It may never catch up with Emily or Madison, says Sue Kidd at TODAY Moms, but "Palin" is gaining "traction" as a name for baby girls. The number of Palins recorded at BabyCenter.com grew from three per 1 million babies in 2008 to 20 per 1 million in 2009. Were fans paying homage? "You betcha!" The spike came immediately after Palin's unsuccessful run for vice president on the Republican ticket. It dropped a bit in 2010, to 16 per 1 million. Sure, with those numbers, it's still highly unlikely you'll run into a tiny Palin on the playground. But it's more likely than running into a "baby Barack," even though that name got a post-election bump, too. Why aren't there even more Palins and Baracks in the sandbox? Here, an excerpt:
Blame Nixon. ... Post-Watergate, it became too risky to name a baby after a politician. A good politician today could be mired in lifelong scandal tomorrow. ...
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
