That's interesting, I was just watching a clip of that movie because I was thinking about the name. Wow, it was not very good, heh.
What's weird is, the movie was released in March 1984 and people
immediately went from never using the name, to using it. 42 Madisons were named in 1984. I really wish that data was available about names used less than five times, because I'd love to know if
Madison was used for one or two girls in 1983, or not.
Because I remember when Splash came out. I saw a trailer, and I remember pricking up my ears at the name and
just knowing that it sounded fashionable and "cool" to people at the time. I was only 13.
Madeline was also starting to sound fashionable, and
Alison was right about at its peak. And there was
Dolly Madison the cheap pastry company, which had given the name a potential to have a feminine air as far as I was concerned.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Original_logo_used_by_Dolly_Madison_bakeries,_in_the_1970%27s_thru_the_early_1980%27s.jpg
I hated the name for a long time just because I resented it. For being the name of a character I felt was sort of gross, for being like a joke played by Hollywood on everyone (because it seemed to me like the movie's writers had used it as a joke -
Madison Avenue = you can sell anything to people - and they must have also known it would sound "cool" to some people), for being a surname/boy name on girls.
In 2006 when my daughter was born I made a friend who had a baby the same age. The baby's name was Matison (pronounced
Madison). Well, geez. So the name was real then, and I started to think it had to be OK. It's easy to say, and it does sound so much like
Alison and
Madeline ... that it's not that bad ...
Now the very first Madisons are turning 30 and it seems like just another surname name / guy name for girls. Like
Ashley,
Harper,
Cameron,
Sydney etc. It also "feels" to me like it's in the same style as
Brittany and
Mallory. I find myself liking
Madison more than I like any of those.
I really dislike
Addison, though. It makes me think of
Addison's disease, and it's like
Alison in drag ... and I just dislike Ad-names because I don't like that initial sound.
Oh, and you asked if there are other 'new' names ... there are tons that are new by my standards. Ones I actually like, that are new-ish usages where I am:
SiennaIslaGemmaFionaKaia (prn to rhyme
Maia and
Gaia)
Skylar (f) - sort of. Not that into it, and hate all other spellings for girls.
SkyeDevon (f) - does not rhyme
Kevin ... kind of a GP but I met someone named it and thought it's not so bad.
Quinn (f)
Chelsea - is just OK, not a fave.
Caitlin - similar.
Phoenix (e)
River (e)
Raven (f)
Diamond (e)
Holland - I don't know how I feel about this but it's easy to imagine it as a female name, the way it was easy to imagine
Madison as one in 1984...
More that I don't like so much
Khaleesi!
PaisleyLondonAvery f
SawyerPiperRiley f and all of this trend (Briley, Braelynn, Raelynn,
Brielle, etc)
IrelandAubreyKennedyCassidyMackenzie (eh it's OK)
PeytonMonroe
well it goes on and on
- mirfakThis message was edited 6/18/2015, 10:11 AM