Monday, March 11, 2002

In the sixties, the top two names for boys were David and Michael. My parents, ever trendy followers of fashion, named me David Michael. There were always at least four Davids in every class of every school I ever attended. The same rule seems to apply to gay bloggers of a certain age.

The name 'David' gradually lost its popularity, from number one in 1960, to two in 1970, four in 1980, and five in 1990. Since then it has plummeted - it was 39 in 1998, 41 in 1999, 43 in 2000, and a humble 46 in 2001. My name is now one of those names by which you can date people - like Albert or Herbert. It's become the name of your mum's brother, or your great uncle.

The trend nowadays is to give babies good, solid, traditional names - the current top ten reads like the signatories of the Declaration of Independence: Jack, Thomas, Joshua, James, Daniel, Harry, Samuel, Joseph, Matthew, Lewis.

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