Michael Williams points to the change in popularity of the name Hillary. See his post for a cool graphic, but here’s the table from the Social Security Administration:
Year of birth Rank [lower = more popular] 2005 882 2004 809 2003 [>1000] 2002 [>1000] 2001 886 2000 878 1999 856 1998 868 1997 725 1996 693 1995 684 1994 566 1993 261 1992 131 1991 165
George has remained roughly stable from 2000 on; William spiked in 1998, of all years, and remained high (now #11, as opposed to $20 in 1992).
Eugene has been declining ever since this blog was founded in 2002. On the other hand, it has been declining since 1991, the first year that this table reports, and even more since the 1930s. In the 1930s, by the way, it was #25 (owing at least in part, I’m told, to the fame of Socialist Eugene V. Debs); in 2005, it was #539.
But, hey, I beat Hillary!
UPDATE: I originally erroneously reported this as Census data; it’s Social Security Administration data.