Word: naming
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...with 97% of second-generation kids - hardly perfect but moving toward parity) and more proficient in the national language (by the third generation, 95% of Latino kids ages 15 to 17 speak English exclusively or very well). Another thing that happens is that parents start moving away from baby names like Guillermo and closer to names like William. "When [immigrant or later-generation] parents name their children, they are combining their own attachments and affinities with their hopes and aspirations for their children," says Guillermina Jasso, a sociology professor at New York University and a second-generation Hispanic American...
...Social Security Administration has tracked the fashions in baby-naming since 1880, and confirms that many such bridge names are currently enjoying an uptick. On the yearly list of 1,000 most popular names, Hector has improved from No. 193 in 1981 to 181st most popular in 2008; Daniel has gone from 12th place to 5th over the past decade; and Cecilia has similarly risen from slot No. 300 to 270. Sandra has bounced around in the top 40 for decades, but since 1990 has inched up from No. 33 to 27. (See the top 10 worst corporate name changes...
Though a fair number of Spanish names for both sexes will find asylum on American shores, the majority appear doomed - and the Social Security Administration has the cold numbers to illustrate the point. Juan lost 18 spots in the past decade, going from 48th to 66th. Its sister name, Juanita, fell through the floor, plummeting from 792nd place to 1,002nd in the same period. Guillermo lost more than 100 spots between 1998 and 2008, sliding from No. 369 to 470. Angelica crashed from 109th place to 257th in the same stretch; Manuel has gone from 147th to 186th...
...Some names benefit from a temporary faddishness. Selena was languishing at 780th place in 1990, but rose to 300th by 1994 as the fame of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla grew. The name vaulted to No. 91 after Quintanilla's murder in 1995 but has since settled back to 352. Diego has enjoyed a similar bump, going from 186th place to 68th in the last decade, perhaps due to the popular boy sidekick in the ubiquitous Dora the Explorer cartoons. Designer Paloma Picasso may be giving a similar - if subtler - bump to my own daughter's name, which has gone from...
...removal of the cross brings up the Establishment Clause, that long-debated line separating church and state that takes its name from the First Amendment (which begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"). This case has been in the court system since early 2000, before Congress's involvement. The National Park Service's attempt to transfer the land to the VFW, per the 2003 congressional order, has been viewed by the lower courts as an illegal way of circumventing repeated rulings compelling it to remove the cross. (Once the land is considered private property, the Establishment...