The weird thing about first names is that, even though they’re free and infinite, they follow the same hot-and-cold “hype cycle” of many other products that do have finite choices, diverse prices, and lots of advertising. Just like clothes, first names are a fashion. Some names are cool today (Emily) while some once popular names now sound out-of-date (Ethel), even though the names Emily and Ethel are as Emilyish and Ethelian as they’ve always been. Nothing about the quality of the names has changed—just their popularity.
