Philip N CohenIn other news, when are two names the same name spelled differently (and thus should be combined in analysis), and when are they different names? When they rise and fall together? Consider Ann, Philip, Katherine, etc.
Laura Wattenberg, Name Wizard@philipncohen Should we combine names for analysis? Can we? E.g. Aidan and Adan correlate in popularity history, but Adan is also Adán (Spanish form of Adam). And people tend to only combine the spellings they think of, which skews results. How do you even identify all the spellings of Riley? (Rhyliegh, Wrylee, Righley, Rielee, Raileigh and dozens more. Or is Raileigh a form of Raley?)
@babynamewizard good examples! I want to do some systematic description of the naming system, so a basic decision I face is whether to combine any or none before producing trends. Till now I never combined any, but found I was missing some big events, like the rise and fall of Debra/Deborah and Michele/Michelle.
@philipncohen Debra is tricky. While it's obviously a form of Deborah, it's also a response to a moment when girl's names were becoming much more compact and informal. It tracks with Karen, Kathy, Susan, Vicki, etc. That context may be more meaningful than the specific celebrity-fueled name Deborah (which was something of a stylistic anomaly)