In 2018, it's out with the old and in with the new.
There's a lot of things to consider when naming your baby, and one is that baby names cycle
in and out of popularity.
The last thing you want is your child to be stuck with a name that is going to sound hopelessly
outdated and old fashioned!
So, let's take a look at just some of the baby names that no one is going to care about
beyond 2018.
Ashley
The name Ashley dominated baby name lists from the mid 1980s well into the 2000s, but
its heyday is finally over.
There are a ton of famous women named Ashley, like Ashley Olsen, Ashley Tisdale, and Ashley
Benson, even though the once male-only name wasn't popularly used for girls until the
1960s.
While there are plenty of people with this name today, fewer and fewer babies are being
given the name.
That decline in popularity means that by the time your baby goes off to college, people
will associate the name with middle-aged women.
Nathaniel
The name Nathaniel has been around for a long time, and has roots that go all the way back
to the Biblical era.
It's retained it's somewhat old-time feel, and it's still mentioned in everyone's American
literature courses thanks to Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
The name saw a brief resurgence in popularity in the 1990s, but it's been declining ever
since.
The name officially fell from the top 100 names for baby boys in 2016, making Nathaniel
a name that will be off everyone's radar in 2018 and beyond.
Isabelle
For a few years in the mid-2000s, the name Isabelle looked like it was going to rise
in popularity along with the similar-sounding Isabella, but its ascent to glory was brief.
Isabelle is slowly fading into obscurity, exactly as it did once before, in the middle
of the 20th century.
Even if you do end up using this name for your baby, chances are good that people will
end up getting confused and calling her Isabella anyway, and since there are other, more familiar
versions of this name — like Elizabeth — you can compromise.
Get the type of name you're going for without the inevitable difficulty, and everyone wins.
Taylor and Tyler
Taylor was at the height of its popularity in the late 1990s, when this originally masculine
name became popular for girls.
In spite of the continued popularity of Taylor Swift, the name itself has begun to drop off
in terms of how many parents are giving their babies this particular moniker.
Perhaps parents are hesitating to give their children the name of a singer who, while beloved,
has become more known for her edgy music rather than the sweet country style of her early
years.
The old Taylor is gone, and so is her name.
Just like the similar-sounding Taylor is out for girls, the name Tyler is out for boys.
Tyler has also been used as a gender-neutral name, but 2018 trends suggest it's a name
that's not likely to be given to anyone.
Caleb
Cale is often used as a nickname for Caleb, and that makes it a weird coincidence that
the decline in popularity of the name comes at the same time that the once-trendy food
kale is also falling out of favor.
While there is no evidence to indicate that the two things are related, the timing is
almost eerie.
Whatever the reasons behind the downfall, you can expect that no one post-2018 is going
to care about the name Caleb, or eating kale.
Alexa
Once a mega-popular name, Alexa has seen a huge drop in popularity in the last couple
of years.
It's possible that it has fallen out of favor because of Amazon Echo, a personal assistant
device that answers to the name Alexa.
Parents who don't want their Echo triggered every time they say their child's name would
be wise to shy away from the name Alexa, and it looks like many parents are already doing
just that.
The only Alexa people will care about after 2018 is the one that can automatically tell
you the temperature or the scores from last night's basketball game.
How times have changed.
Kaylee and Kylie
The name Kaylee is fairly new, appearing only in the mid-1980s.
Its popularity was short lived, however, and the name has been on its way out for the last
couple of years.
It's happened so fast that it looks like 2018 may be the year that sees Kaylee fading into
obscurity.
The similar-sounding Kylie has a similar-sounding story.
It wasn't really on anyone's radar until singer Kylie Minogue arrived in the late 20th century,
and the name remained fashionable through the 2000s, but it hit a downward spiral in
2016 when its ranking dropped drastically.
You'll still be hearing it thanks to bearers like Kylie Jenner, but for babies?
Not so much.
Kaylee and Kylie aren't the only baby girl names beginning with the letter "K" falling
out of favor, either.
Other once-popular names that have recently dropped in the ranks include Katherine and
Khloe.
It's food for thought, especially if you're feeling tempted to pick a name that's uber
trendy.
Parker
The name Parker isn't going to be totally forgotten in 2018, but if you're looking for
a name for your new, bouncing baby boy, you might want to give this one a miss.
It's largely lost its following as a top-ranked name for boys, but it is becoming more and
more popular as a name for girls, like Parker Posey.
In another couple years, we could see Parker become a popular name for baby girls, at the
same time mostly forgetting that it had once been primarily given to baby boys… so you
might want to think twice before labeling your boy with what might become a very, very
inconvenient moniker.
Thanks for watching!
Click the List icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!