started the trend, but not for names like Madison. That mermaid character was not anywhere near cool enough. lol
Thank you. I didn't look back that far.
I really have an intuition that these fashionable names that are traceable to one stimulus, are really just names that are destined to popularity because of, like, Zeitgeist or something, and the thing that "starts the trend" would be one thing if it weren't another. Someone would have named a female character Madison, if Splash hadn't had one, and it still would have taken off.
For usages like Khaleesi that are pretty original I'll buy that the one thing started the trend, but not for names like Madison. That mermaid character was not anywhere near cool enough. lol
1
It IS an awful movie! I watched it because I remembered 'loving' it as as a child because of how real I thought the mermaid tail looked and I thought the idea of a mermaid on land was amazing and I wanted to be her...I was about 7, forgive me :P Anyway, it was royally disappointing on second viewing.
I didn't know that about how quickly the name took off! Wow.
I agree with where you feel the name fits and I know it's superficial but I've always thought of them as 'bitchy names. I think ambiguous names just make me feel uncomfortable, maybe because they don't assign any kind of identity but are just...bland? I especially feel that way about Peyton. Someone I know has a daughter named Peyton and I don't like it on either gender. It's not masculine to me, or feminine, just ugly. Wow, sorry, that was mean :/
From the list of names you posted I like:
Sienna
Quinn*
Caitlin
Phoenix
London (This surprises me, considering what I just wrote above.)
:0)
I didn't know that about how quickly the name took off! Wow.
I agree with where you feel the name fits and I know it's superficial but I've always thought of them as 'bitchy names. I think ambiguous names just make me feel uncomfortable, maybe because they don't assign any kind of identity but are just...bland? I especially feel that way about Peyton. Someone I know has a daughter named Peyton and I don't like it on either gender. It's not masculine to me, or feminine, just ugly. Wow, sorry, that was mean :/
From the list of names you posted I like:
Sienna
Quinn*
Caitlin
Phoenix
London (This surprises me, considering what I just wrote above.)
:0)
1
*small voice*
I still like the movie.
I still like the movie.
1