Share a Coke Names: Summer 2015

Image Credit

Some of my most-viewed posts profile last summer's Share a Coke campaign (part one, part two). This year, Coca Cola is bringing it back, and they've added tons more names. Here I've listed all the names that didn't appear on the U.S. or U.K. lists last year. It's all after the jump.

Similar Usage Stats: Sophia

Image Credit

The main reason people are afraid to use popular names is because they don't want their child to be "one of many." Mom grew up as "Jennifer P." and would hate for her son or daughter to have to do the same. In actuality, popular names are getting used less. Last year, Sophia was only used for 1.1039% of baby girls. I thought we'd take a look at names with similar usage (percentage wise) to Sophia, so we can see how "popular" she really is. 

2005, Emma (2)

1995, Sarah (5)

1985, Megan (10)

1975, Stephanie (9)

1965, Donna (7)

1955, Sharon (15)

1945, Donna (17)

1935, Joyce (12)

1925, Elizabeth (10)

1915, Marie (11)

1905, Ethel (12)

1895, Bertha (11)

1885, Grace (14)

As you can see, starting in the 1980s, people started using top names less and less. During the 100 years before that, popularity of the top names were very high (Mary was used on almost seven percent of baby girls in 1885). Jennifer was given to four percent of girls at her peak, which means there were four times as many Jennifers born in 1974 than Sophias born in 2014. So don't worry. If you love a popular name, it's pretty safe to just go for it.