So no one told you life was gonna be this way...

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Friends. Nevermind that I'm old, this is truly a milestone as the show is one of the best comedies of all time in American television. Our current society will forever be influenced by it, including the hairstyles, the quotes, and the... names?

So... do we have more Emmas in the world because of Friends? What about Rachels? My own daughter is a Rachel, and while I have always been a huge fan of the show, I can honestly say her name has absolutely no connection to Rachel Green. I'm sure most parents of Chandlers and Monicas out there will say the same thing, but let's take a look at the numbers anyway... for fun.

For the purposes of this analysis, I used raw numbers. I just wanted to know if more babies were named these names from one year to the next.

Friends debuted in September 1994. Listed below are numbers beginning in 1990 to show the trend of the name in the years leading up to the debut. Also included are the 10 years the show was on the air (1994-2004) and several years after.

Here are the girls' names...

I see no real significant spike in numbers due to the show. For Monica and Rachel, the numbers went up a bit in the first several years of the show, but nothing huge in comparison to the numbers before the show started. Phoebe started its big climb during the show's reign, and then kept getting bigger and bigger after the show ended. Phoebe continued to increase in popularity while Monica and Rachel decrease. Now for the boys...

Joseph is a classic name that is a steady presence in the Top 100, so we won't really go into it much in relation to the show, but just as a point of interest, you can see it gradually decreasing in popularity as time goes on. Ross was on its way down when Friends started, but may have benefited from it in the show's second and third years before continuing its decline. And while you can see a slight increase leading up to the show, I think it's pretty safe to say that Chandler prospered from the show's run. There was never another time when Chandler's numbers were above 1,000 than while Friends was on the air.

Now what about baby girl Chandler and Emma...

While it's interesting that baby girls named Chandler jumped quite a bit in 1995, it wasn't due to "baby girl Chandler" who was born in 1998 on the show, but parents may have been inspired by Chandler Bing enough to name their daughter have him. What's fascinating is a significant spike in 1992 and 1993, before the show even started... what could that be from? As for Emma, it was well on its way to the top several years before Ross and Rachel's daughter was born in 2002, but the fictional baby may have sped up the process, boosting it into the Top 5 that same year.

Do you have a favorite Friends name? Do you believe the show influenced the popularity in the character's names at all?

FYI...

I am following Nancy's Baby Names' lead and sharing this article about the problems with the Social Security Administration baby names data. The majority of this blog's posts (and my book) utilize this data, and I would be remiss if I didn't share its imperfections. While I have always been aware of the flaws in the data, I need to be sure my readers are as well. We shall take it as it is, be thankful that we have the resources we have, and have fun with it!

Another Playground Analysis - Overall Girls Since 1880

We looked at the boys on Monday... now it's the girls turn. You can see the original Top 25 in my original post on Nameberry,

Once I combined the spellings of the Top 1000 names, there are 745 names on the girls list. I would love to include all of them, but to save space I will just do the Top 100. The main name listed is the one that was given to the most babies and the other spellings incorporated into the total are to the right.

1	Mary	4,112,231
2	Catherine	1,761,314		Katharine, Katherine, Kathryn
3	Elizabeth	1,635,225		Elisabeth
4	Patricia	1,570,091
5	Linda	1,527,845		Lynda
6	Jennifer	1,486,418		Jenifer
7	Sarah	1,470,659		Sara
8	Barbara	1,432,454
9	Deborah	1,318,037		Debora, Debra
10	Margaret	1,237,972
11	Dorothy	1,125,482		Dorthy
12	Susan	1,120,028
13	Betty	1,059,795		Bettie, Bettye
14	Jessica	1,038,686
15	Michelle	1,025,489		Michele
16	Helen	1,015,038
17	Karen	1,011,400		Karin
18	Nancy	1,000,497
19	Lisa	963,508
20	Anna	962,147		Ana
21	Carol	926,158		Carole
22	Sandra	916,876		Saundra, Sondra
23	Ashley	905,025		Ashlee, Ashleigh
24	Kimberly	880,091		Kimberlee, Kimberley
25	Dona	848,888		Donna
26	Laura	842,074		Lora
27	Emily	840,385		Emilee, Emilie
28	Ruth	818,934
29	Teresa	814,028		Theresa
30	Rebecca	810,931		Rebekah
31	Ann	786,086		Anne
32	Amanda	780,639
33	Stephanie	770,190		Stefanie
34	Melissa	766,256		Melisa
35	Amy	755,675		Aimee, Amie
36	Kathleen	739,878		Cathleen
37	Sharon	720,198
38	Cynthia	706,439
39	Shirley	684,422
40	Rachel	669,677		Rachael, Rachelle
41	Christine	666,553		Kristine
42	Angela	657,475
43	Christina	656,179		Cristina, Kristina
44	Virginia	645,974
45	Nicole	640,155		Nichole
46	Kelly	639,134		Kelley, Kelli, Kellie
47	Maria	630,659		Mariah
48	Jean	620,223		Jeanne
49	Frances	615,550		Francis
50	Diane	612,567		Dianne
51	Brenda	605,398
52	Pamela	593,446
53	Emma	572,797
54	Megan	567,903		Meagan, Meghan
55	Janet	555,213
56	Carolyn	553,345
57	Samantha	550,105
58	Jacqueline	547,743		Jaclyn, Jacquelyn
59	Martha	546,694
60	Alice	545,984
61	Lori	545,178		Laurie, Lorie, Lorrie
62	Marie	533,942
63	Kaitlyn	526,733		Caitlin, Caitlyn, Kaitlin, Katelyn, Katelynn
64	Evelyn	523,878
65	Heather	523,352
66	Cheryl	517,492		Sheryl
67	Sherry	514,976		Cheri, Cherie, Shari, Sheri, Sherri, Sherrie
68	Joyce	505,752
69	Julie	505,063
70	Kathy	502,868		Cathy
71	Joan	479,460
72	Lauren	473,613		Lauryn
73	Rose	473,429
74	Brittany	470,923		Britney, Brittney
75	Doris	461,344
76	Grace	459,994
77	Allison	456,441		Alison, Allyson, Alyson
78	Victoria	456,174
79	Janice	453,495		Janis
80	Judith	450,877
81	Mildred	450,248
82	Julia	442,422
83	Hannah	437,502		Hanna
84	Brianna	424,247		Breanna, Briana, Bryanna
85	Tracy	421,161		Tracey, Traci, Tracie
86	Andrea	420,996
87	Lillian	412,968
88	Gloria	408,930
89	Diana	407,987		Dianna
90	Tammy	404,690		Tami, Tammie
91	Crystal	400,874		Krystal
92	Alyssa	400,394		Alissa, Alisa, Elisa
93	Kristen	395,018		Kristin
94	Jane	394,174		Jayne
95	Carrie	382,137		Keri, Kerri, Kerry
96	Judy	381,310
97	Olivia	376,907		Alivia
98	Beverly	376,261
99	Erica	373,159		Ericka, Erika
100	Stacy	373,071		Stacey, Staci, Stacie

Significant Notables:

Mary is obviously untouchable, so the most glaring difference is the new #2... Catherine surpasses Elizabeth, rising from #38! And how about Catherine being used more than Katherine? The difference is only two spots between the names on the overall list, but Catherine beats Katherine by over 30,000 babies.

Unlike the boys' Top 10, which only had one move within its ranks, the girls' Top 10 shakes up quite a bit after combining the spellings. Linda overtakes Jennifer, and Sarah jumps from #10 to #7. Finally, the name that peaked my curiosity in the first place, Deborah, moves up from #30 to #9. Susan and Dorothy drop out of the Top 10.

The biggest mover up is Kaitlyn, leaping from #234 to #63. A close second is Stacy, moving up from #226 to #100.

Other big movers up in the Top 100 include: Michelle (#24 to #15), Teresa (#81 to #29), Ann (#65 to #31), Rachel (#48 to #40), Kelly (#64 to #46), Maria (#55 to #47), Jean (#68 to #48), Diane (#58 to #50), Megan (#76 to #54), Jacqueline (#78 to #58), Lori (#98 to #61), Cheryl (#75 to #66), Sherry (#164 to #67), Kathy (#103 to #70), Brittany (#94 to #74), Allison (#131 to #77), Brianna (#157 to #84), Tracy (#150 to #85), Tammy (#105 to #90), Crystal (#107 to #91), Alyssa (#122 to #92), Kristen (#173 to #93), Carrie (#138 to #95), and Erica (#165 to #99).

Fun Notes and Surprises:

Sonya beats out Sonia by 276 babies.

Tricia beats out Trisha by 558 babies.

Dolly beats out Dollie by 578 babies.

Lillie has been used more than Lily.

Lindsey has been used more than Lindsay.

Sherry has the most alternate spellings in the Top 1000 with 7. The other names with 4 or more that aren't already listed above are:

• Hailey, Haley, Haylee, Hayley
• Christi, Christie, Christy, Kristi, Kristie, Kristy
• Jasmin, Jasmine, Jazmin, Jazmine
• Teri, Terri, Terrie, Terry
• Madalyn, Madeleine, Madeline, Madelyn
• Tania, Tanya, Tonia, Tonya
• Keira, Kiara, Kiera, Kira, Kyra
• Alaina, Alayna, Elaina, Elena

Which nickname suffix wins the battle? For the girls, I involved any name that ends with an "ee" sound at the end that had more than one alternative spelling included in the Top 1000. This would include -ie, -y, -i, -ey, -ee, and/or -eigh. The results are:

• Tops for -y (17): Betty, Kimberly, Emily, Kelly, Sherry, Tracy, Tammy, Stacy, Christy, Sally, Holly, Brandy, Molly, Shelly, Patty, Abby, and Dolly.
• Tops for -ie (9): Carrie, Jamie, Lillie, Leslie, Katie, Jennie, Kylie, Bobbie, and Callie.
• Tops for -ey (6): Ashley, Haley, Kelsey, Riley, Aubrey, and Lacey.
• Tops for -i (5): Lori, Vicki, Terri, Jodi, and Jeri.
• Tops for -ee (2): Kaylee and Lee.

Which wins between the C and the K? I separated out the names that started with the hard C sound (that included both a C and a K spelling in the Top 1000) and determined which spelling was used more since 1880:

• Tops for C (11): Catherine, Christine, Christina, Crystal, Christy, Carla, Chloe, Cassandra, Casey, Callie, and Carissa.
• Tops for K (5): Kathleen, Kaitlyn, Kathy, Kara, and Krista. 

Shawn ranks #567, James ranks #642, Michael ranks #676, and Robert ranks at #915 on the girls overall list (before combining spellings).