The name Eugene and the the field of eugenics trace from the same origin - Greek - to be 'well-born'. This seems like a vintage name to me.
Baby-naming trends remain somewhat stable: Liam and Emma continue to be the most popular names. Noah, William, James and Oliver and then Olivia, Ava, Isabella and Sophia.
But "vintage" names are moving up. Arthur has jumped back into popular names after almost 100 years since it was last listed. There's Calvin, Emerson, Amos, Edgar, Chester, Tucker for boys.
What about Ada? It started a comeback in 2018. Then there's Delilah, Ayla, Zoe, Margot and Felicity.
Supposedly researchers had found that names influence the choice of profession, where we live, whom we marry, grades achieved, and so on. The original study took place in 1948 and was widely repeated, always finding that unusual names were more likely to have 'flunked' out of Harvard or to have exhibited signs of psychological neurosis, and so on.
But the link between names and longevity, career choice and success, geographic and marriage preferences, and academic achievement has been questioned and disproven. What has been proven is that names 'signal' things - like ethnicity, wealth, and country of origin and give a sense of economic status. And then the receiver treats the person as such.
So the likely question parents should ask is: What signals does this name send and what does it imply? That would be useful for parents who name their daughter Delilah.
Today's images are of driftwood on the beach in Salt Spring Island.
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