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Why?
Why do a lot of people say it's feminine and actually the btn database does too, when the only rankings in the top 1000 have been for a boy, no girls. Seems strange to describe a name as feminine in the btn database when it only appears for boys.
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The thing is that one yr's stat being in the top 1000 and not even the higher end of that just means it had a brief spike for some reason and we'd have to know more to find out why that little spike happened. Lark seems to feel more fem than masc. (the only Lark I even know of was an actress on "Saved By The Bell")... It wasn't even in the more popular realm of the top 1000. Jennifer has higher rankings for boys for multiple years on end and is still only listed as fem. (though it at least makes the popularity ranks for girls as well and much higher in the rankings). Also need to consider that girls' names seem to have more spelling varieties and there sometimes seems to be more variety in usable girls' names than we see for boys, so if the name pool of acceptable and appealing names for boys is more limited, then it would be easier for names to get onto the popularity list for boys than for girls as well.
For example: we have Caleb and Kaleb... Christopher and Kristofer and maybe a couple other spellings... There are popularity rankings for multiple spellings of
Catherine
Kathryn
Katherine
Katharine
Kathrine
Cathrine
Cathryn
Catharine... and that doesn't even include its variants like Kathleen, Cathleen (really dislike this spelling, but it exists), Caitlyn, Katelyn (and other variations), Katrina, etc.
That set of variants on one name alone use up a bunch of spaces in the girls' popularity list.
There are boys' names w/ multiple spellings that get in there, but seemingly not at the same level as girls'... Multiple spellings of standard names can quickly push the other girls' names down in ranks.
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Lark numbersThese are the number of babies born, not the rank or anything1880: both less than 5
1890: both less than 5
1900: both less than 5
1910: both less than 5
1920: M7, F less than 5
1930: M6, F less than 5
1940: both less than 5
1950: M less than 5, F67
1960: M5, F24
1970: M5, F22
1980: M less than 5, F13
1990: M less than 5, F9
2000: M less than 5, F13
2010: M less than 5, F26Soo...seems like a pretty obscure name either way. Something must have happened in the forties to get it associated with female-ness.Upon further examination, it stayed negligibly low throughout the forties and then suddenly leapt to 67 in 1949. I wonder what it was!

This message was edited 12/6/2011, 11:27 PM

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Alsowhen it charted in 1885, there were only 7 boys named it. Weird eh?
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