Vivian’s Comeback
Posted on July 14th, 2008 – 1:30 PMBy Kay Krhin
We often get this question about our daughter’s name ” Vivian. Huh. Is she named after a relative?” (Read: Your daughter has an old lady name, you must’ve named her in honor of a great-aunt). And once I got “Vivian? Did you name her after Julia Roberts character in Pretty Woman? NO! we did not name her after the hooker with a heart of gold.
I love the name Vivian cause it means “full of life”. Brings to mind someone who’s vibrant, vivacious, your best friend. We call her Viv, Vivvers, the Vivinator, Vivi Lou (cause she’s Vivian Louise - two old lady names!) And it’s lyrical. I just keep thinking about roll call in grade school. Her name makes our hard to pronounce last name a little easier to pronounce when said together. Vivian Krhin (Cur-Hin emphasis on the h)
So, today I walked into work and a colleague said, “You’ve started a trend, Brad and Angelina just named one of their twins Vivian.” No, I had not heard that, as you see I live under a rock am so out of touch with pop culture with two little ones. So I had to google it, of course. Dangit! They did. They named their girl twin Vivienne. Spelled differently but still…now I expect future. “Oh, did you name her after Brad and Angelina’s baby?” Of course this probably most irks me because I still stand firmly on Team Aniston. (I know, I know, get over it…)
So now there is a spotlight on the name and a resurgence will cause her to be one of eleven Vivian/enne’s in class. Here’s what babynamewizard.com already said about the name.
Let’s start with the most surprising of all the Jolie-Pitt baby names: Vivienne. Surprising because it’s perfectly traditional. Vivienne is simply the French feminine form of Vivian, modestly common in the U.S. during Vivan’s heyday in the 1910’s-20’s. In fact, many more Viviennes have been born in the U.S. than in France over the past century. Vivian is already a comeback name and the Spanish/Italian Viviana is hot too, so Vivienne simply fits in comfortably.
Sigh. That’s fine, all baby names are fair game. It’s a beautiful name and maybe the world needs more best friends named Viv.
Anyone else have a baby name that skyrocketed ? Or did something happen to give your baby’s name a stigma? I know parents of a Katrina and parents of a Monica that were bummed.
52 Responses to "Vivian’s Comeback"
haha, Team Aniston too! I keep hoping one day I will move on 
I love this question as I’ve been wondering this myself! My name was so popular growing up and it still irritates me sometimes that there are so many Amys around. Sometime I don’t even respond to my own name as I’m desensitized to it as there are so many Amys around. But of course, the names we have picked out for our baby to be are really popular…Aidan or Addison…right now. We’re kind of torn if we want to go with the names as we love them, or try to find something else that is more unique.
Does anyone regret naming their child a popular name, or do you feel that although it’s very popular, there is still no name you would rather have?
A similar thing happened to one of the directors at a local daycare that I went to tour recently. She had named her little girl Addison just before Grey’s Anatomy came out. She loved the name and was happy that it was fairly unique as well. Then the show came out and the popular surge with the name Addison went with it. Oh well!
Our daughter is Claudia and it has never been a popular name in the US (according to baby wizard) like it is in other areas. I get a lot of ‘that is an old lady’s name’ which isn’t true. H And the fact that it technically means lame? Like I care. My name means “stoney place” and I have done okay in life 
Claudia is a beautiful, feminine, strong name. That being said, I would hate it if a celebrity used it for their baby.
We named our little guy Aiden last summer. We have been in love with this name since the birth of our first 5 years ago. We decided to go with Cole the first time though because it went better with the middle name that we had picked out. So Aiden was always reserved for the possible 2nd son. Now it is on the top of all baby name lists. I too am expecting for him to be in class with 12 other Aidens, or Kadens or Jadens. I thought it was original at the time but I guess that’s the way trends go.
Kay,
Love the name Vivian! There was a show on cable last year called “Side Order of Life” and the main characters best friend was “Vivvy” and she was a perfect depiction of a funny, kind Vivian. Kids with great personalities will stand out no matter if they share their name with half the class!
When we picked the name Anneke for our girl twin, we knew we might have trouble because of Annika Sorenstam. Now at least 3 more Annika’s have been added to our circle of friends and acquaintences just in the last year! And we have a super common last name. Sigh.
We did use a unique (traditional Dutch) spelling of the name, which leads to a lot of mispronunciation.
I’m excited that our boy name, Rowan, so far still seems to be pretty unique.
Love the name Vivy Lou. So cute!
We get Walker Texas Ranger a LOT. Anyone under the age of 80 is only allowed to make that joke one time. Nothing we can really do about our own grandparents though, so they get a free ride.
The TV show was bad enough and only in re-runs, but we picked the name right around when Talledega Nights came out. (A movie so bad we returned it without finishing it!) The oldest son is Walker, the second son is T.R. (for Texas Ranger). So we get, “Are you going to name the next one Texas Ranger??” Luckilly, it was a horrible movie, so most people are starting to forget the joke. THANK GOODNESS!
For more cool ideas about Vivian, check out Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood (the book, not the movie). There’s a whole chapter about the name Vivian!
My full name consists of the top name and the second most popular name of the 80’s…even though I’m a child of the 70’s. Growing up I had 11 friends who had a sister named Sara. My husband has three friends who have the same first name as him. Boooring
We chose to name DD something that wasn’t popular, more so because I was tormented by the “which Sara?” syndrome. My husband didn’t really care. (Typical guy)
We are big on family names and a name on our list was Siri…and then, some other couple had a baby and named her Suri…that took the name right off the list.
Kay, I think Vivian is a beautiful name!
I am expecting a baby girl in November. My son’s name is Carl — I wanted something that would be familiar and easy to spell, yet not popular. I’m not even going to say what names I’m thinking of for the girl, but every time I think of one, I check its rank and trending on babynamewizard, just to be sure it’s well out of the top 100 and not on its way up. Better still if it’s not in the top 200. But of course, you can never predict what they’ll name a character in a hit show 6 months from now, so sometimes you just have to go with what you love and don’t worry about it.
Another vote for team Aniston!
For about 10 years, I’ve loved the name Annika for a girl, and I’m really bummed that it’s gotten so popular. I don’t have a girl yet, but if I do I guess I’ll have to think of another name. My 3 year old is Isaac, which we picked because it was less common but still pretty conventional.
Vivian made me think ya-yas, too.
Violet is named after her great grandma, since we are trying to have names with family meaning. But I guess Bennifer2(the second go around, with Jennifer Garner) named their baby Violet, so people ask it it’s because of that. Or because of Violet from “the incredible”. But we also have a hooker with the heart of gold name, as Violet was the woman that George Bailey helped get out of town in “It’s a wonderful life”.
If she was a boy, she would have been Braden, which is popular but was picked because it’s my husband’s mother’s maiden name and she’s the end of the line. I myself wanted Elmer, after my grandfather, but I got vetoed.
Can they veto, since I’m the one who has to give birth?
We have a Madison, which we picked out back in 2003 or 2004 (DD was born 12/07). Yes it’s super popular, but it comes with a nice story. Back when DH and I were dating we were throwing out future baby names while driving around. We both lived in NE Mlps and drove past Madison St. We both liked the name, so that’s how we picked it.
Since I have a more unusual name, it sucks that nothing ever has my name on it (pencils, mugs, etc). Especially crappy is that I have an older brother Chris and step-brothers Nick and Nathan. DH is Luke, so all are common names.
As for future names, if we have a boy he’ll be Noel Stephen. We still haven’t pegged another girl name, but I think it’d be cool to have a Kennedy to go with our Madison.
Oh and my name came from the old Battlestar Galactica show. My dad was a fan and liked the name.
Try having a name that looks so like another! I have had people call me Audrey all my life, to the point that I frankly hate the name. “Oh, but it’s like Audrey Hepburn.” Well, #1, it’s not my name, and #2, I’m not anything like Audrey Hepburn. Our daughter is Claire, which, unfortunately, is rising in popularity, but it’s also my middle name. If we ever have a son, he’ll be Isaac because we want something Biblical but not as popular as Michael or Matthew.
We are working on baby names right now, due in January, so this thread is great. We have a boys name and I have to share that we came up with the name when we were trying to name our dog. It was one of the first names we thought of, for the dog. We decided that we liked it so much we should save it for a future kid. I hope, someday, a son will think that story is funny
As someone with a somewhat unique name, I planned to do the same for my kids. So much for plans. Dumped lots of names for various reasons (old girl/boyfriend, new baby with name, some other neg. association). Chase, my first son, has a couple others at school. Jonathan, I honored DH request to name after his brother who just passed away, and the last, Sage is a girl which makes it sort of different (generally a boys name?). I have never called anyone by my own name, that will be weird the first time it happens, There’s a Saffron in St. Cloud but never met her. DH best friend in grade school had same name, Paul, a dime dozen. How bizarre!
Aniston camp, too.
We tried hard to pick names we loved and weren’t too weird, but easy enough for people to pronounce correctly. My 6 month old daughter is named Clara, which isn’t very popular. Aparently though, as Aubrey pointed out, Claire is getting more popular all the time. I’m sure she’ll be called Claire by accident, but it’s a pretty name too. My 2 year old son is Tobias and so far I still never really hear that one.
Too funny - awhile back you guys posted about what baby names were we coveting for ourselves or what did we have that we didn’t use. I never commented because even though we are 25%, er, 50%, er…98%??? sure we are done having kids, I just can’t give it up! I have a girl’s name that I LOVE LOVE LOVE but don’t want to share because if someone used it I would be sooo jealous! I mean…what if I might possibly need it someday and there was a run on the name I have been secretly coveting since our first daughter was born almost 3 years ago? If only my hubby would have agreed to it THEN - of course he loves it NOW!!
Vivian is such a beautiful name - and flows sooo nicely with Louise.
Darcie, if we bribe you with pastries at the Cribsheet get-together will you share the name you’re hoarding? My curiousity is piqued!
*GASP* hmmm…pastries…yummy…but I just don’t know if I could spill the beans. I suppose I might whisper it (she says with jelly from her doughnut running down her chin) but I just don’t know that I could put it out there on the INTERNET for all the world to see!
That’s it. I’m hunting down Darcie at the gathering next weekend. Although, I find that girl names are easy to come up with. So many names are great. Boy names are harder. So, Darcie, if you have a great boy name, too, we hope you share it - off line, of course. We wouldn’t want anyone else to get it.
BTW, Kay, Vivian is a gorgeous name. It’s pretty close to the girl name we have picked out for our next. That is, if we decide to have more. The two we have are killing us right now…
Darc, you are cracking me up. I’m totally dying of curiosity now…but I know EXACTLY what you mean. I, too, am loathe to share the extra-special secret girl’s name I fell in love with…even though I will likely (sigh!) never use it!!! I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours… ; )
As for the common-names question…we picked Josie for our 1-year-old, thinking it was a “real” name (not something made up), but yet not so common we would be hearing it all the time. We love it!
Then lo and behold a few weeks ago, at the museum where I work, I overhear a mom saying, “Josie! Come on, we’re ready to go,” so I start chatting with her about the name and how I love that so few others will have it…and she tells me that there are THREE of them in her daughter’s kindergarten class!!!!! WTH?! Where did that trend come from and how did I miss it?!
And PS…Kay, I LOVE Vivi Lou. Josie is actually Joanna Dorothy, so she gets the occasional “Jo Dot.” Not quite as cute as Vivi Lou!
I LOVE the Baby Name Wizard (book and website)! I, too, was disappointed that Brangelina picked Vivienne because it is my back-up girl name for my baby that is due in a month. I guess it would have been worse had they picked my top choice!
Sorry gals - no great boy names to share or keep secret from you all! My 18 month old is a boy and we had a heckuva time naming him!! I had that girl name all ready to use on him…only it just didn’t quite fit a little boy…My husband wanted to name our son JETER - for the entire time we were pg…he kept putting Jeter at the top of the list…What did we name him. Derek. As in Derek Jeter - New York Yankees! (My man is a baseball nut and so is my little boy which is kind of nice) but…long story short - we could NOT agree on boys names…I had a long list I loved…Henry, Noah, Andrew, Gavin…Of course, everything went back to Jeter…I compromised and we have a little Derek…maybe one day we’ll reap the rewards of the name and get some major league ball money out of the deal!
I LOVE the name Josie - and here is 50% of the beans I can’t spill - Josephine is the middle name I am coveting after my dad Joseph.
Darc–I know, what is it with boys’ names?! They are SO much harder than girls’ names…we struggled with it both times!
Vivian is a beautiful name. Period. I was pregnant w/daughter #2 during the last winter Olympics. We were planning on naming her ‘Sasha’ and Sasha Cohen was a fave to win the gold medal for figure skating. My mantra through the whole thing is ‘lose, lose, lose’ so there wouldn’t be a Sasha bump. Yeah! She lost! Now if Obama wins…(2nd daughter is Sasha).
My first is Zoe. I knew it wasn’t unique but I didn’t know hooooow popular it was (damn BabyWizard wasn’t up back then). I just didn’t want her to be ‘Zoe-initial’. So…she’s ‘Zoe W.’ at school. Even signs that way at home. The mom of the other Zoe and I were laughing. If we’d *really* wanted our daughters to have unique for their time names we would have named them after ourselves….’Lisa’ and ‘Sherry’. Can you think of any others under 35??
Still love the name ‘Zoe’, though, even if she wishes she were named Isabel…
@Kim - I too have a Clara who just turned 1 and she gets called “Claire” a lot. Of course, DH and I call her “Clare” for short so that probably helps confuse the issue.
Other daughter is Ann, who often gets called the more common “Anna.”
Neither of these explain why I keep calling each one by the other’s name. They’re probably going to grow up thinking their names are “An-Clara” and “Clar-Ann.”
@Kay - we also went with Louise for Ann’s middle name — both our girls have one traditional name and one “old lady” name — I just loved how it paired with her first name. Plus, as a bonus, I’ve come to call her “Weezie” as a nickname.
Oh Robin, I am so stealing Weezie for a nickname!
Robin, I find it funny that your Ann gets called Anna often. Growing up, I was always called Ann! Or even worse, Annie. Funny how times change. I think I was the only Anna in my school and I was rarely able to find things with my name on them, they would only have Ann or Annie. I’m sure that’s not the case now!
@katy - Our friends are having a Josie in August. I don’t know whether you should blame the Pussycats movie or the reruns of Dawson’s creek for the Josephine surge.
This is fun.
My mom’s name is Louise, and people who knew her as a child still sometimes call her “Weez” or “Weezie”!
Kay, I totally can relate. We named our daughter Lillian because we really liked the name. I saw that it was going up on babywizard but figured it wouldn’t be too bad.
But now I’m sure there are going to be lots of others in her classes, especially with the fact that there are also a lot of just plain “Lily”s too.
When we picked the name, I thought we’d call her Lily mostly, but since that name is more common we’ve taken to calling her the full thing and now it’s stuck and I rarely call her Lily. I even kind of cringe when I hear my in-laws call her Lily now, but we did say that people could call her that, when she was born.
Incidentally, even though my name is super popular for its time, I still think it’s a pretty name and I like it for me.
@Anna - actually, now it’s the opposite - I know of three Anna’s that were born right after my Ann and I can never find any personalized items with “Ann” anymore — they’re all Anna’s now. (I think there are still Annies out there but I’ve not been a huge fan of that nick for her - just doesn’t seem to fit.) So, happily, you’re set now, just in case you get the urge for a keychain, mini license plate, or numerous other tschoschkes (sp?) you’ve been denied. : )
@Kay - steal away, but I now waive all responsibility for the Jeffersons theme song getting stuck in your head….
Jennifer - I cringe when people call my DD Maddie, but I think it’s going to be an uphill battle with that.
Yep, I went to school with a few Jennifers and a lot of Amy’s and Nicole’s.
We named our son Henry simply because we loved the name but we’ve had some of the same questions you’ve gotten Kay, did we name him after a grandfather or great uncle or something? NOPE! But now everywhere we go we run into Henry’s. At his two year appt there were two other Henry’s in the waiting room with us. UGH! So much for being unique.
I myself have a pretty unique name. I’ve only known a few other “Hope’s” and I wanted my kids to have unique names. Our first daughter is Adelaide Joy, she goes by Addie and one morning at church another Addie showed up! they’re only 5 months apart but she’s just plain Addie where mine can always go by Adelaide. But she does get “Abby” ALL the time. Then she says her name again and then spells it VERY slowly for them (she’s 5). Our second daughter is, Eleanor Rose - GASP! She is NOT named after Eleanor Roosevelt! People have actually asked me that.She is named after both my grandmothers but I too have gotten many “huh” looks and “what?”. The best one was my mom told a family friend what we were going to name her and the lady asked “Why??” And her name was Eleanor! But our Eleanor goes by Ellie. We’ve actually meet two older ladies out in public that have found out her name is Ellie and then asked if it’s short for something. Both of them were Eleanor’s too! I can pretty much guarantee that there won’t be another Eleanor in her class, I’m not as sure about Adelaide since Addison & Adeline are becoming so popular. And I LOVE VIVIAN!! it’s too beautiful!
My friend named her daughter Jennifer! While there were a ton in our generation, there are NONE in the current wave. I agree with Sherry… if you want a unique name, pick one from your own generation of names!
My baby Clara also has Louise for a middle name. It’s my sisters and aunts middle names so I thought we’d keep that going. I have called her Weezie sometimes too, especially when I was pregnant. I’d say “Weezie makes me queasy”!
Of our three girls, Harriet has the most unique name. I don’t know any other Harriets! We call her Hattie for short. Our other two are Eleanor and Josephine (also a Josie…). Like Hope we have not run into too many young Eleanors (only a couple) and our Eleanor is an Ellie. It is fun to have two local lakes that share two of our daughters’ names (Lake Josephine and of course Lake Harriet). Our Eleanor is always sad that there is no local Lake Eleanor, although there is one in Yosemite!
All my life, people have assumed that I am an Elizabeth. Nope, just Beth. As a freshman in college, I was paired with an Elizabeth who went by Beth. It got a little confusing when people called!
My niece, Katrina, was born in April 2005. I’m sure my brother and sister-in-law would have reconsidered their choice of names if they could have foreseen the natural disaster that would strike New Orleans just four months later. I wonder if she will get questions about that as she gets older?
@robin marty - speaking of veto - yes, i got vetoed as well. i guess the giving birth thing doesn’t carry the weight (no pun intended) that i thought it did. wanted tobias or emmanuel (family name and i LOVE it), but no. what did we go with? Joseph - love that too, and turns out it was my grandpa’s middle name.
@darc et al - i also have a top secret girl’s name. hoping (and praying) that we will be able to use it!!! maybe i will shoot for a 09-09-09 baby.
our on hold girl name for if we have a second is Eleanor Irene, but after the three upthread I may have just changed my mind…
@robin/peggy, etc ~ I LOVE the name Eleanor - and my hubby’s grammy is named Eleanor - but she’s certifiably crazy so we had to put that name at the bottom of the list - though I do think it’s a beautiful beautiful name … even if a crazy grandma who steals rose petals off the tables at wedding showers and stuffs her bra with them is the name sake!
I did get ribbing from my in-laws because I spelled my son’s name Maximilian instead of Maximilien. He goes by Max and I like that name. there are some other Maxes out there, but usually it is short for Maxwell or plain Max.
My husband chose out my daugher’s name-Augusta- and we never hear that name with the younger set. She likes her name because she goes by Gus. People remember her, because they usually have a conversation about her name.
I chose out my second son’s name because Alexander is such a strong name and it went well with Maximilian. It is popular, with three Alexs on our street.
We are expecting a little one next year and if its a boy I’d like to name him Jackson. I’ve loved the name since Steel Magnolia’s, so its been years, but now it seems really common. I’m devastated.
My coworker’s daughter’s name is Julia and they got the “Oh, who is she named after?” questions, too.
I have an Adam and I think it’s perfect - not too common, but not so out-there that he’ll be forever pronouncing or spelling his name for other people. Only problem is, what do we name #2?! I’m due in a week with another boy and we still don’t have a name picked out.
I named my son Landon after Michael Landon (huge fan of Little House on the Prairie) I thought it was unique until I started hearing and seeing it in a lot of places. Oh well - I still LOVE it!!
Hi Kay, I feel your pain… not that I have any kids, but … after years of not discussing “my names” … Tori Spelling used my girl name Stella and Matthew McConaughey used my boy name Levi… dang Hollywood stars! Now I’m behind the curve and could never use them because people will assume I got them names from them.
Hope your well at the Strib! Miss you gals & guys. -SS
What a timely post. I’m due in less than a month and being one of those Nicole’s in the 80’s, I was determined to give my daughter a unique and meaningful name. I hated that my name was a trend name that my mom picked because it was “pretty”. I wanted to be named for something more than “pretty”. Apparently, my husband and I are the oddballs because we had boy’s names instantly. The only reason I found out the sex of our baby was because if we didn’t have to fight over girl’s names, I didn’t want to. Unfortunately (only for the sake of not fighting) 2 ultrasounds have confirmed it’s a girl. We each vetoed each other’s first choice name (mine was Imogen, his Allena) and spent about 2 months shooting names back and forth until he decided I could just send him lists of names I liked and we’d pick one when she was born. We started a list of ones we both agreed on and stuck it on the fridge. One day he decided he liked one of them a lot and I loved it too so she was named. It only broke into the top 1000 names (yes, 1000, not 100) between 1880 and 1910 so I’m fairly certain there won’t be a rush of them while she’s in school. The name is Signe (which, yes, is a family name and is pronounced Sig-nee). I love it and though we do get a lot of, “Oh! Is that a family name?” reactions I just say yes. The only thing that annoys me is when people try to correct my pronounciation with a more common name and say, “Oh! Sydney” - NOPE, it’s Signe. I’ve had a couple of people mention that they had a relative with that name back in the day (not unexpected in Scanda-who-vian country)but for the most part no one has ever even heard of it.
I think it’s funny when people have a name all stored up and think it’s super unique. I work with young children so I knew what the trend names were so when my husband would suggest something like Ellie or Madison or Lily or Sophie I’d immediately put my foot down. I’d tell people I want something unique and they’d suggest a super trendy name not realizing how popular it was (my boss suggested Olivia - #7 on last year’s SS list). Those lists are magic! Also, a website I loved was babynamesworld.com because it gives you the option to fill out a survey about your name to tell parents how often it’s mispronounced or misspelled, potential mean nicknames and overall satisfaction with the name. It’s how I convinced my husband that most people with uncommon names have higher levels of name satisfaction than those with common ones.
I know a couple who named their youngest daughter Fiona and then Shrek came out.
Wow - lots of replies here! How fun!
Love the name Vivian, although I’d be annoyed, too, if Angelina & Brad chose my baby’s name.
We named our 6 month old daughter Avery. I found the name in a baby book and only knew a few ladies online with babies named Avery. I googled it and researched it and thought I had a pretty good shot at a unique name.
I’ve already met a new coworker with a little girl named Avery, and a friend of a friend who named her daughter Avery because they fell in love with the name BECAUSE of us. So that’s 3 Avery’s in a few mile-radius. I’m sure there are more out there.
It is a great name… I guess I should be honored that people are already copying us.
When my now 14yo son was born, I named him Griffin. One time we were at the State Fair and he was on some ride and I yelled his name out to him; a man approached me and said ‘You don’t hear that name too often.” He was a Griffin too. We have only met two other boys named Griffin in 14 years; and he has been the only one in his middle school. The mother of one Griffin that I met named her son after the character in Nick Bantok’s book ‘Griffin and Sabine’. She said that had he been a girl, he would have been named Sabine.
If my Griffin had been a girl he would have been named Aislinn.
I refused to go along with anything popular for a name since I once babysat a little girl named Lauren. Picking her up at school one day I called out her name and six faces turned towards me.
My Daughter’s name is also Vivienne, now 6 years old. I love that name and the meaning behind it but she was actually named after the actress Vivian Leigh who plays Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, one of my favorite movies. I like to think I started the trend and Angelina and Brad just followed.
