okay so thereās actually a reason behind this that isnāt just āwhite people are terrible and really really boring!ā itās to do with Mormon culture. specifically: the fireworks you get when sexist expectations and terrible petty drama collide.Ā
most of Those White People Baby Names are originally Mormon baby names. theyāre chosen (or invented) by women in Utah; they tend to filter out to the rest of the world through things likeĀ āmommy blogsā andĀ ābaby name booksā andĀ āparent forums.āĀ
you know how every culture has a āhey, welcome to the world, lil baby!ā ritual? the mormon version of that is called a baby blessing. the babyās father, and a handful of other men in the family, go up in front of the congregation during a Sunday service and say a special prayer. it begins by reciting the babyās full name and then sayingĀ āI give you a name and a blessing.āĀ Itās not something you can avoid doing- if you try, people will think that youāre trying to hide something. baby blessings are mandatory, and everyone in the congregation will watch and judge you.
because of this, your babyās name gets a good bit more of a spotlight in Mormon culture than it does in secular culture, and thatās saying something.Ā
Ā Mormon women start picking out names for their hypothetical future kids in fourth or fifth grade and snipe at each other for pickingĀ āweirdā orĀ ābadā ones. itās something thatās supposed to be in the back of your head long before you have a kid. and because people will judge you if you pick a name thatāsĀ ātoo boringā orĀ ātoo weirdā, it is already an intricate dance of finding something thatāsĀ āinterestingā enough to pass muster but not soĀ āinterestingā your kid wonāt survive kindergarten.
and that dance becomes even more intricate when Baby Name Drama gets involved.Ā
see, because youāre supposed to put so much time into your babyās name, a lot of women get⦠overinvested, let us say. the perfect name they picked for their baby is THEIR babyās name and NO ONE ELSEāS. if you so much as dare to BREATHE that youāre naming your baby/pet/favourite laptop the same thing, you have STOLEN their BABYāS NAME.Ā Ā
so hereās the thing⦠say you really wanted to name your daughter Amy. You love the name, itās classic, itās cute, itās perfect for your little girl-to-be⦠and then your sister-in-law gets pregnant and LOUDLY ANNOUNCES that sheās naming her baby Amy! and you know for a fact that sheās the type of person to throw a massive petty shitfit over you STEALING her BABYāS NAME. your family will take sides. her family will take sides.Ā
if you want to avoid the drama, and youāre dead-set on naming your daughter-to-be Amy⦠well, then you name your daughter Aimee, or Aimi, or Aimy. Itās not the same name, itās pronounced the same but itās not the exact same name, so you can shut up,Ā sis-in-law.Ā
from what I understand a lot of the Crazy Name Spellings came from this root- āitās not Kaylee, itās Kayleigh, I swear I didnāt steal your ideaā- and then once it became a trend, people named their kids that to be ~trendy~ just like they did with every other stupid trend.Ā
but the root cause of Terrible Trendy Misspelt Baby Names has very little to do with white people being boring and conformist, and certainly nothing to do with capitalism.Ā itās a good old fashioned case of a) sexist expectations warping womenās behaviour into really really stupid shapes and b) Petty Small Community Drama.Ā Ā