Sam, Max and Jake were once seen as cigar-chomping movie moguls who had retired to Miami Beach to become pinochle-playing Grandpas. But they’ve all gone on to be popular baby names, both in their nickname and long forms, with Jacob topping the list since 1999.
Samuel, Jacob and cousin Benjamin are all, of course, Old Testament names, used in this country since Colonial times–think Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Max is a different breed entirely. A short form of the Latin Maximus’s derivative Maximilian and the later Maxwell, Max was well used at the turn of the last century, took a dip in the 60s and 70s, now placed in the mid-to-high 100s on the Social Security list (even higher on the pet name list, where it’s sometimes ranked at number one for dogs).
Lately Max has become a starbaby hottie, with first Christina Aguilera and then Jennifer Lopez choosing it for their baby boys. Also following in its slipstream are a number of Maxwells (Atomic Kitten Kerry Katonah), Maxims (as in the men’s mag), Maximillians (the full name of the Lopez-Anthony twin), Maxfields (Ugly Betty’s Eric Mabius) and Maximuses (Maximi?) –the latter no doubt inspired by Russell Crowe’s striking character in the 2000 Gladiator movie. Maybe it has something to do with the maximal connotations of these names–after all, in Latin, Maximus does mean greatest. To make things even more interesting, one celebrity came up with the idea of maximizing Max–skater Scott Hamilton named his son MAXX. (He’d make a good playmate for Kimberly Roberts‘ little SKYY.
And what were the wives of Jake and Max doing while there husbands were schmoozing and smoking? Sadie (originally a pet name for Sarah) and Sophie (the French variant of Sophia) were at another table playing canasta or mah jongg. Their names have taken a similar leap up the popularity list, both being higher than they’ve ever been before, and showing every sign of continuing to climb.
Here are some other former coffee-klatch names that could be or already have been rejuvenated:
GIRLS
BOYS
Tags: Christina Aguilera, ethnic baby names, grandma names, grandpa names, Jake, Jennifer Lopez, Jewish baby names, Jewish baby names, Max, old lady names, old man names, old-fashioned names, Sadie, Sam, sophie
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 1:02 am and is filed under Jewish baby names, Uncategorized, baby name popularity, boys' names, celebrity baby names, celebrity names, ethnic baby names, girls' names, name history, name ideas, name style, name trends, nicknames, unique baby names . 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.
March 5th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I didn’t know Gert and Hy could be brought back.
I think Alec should be added to the boy’s list also.