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Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana

IS FELIX THE NEW OSCAR?

Ever notice how some stylish names are the new versions of other names that got too hot too fast?

Felix, for instance, is the new Oscar, one of those poor names that flamed out almost before anybody noticed it was heating up. Parents who might have chosen Oscar a couple of years ago are now looking for something more surprising, more distinctive, something like….Felix.

Ironic, because Oscar itself was kind of the new Gus, which was the new Max, which was the new Sam, which took over for such earthy boys’ names as Joe and Jim and Tom. Emilia is the new Emma, which took over for Emily.

Edison is the new Addison, which a couple of years ago was the new Madison. And Madison was kind of the new Allison AND the new Madeline.

Arabella is the new Isabella, Ezra the new Elijah, Ada the new Ava. Jaxon is the new Jackson, which took over for Jack, a substitute for both Jake and Johnny.

Some of the new versions have a long lineage: Kate is the fresher version of Katelyn, which was for quite a while the new Kathleen, which was the new Katherine, which at some point way back when was undoubtedly the new Kate.

It can even be hard to see the connection between the original name and its newer substitute: Helen lies deep within Haley, for example, and Lee in Liam, John in Jonah, Mary in Mariah.

Anybody else see new names rising from the ashes of older favorites?

Tags: cool baby names, coolest baby names, Felix, new favorite baby names, Oscar, trendy baby names

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm and is filed under baby name popularity, name games, name ideas, name style, name trends . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “IS FELIX THE NEW OSCAR?”

Katharine Says:

December 4th, 2008 at 11:59 am

I am/was actually seriously considering Felix. It’s a family name and I like the sound of it and the fact that it’s kind of obscure without being bizarre. Or is it obscure?

pam Says:

December 4th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

Obscure today but, ala Oscar, could be the trendy hipster name tomorrow. I considered Felix for my now 15-year-old son and still kind of think of it as the one (or one of the ones) that got away….

susan Says:

December 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

I think Henry is the new Andrew, but what is the new Henry? Henry is the best name, but so well loved by others. Gavin is the new Ian and Evan which perhaps were the new Kevin and Brian. Connor is the new Patrick maybe.
Of all the girls’ names from the fifties, I love the name Julie. I guess the new Julie is Julia, but it doesn’t really have that warm sweet feeling. Julia is more formal. Maybe Chloe has the feeling of Julie. What is the new Alexandra? Maybe Tatiana. I like names like Philip, Thomas, Clara, and Anna which hopefully aren’t the new anything so they don’t ever get too popular.

Andrea Says:

December 4th, 2008 at 10:15 pm

Jaxon and Jaxson have been fairly common spellings of Jackson here for several years. I wouldn’t consider them new. I think they originated with the character Jax on General Hospital, who’s been a main character for about 10 years. Felix would still be considered pretty weird here, as would Oscar, except maybe by Hispanics.

Names do morph into other names pretty easily:
Kayla turned into Kaylee turned into Makayla/McKayla/Mikayla turned into Mikaylee
Mackenzie/McKenzie turned into Makenna/McKenna turned into Kenzie and Kenna
Brady turns into Brody
Jayden turns into Aiden, Brayden, Kaden, and Hayden and then morphs into Rayden, Trayden and Zayden.
Madelyn becomes Adelyn just as Madison became Addison