A Millennial Mom Shares What Her Tween Says Are "Old People Names"

Name trends are always changing and evolving. We’ve gone from Jessica and Jennifer ruling the name world to Emma and Ella and Harper leading the pack. Sometimes, trends will surge due to the TV and entertainment world, like Bella and Edward (Thanks Twilight!), and other times, “old school” names like Vivian, Joan and Iris suddenly become popular.

One mom on TikTok could not deal with the fact that her name was now considered “old” by her tween daughter, but knowing naming trends, she can rest easy knowing her “old name” will eventually come back in style.

“My daughter told me the name Ashley or Amanda — or my name is Amber — are like old people names and I never thought about it this way,” Amber C explained in a now-viral TikTok.

Amber goes on to explain that her daughter and her daughter’s classmates think that all their teachers have “old people names.”

“She's like, ‘Yeah my teacher's names are like Miss Erica, Miss Samantha, there's Amanda's and Ashley's, and she's like, ‘Those are just old people names.’ Whereas like young people names like my daughter is Scarlett, there's Charlotte, there's Olivia, there's Penelopes, there's Isabellas, there's Bellas, there's Ellas, those are young people names.”

“So basically, ‘Ashley’ is always going to be my friend from elementary, so it just seems like a kid name to me but it's not. Ashley, Amanda, Amber — all of these names are like basically the new Margaret or Barbara.”

As far as popularity goes, according to nameberry.com, Amber is the 542nd most popular female name. Erica is the 899th most popular female name. In 2022, only 648 babies in the entire world were named Amanda. That’s 648 babies out of 3.6 million. Despite the harsh reality and tough love Amber received from her daughter, she’s not wrong!

Amber’s TikTok got a lot of attention, gaining over 2 million views and thousands of comments from users who had some interesting insights on the young daughter’s take. Several users pointed out the irony that the names that are popular now — Olivia, Amelia, Sophia, Charlotte — are just repurposed names that used to be “old” when millennials were young.

“They have no clue that they have the old people names 😹,” one user joked.

Another wrote, “If you got a shout out in Mambo Number 5, congrats you now have a granny name lol.”

“I’d argue that Ashley, Brittany, etc. are the new Lisa and Debbie. Lisa and Debbie are the new Barbara and Dorothy,” another theorized.

“I work in a NICU and we just had a baby named ‘Jennifer’… first Jennifer I’ve seen in 20 years in the NICU! 😂” one user shared.

First, Gen Z and Gen Alpha came for our skinny jeans, then our side parts, and now...our names?! This world is cruel!