1990s Baby Names and Millennial Nostalgia

Millennials are the first generation to name babies with Spotify playlists from their own childhood queued up in the next room, and the cognitive dissonance is doing strange things to the 1990s name list. Sarah, Ashley, Brandon, Tyler, Kayla, Jordan: these were the names on the lockers of the people now filling in birth certificates, and almost none of them are making the cut. This post is about that specific kind of nostalgia, one where millennials feel affection for the decade's names but can't quite bring themselves to hand them on. For the revival currently underway see the 1920s jazz-age cohort; for the decade still waiting see the 1970s.

The nineties top-tier

The most popular names of the 1990s in English-speaking countries included Ashley, Jessica, Sarah, Amanda, Brittany for girls; and Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua, Brandon for boys. Many of these are now notably absent from current top lists. Parents born in these names' heyday have looked elsewhere.

The hard-to-revive sounds

Some 1990s names have sounds that are currently out of fashion. The 'ey' ending of Ashley, Britney, Kelsey, Lindsey, Courtney is particularly dated. The 'en' ending of Madison, Jackson, Brandon is still fashionable for boys but feels nineties for girls. These sound patterns will need a full generation to shake loose.

Nobody wants their child to share a name with their own school year. The 1990s are too close for their names to feel like anything but their own past.

The survivors

A few 1990s names have held up. Sarah remains solidly usable because it has deep roots outside the decade. Matthew and Christopher are still chosen, though less often. Michael is eternal. The survivors tend to be the names that were already classic before they became fashionable in the 1990s.

The millennial naming pivot

Millennials naming babies today have largely pivoted away from their own generation's names. The current vintage revival (Arthur, Florence, Theodore, Eleanor) is, in part, a deliberate move away from 1990s sounds. Millennials wanted their children to sound unlike themselves.

When might the 1990s revive?

Following the century-cycle logic, the 1990s will start to feel beautifully vintage around the 2070s, when today's babies are grandparents and their grandchildren are being born. The names that feel dated today will by then feel as classic as Florence does now. This is not predicted; it is the pattern the cycle always follows.

The exceptions that might return earlier

Some 1990s names may return earlier than the broader pattern because they have deeper roots. Hannah, Rebecca, and Rachel are already classic and will likely return sooner. Andrew and Benjamin never really left. These are 1990s names only incidentally; the names themselves are older than the decade.

The personal lens

If you were born in the 1990s, your reaction to names from the decade is coloured by your own school memories, your cousins, your exes. This makes it nearly impossible to evaluate a 1990s name on its own terms. You are choosing for your child, not for your ten-year-old self; but the ten-year-old self has a loud voice.

The 1990s will have their turn. It is just not yet.