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Help[Opinions] Why don't people name their kids Spring?
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I used to work with a girl named Spring . She was 16.
I love the name Spring, wish it was used more!
I know a Spring. It is used as a name, but isn't as popular as the others probably because as people said, it has different meanings and there are other names that are spring related.
Spring just doesn't sound as much like a typical given name to English speakers as the other three seasons. One syllable names are mostly out of style, especially for girls, at the moment, and it is unusual to find a given name that ends in -ing. The only names that rhyme with Spring that I have seen used by native born Americans are King and Ring, and they are both masculine, while season names are now primarily given to girls. (There were 28 girls named Cing and 7 named Ling in the USA in 2204, but they are almost surely daughters of immigrants from China.)
Spring does exist as a girl's name in the USA. There were 20 born in 2024, and Baby Boomers like myself will often remember Spring Byington (1886-1971), who was an actress who starred in the TV series "December Bride" (1954-1959). However, she was between 68 and 73 during the run of that series and the comic premise of the show was to have her as an older widow always on the lookout for a new husband. So most of us who are elderly Americans today think of an elderly woman when we hear the name Spring. (By the way, when I researched season names in the US census, Spring Byington was actually the earliest example of a woman named Spring I could find. She did not change her name when she became an actress. Her birth name was Spring Dell Byington.)
I am sure that if some major celebrity names a daughter Spring, or some hit movie or TV show comes up with a beautiful young woman or cute little girl character called Spring, it would increase enough to get into the top 1000. But it would be a while for tastes in name sounds to change enough for it to make it into the top 50, I think.
Spring does exist as a girl's name in the USA. There were 20 born in 2024, and Baby Boomers like myself will often remember Spring Byington (1886-1971), who was an actress who starred in the TV series "December Bride" (1954-1959). However, she was between 68 and 73 during the run of that series and the comic premise of the show was to have her as an older widow always on the lookout for a new husband. So most of us who are elderly Americans today think of an elderly woman when we hear the name Spring. (By the way, when I researched season names in the US census, Spring Byington was actually the earliest example of a woman named Spring I could find. She did not change her name when she became an actress. Her birth name was Spring Dell Byington.)
I am sure that if some major celebrity names a daughter Spring, or some hit movie or TV show comes up with a beautiful young woman or cute little girl character called Spring, it would increase enough to get into the top 1000. But it would be a while for tastes in name sounds to change enough for it to make it into the top 50, I think.
This message was edited 5/23/2025, 12:35 PM
I think there are many spring-related names that parents can choose from, whereas the concepts of summer and autumn don't have as many options. So it kind of evens out. Also I agree with others that the word spring is not as clear in its connotations - does it mean the season, the action, the doo-dad, or a fountain/stream? Maybe parents don't like that. Summer, Autumn and Winter are straightforward.
Afrikaans-speaking South Africans have named their daughters Lente, which means Spring, the season, and also Lentelie, a nickname or diminutive form of Lente. The trouble with Spring in English is the metallic spiral.
Spring has many meanings, others do not
Spring can also refer to a metal coil or an unpleasant surprise. It's too ambiguous with too much teasing potential :') it's a lovely season, but in English, it's unfortunately named.
I guess it just doesn't sound name-y enough, at least in English. Vesna is certainly one of them and so is Primavera. Try poking around the meanings part of the website, as there's quite a few.
Bluntly I don't care for any season names.
That said, if you look at history, Summer and Autumn made the jump from word to name around the same time; Winter is a much more recent addition. I could see Spring joining them at some point.
Purely from aesthetic point of view, though, of those four seasons, I think Spring is probably the ugliest collection of sounds.
That said, if you look at history, Summer and Autumn made the jump from word to name around the same time; Winter is a much more recent addition. I could see Spring joining them at some point.
Purely from aesthetic point of view, though, of those four seasons, I think Spring is probably the ugliest collection of sounds.
Similar as to why they don't name their kid Fall. While Summer, Autumn, and Winter are pretty solely tied to their seasons, spring can also mean to jump, to originate, to warp, split or crack, or refer to a metal coil. With the scattered definition, which includes several verbs, it's less likely for someone to look at it and see the beauty of the season.
Because it sounds like a command? Or like a piece of hardware?