WATCH ABOVE: A Calgary man has started a social media campaign to save the name Gary after finding out it may be going extinct. Global’s Tony Tighe reports.
CALGARY- Calgary’s Garry Snow has started the Twitter account @SaveNameGary in an attempt to keep the name from going extinct.
“I started the Twitter page to save the name Gary…if somebody doesn’t start naming their kid Gary soon, we might be extinct.”
His first post (above) links to a Guardian article that suggests the name is dying out around the world.
In Alberta, baby name data has been released annually since 1990. In a past online feature, Global News used records from 1990 to 2010 to build searchable interactives showing trends for each name over the two decades.
Over those 20 years, there were the most Garys—23 of them—in 1990. The lowest points for “Gary” were five each in 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Records for the double “r” Garry, on the other hand, show only five were born in 1993 and seven in 1995.
Some names, like Gary, are in decline, like Thomas and Megan, while others, like Olivia, have been steadily more popular (Olivia was the top baby name in 2014 and 2013). Some, like Ethan and Madison, had a peak of popularity a few years ago.
Take a look at our interactive below to search your name.
With files from Patrick Cain and Tony Tighe
Comments