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posted by
martyb
on Tuesday May 15 2018, @12:17PM
from the increased-interest-in-the-names-Blexa,-Clexa,-and-Dlexa dept.
from the increased-interest-in-the-names-Blexa,-Clexa,-and-Dlexa dept.
'Alexa' has become a less popular baby name since Amazon launched Echo
Amazon started widely selling its Echo speaker, voiced by the Star Trek-inspired personal assistant Alexa, in 2015. That year, 6,050 baby girls in the United States were named Alexa, or 311 for every 100,000 female babies born.
Since then, the name has declined in popularity 33 percent, according to new data from the Social Security Administration crunched by University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen. Last year, just 3,883 baby girls were named Alexa.
Nobody wants to name their baby after their digital slave.
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"Alexa" Baby Name Falls in Popularity Since Release of Amazon's Smart Speakers
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Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with none.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 15 2018, @12:49PM (6 children)
"Alexa" is a stupid name for a person anyway. Seriously, I've never even heard of a real person with that name; it sounds like a really stupid corruption/truncation of Alexandra or a crappy attempt at feminizing "Alex" (Alexander).
We're all much better off without kids named "Alexa". Now if we could get parents to stop picking other horrible names.
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Tuesday May 15 2018, @02:01PM (1 child)
Yeah, said a dude named Grishnakh
(just having some fun)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 15 2018, @02:47PM
If anyone named their kid Grishnakh, I'd worry about their sanity too. Unless their kid is an actual Orc...
However, looking at the way some people's little boys behave, maybe Orc names would make some sense... No, scratch that. Orcs have far, far better discipline.
(Score: 2) by AssCork on Tuesday May 15 2018, @05:13PM (1 child)
There's a woman here at the office (sits two rows down from me) named "Alexa" - her boss think's it's just so funny and original when she shouts questions at her from her office.
On a side-note; I would think that name would make sex whilst in the presence of an Echo device rather awkward.
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 15 2018, @05:35PM
Someone should put an Echo device near this woman's cubicle...
How old is she anyway? Seriously, I've never heard of anyone with that name. Is it a regional thing? You probably won't meet any women from the west coast or northeast named "Dreama" or "Jo Lynne" (stupid Southern names).
(Score: 3, Informative) by requerdanos on Tuesday May 15 2018, @05:47PM (1 child)
Well, there are about ten thousand people named Alexa in TFS alone.
Here's a page with a nice graph [ourbabynamer.com] showing people being named Alexa from about 1916 onwards, with a spike in popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s. It's a real thing.
Using their numbers (from the US government), and assuming a life expectancy of about 81 years [worldlifeexpectancy.com], I estimate over a hundred thousand Alexas walking around in the US alone.
From the anecdotal experience angle that you mention, my friend Alexa from when I was in high school is now a veterinarian. I remember when she was in vet school and practicing her surgical technique by volunteering at spay/neuter clinics. As for the "unusual name" angle, her sister's name is even more uncommon ("Guinn", like a variant of "Gwen").
I am with you on the no-horrible-names thing, but I am not sure "Alexa" is the best place to start. Expecially after that guy in New Jersey who named his kid "Adolf Hitler Campbell" [nj.com].
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 15 2018, @08:16PM
Well I'll happily admit that "Alexa" isn't remotely as bad as many, many other horrible names these days, but there wasn't an SN article about any of them to go on an anti-stupid-baby-name rant. I still don't like it, but there's many that are far, far worse (without even getting to the level of that Hitler name you referenced). How about "Le-a" (pronounced "ledasha")? WTF.