This article in USA Today states that researchers have found that parents respond quickly to baby names that are on the rise in popularity, versus names that are waning in popularity.

Now, as someone who is still currently wrestling with a name for her impending baby girl, I find that odd. It is a sort of lemming-like mentality that I find actually somewhat disturbing.  Where is the ability to think for oneself?  Just because everyone is naming their kid Brittany, why would someone feel that they have to as well?

You see, I don’t want my daughter to have a name that everyone else has.   It’s not that I must have some quirky, arty name that sets her far apart from the mundane masses.  I actually quite like some of the really popular names. It’s just that I don’t wish for her to be Samantha J. along with Samantha G. and Samantha W. in her classroom.

I’ve spoken to many people who said that was their biggest peeve about their name, that they had to share it with someone all through school.  I didn’t have that problem, but I could see how it would be annoying to always have your last initial tacked on to your identity.

So to latch on to a name that everyone else is using is counter-intuitive to my way of thinking.

But then again, no one has accused me lately of thinking in a particularly straight manner.