I’m seeing this so many times… Like Aiden, Caiden, Braiden, Jaiden, Paiden…

  • yesman@lemmy.world
    5·
    3 months ago

    Unique names and spellings became popular in the US during the 70s as part of the Black Power movement. The politically conscious black parents didn’t want to name their children European names, for some reason. The problem is that these black parents had no cultural link to Africa because that had been stolen from them.

    Fist came Arab names. I presume this has to do with the NOI and the black celebrities who converted to it. Some of these names are still popular like Omar and Jamal. Of course Black Americans have no more connection to Islam than they do to Christianity, So black parents just started making new names for their children.

    American popular culture tends to incubate in the black community and slowly drift into white culture. So it has gone with the unique baby names.

    • thermal_shock@lemmy.worldEnglish
      04·
      3 months ago

      very good answer. white people have tried to take everything from the black community, and now the names…

  • EABOD25@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    3 months ago

    Aiden is tradition Gaelic and it means “fire”. Caiden is also Gaelic meaning “battle” Braiden is Gaelic meaning “salmon” Jayden is Hebrew for “God will judge” Hayden is old English meaning “hedged valley”

  • Jackie's Fridge@lemmy.world
    3·
    3 months ago

    It’s been around for a while. Over a decade ago Target ran a cheeky back to school advert featuring a slow pan across school cubbies with lunch pails all labelled with variant spellings of “Braiden”. I thought it was hilarious.

  • Boozilla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    There’s a well-studied phenomenon called “social diffusion”. People of higher socioeconomic status seek out novel, unique, or fashionable baby names and start using them. These names gradually get picked up by families of lower socioeconomic status. Eventually the names become mainstream, and then finally decline in popularity.

    • Dr. Bob@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Social diffusion is an explanation of how information spreads, not just names.

      My understanding is that unique names and neologism have long been a feature of African-American culture where North American Caucasians followed a family naming tradition. I think what has happened is some celebrities have moved towards a unique name scheme. But it feels like a mainstreaming of AA culture more than anything.

      The impetus has been there in Europe. Many nations have/had very restrictive rules about names. They’d only have rules against it if people were trying to do it. I had Swiss friends who were very excited that their daughter was born in Canada so they could name her “Sora” which wasn’t in the approved name list in Switzerland.

    • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
      2·
      3 months ago

      I would feel bad for Zayden, except that in an alternate timeline where his father was named Brad, Zayden would have been banned named Hunter. So it could be worse. I would rather be Zayden than Hunter.

    • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Jesus Christ on a motorbike, that picture just SCREAMS “upper middle class 2008 suburban white family”.

      I bet they have a large wooden deck out back, an above-ground pool, and a trampoline with one of those safety net cages.

  • Plopp@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 months ago

    Paiden? That’s a weird one. Payme on the other hand, now that’s a good name.

    • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Jesus Christ… Sometimes I think that maybe having restrictions on what you can name your child is actually a good idea.

  • Surp@lemmy.world
    01·
    3 months ago

    As usual…who cares what someone names their kid even if it sounds dumb to you don’t worry about it go live your life not worrying about this shit.