If this is your name, you’re officially old

Are millennial names officially “old?” Photo / Steph Pase
There are a handful of seemingly normal names that today’s youth consider to be ‘for old people’ — is yours on the list?
When you think of an adorable grandma or grandpa, what kind of names spring to mind?
For many of us, vintage gems like Alfred, Calvin, Betty or Agnes might seem fitting.
But the youth of today have a different idea of what constitutes an “old person” name.
In a now-viral clip, Australian entrepreneur and mother of two Steph Pase references an eye-opening conversation she had with her 6-year-old daughter about her classmates’ names.
The moment you realise your name is an old person name 🤯
“You know what I find wild? I have an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old, and the names of their friends, I can’t even pronounce some of them,” the popular influencer told her followers.
“I asked her, so do you have anyone in your year called Sarah, Alex, Jack or Daniel?
“She laughed and said ‘they’re old people names’!”
Seemingly horrified, the confused mum probed her daughter a little more.
“I asked, what about Steph … Michelle … she’s like no,” she said with a laugh.
“It just makes me realise that we are that generation … our parents’ generation.
“Names like Helen, Karen or Joanna … now we’re that generation.
“We have the old-people names.”
Steph’s comment section was flooded with people who wholeheartedly agreed with her upsetting revelation.
“In my classes we have Vision, Stoney, Diesel, Hennesy, Blaze, Cruze, Kingdom, Ace, Boss, Oasis, Mercedes, Destiny,” one wrote.
“Luna, Harper & Arlo are the new Ashley, Jessica & Stephanie,” another said.
“The names in my kids classes are Lamb, Honey, Hazard, Blu, Bambi,” one commenter said.
“My daughter has a Moses, Twayla, Lorde it’s wild …” another added.
“My 6-year-old has a girl in his class named ‘Summah’ and another called ‘Phox’ because Fox was too mainstream,” posted one.
“My daughter’s class has a Pharaoh!” shared another.
Many agreed the names Steph mentioned in her video were “millennial names” that were simply not as popular anymore.
“We had four Liams in my class when I was little … now you never hear it,” one recalled.
“I had 7 Stephanies in my year level,” another replied.
“Ashley, Jessica, Tiffany, Holly, Zoey … all millennial names!” one confirmed.
Fifth Dimension Consulting CEO Lyndall Spooner is a baby-name expert and told news.com.au there were many reasons that point to the shift in children’s names over the years.
“The popularity of names changes year on year as does fashion, but there are also other factors that have disrupted traditional baby naming practices,” she explained.
“There is less pressure to follow traditional family names, especially for the oldest son to take on the name of their father or grandfather.
“We’re seeing a trend towards more gender-neutral names or deliberately giving a male or female an opposite gender name.
“We also see people not as inclined to use biblical names like John, Peter, Luke, James, Simon etc.
“Parents want their children to be unique and so they use nouns or verbs as names, or character names from books, TV shows, movies, shopping chains or cars.”
She said while some of the more millennial-style names were far less common, it did not mean they were extinct.
“I’m a child of the 70s and I grew up surrounded by people with names such as Jason, Mark, Matthew, Kylie, Lisa, Michelle and Nicole and Wendy,” she wrote.
“By the 1990s we saw people using the names Jessica, Ashley, Brittany, Joshua, Ryan and Justin.
“Today not one of these names are in the top 10 for girls or boys, in fact not one is in the top 30.
“So the names of previous decades are certainly less popular, but they are not extinct.”
Spooner said millennial names eventually would have a major resurgence, but it was likely even more uncommon names could come to the forefront before then.
“We will continue to see changes in baby names and the recycling of older names that become popular again,” she said.
“We will also see even more unusual baby names like Elon Musk’s son named X Æ A-12 which are names clearly given to attract attention and to enhance the parent’s unique identity.
“There are very few rules when it comes to naming your children, other than not using offensive language, sexual or drug references, cultural or racial slurs, trademarks or symbols that don’t have a phonetic significance such as ! or @.
“So parents can continue to invent new names for their children.”
She said with some of the extremely unique names that parents were calling their children today, there was a concern about how that baby would feel when it was an adult.
“What we don’t know is how a child feels growing up being called Kingdom, or Destiny or Vision,” she said.
“What might have worked as a child may not work as well when they have that name on a CV and are looking for work.
“There is a tendency for these names to be seen as potentially less serious by older generations.
“Do they want to hire Sarah or James or Destiny or Wolf? Or do these names enhance their personal identity as an influencer, a social worker, an AI expert?
“Time will tell.”