A lone poppy blooms in a field of baby's breath.Lee Seong-hak
Climate leaves indelible marks on our lives - impacting where we live, what we eat, our work and our leisure. Two scientists recently documented one of climate's lesser-known impacts: our given names.
Co-authors Raymond Huey, a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Washington, and Donald Miles, professor of biological sciences at Ohio University, reported that the popularity of certain month and season names for girls varies by geographic region in the continental United States. The name April dominates monthly names in southern states where spring arrives early in the year. June is more popular in northern states where spring blooms later. Autumn is also more prevalent in the northern U.S., a region known for its brilliant fall foliage.
The trends, published in Evolutionary Human Sciences, surprised even the researchers.
"I thought that climate and the environment might influence the choice of baby names, but I never thought we would see a clear trend for either month or seasonal names, simply because parents take into consideration many factors when they name their child," said Huey. "Because of these other factors - including strong cultural trends and traditions - I expected that there'd be too much social 'noise' in the data and we'd have a low chance of seeing any environmental 'signal.' But the signals were there, and they were strong."
Miles added: "My initial reaction was we may not find any trend in the baby names. Parents have many reasons for selecting a name for their child, e.g., honoring a relative, actor or even whimsy. I was surprised to the significant environmental influence on names associated with seasons and months."
