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[Facts] Liam
I'm wondering if anyone can think of a reason for Liam suddenly becoming popular.Thanks!
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Where do you see it becoming suddenly popular?I can see mostly steady marches to the top in the countries that I have in my databases:
http://www.babynames.ch/Info/Rankings/naLiamSee especially the steady rise in the US over many years from 1994 (rank 360) to 2013 (rank 2).
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On the US popularity list here. Liam was #104 in 2005 and #2 in 2013 steadily going up.
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I see. My own understanding of "suddenly" was more sudden...I don't want to spam this forum with links to my own website, but I think my hitparade comparison feature is very handy here and right on-topic - it shows that between 2005 and 2013 the rise of Liam is indeed noteworthy. However, there are quite a number of other names like Eli and Oliver that rose 100 or more places in the same time:
http://www.babynames.ch/Info/Hitparade/poUs2013m?compHitparade=poUs2005mThe important difference to Liam is that those other names are nowhere near the top, at least not yet.
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Because of the popular (in America) Irish actor, Liam Neeson...?

This message was edited 12/12/2014, 2:47 PM

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I highly doubt that. Liam Neeson has been a well known actor pre-popularity. There is a sudden jump and I'm wondering whether it had to do with popular culture as it usually does. Basically, what may have happened to cause that.
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The sudden jump could certainly be attributed in part to Neeson, whose name became famous in 1993 when he appeared in Schindler's List.The other one is Liam Hemsworth. But I wonder if Liam was coming into popularity regardless and these actors just gave it a visibility boost.

This message was edited 12/15/2014, 12:58 AM

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I think Liam Hemsowrth is a good guess. The US tabloids were rife with that name when he was linked to Miley Cyrus and the Hunger Games movies.
I do think that the One Direction singer Liam Payne might also be influencing young mothers. Plus, several celebrities have named their newborns Liam in the past 4 or 5 years. SO, copycat naming might lend to Liam's rise in popularity. I also think that people are trying to find new ways to represent William, which is likely the name of many of the new little Liams' grandfathers or fathers.
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That makes sense.
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I also think Liam fits well with the recent trend of "Irish-but-not-too-foreign-sounding" names that have been recently popular in the US: Aidan, Finn, Riley, Brennan, Brayden, Donovan, etc.
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