60秒科学:Heather Today, Gone Tomorrow

Some names never seem to go out of style, like David or Emily. Some never really catch on. Not many girls are named Laurel, even fewer are named lauryl sulfate. And now a study in the May 5th issue of the Proceedings¹ of the National Academy of Sciences shows that the faster a name gains in popularity, the more rapidly it falls.

The authors were interested in why products or cultural phenomena² die out. Are they displaced by the Next Big Thing? Or do they fade away, leaving behind a void that has to be filled by something. Well, one cultural taste that’s easy to catalogue is what we name our kids. So the researchers looked at the popularity of baby names in France and the U.S. over the past 100 years. And they found that names that enjoy a meteoric³ rise—Madison and Brittany come to mind—fall from the charts just as quick.

The scientists also asked expectant couples what names they’d consider inflicting⁴ on their children. And found that most parents tend to avoid names they feel are too “faddish,” ones that became overnight sensations, like Kristi and Cody. So those names soon disappear. Which could mean that the world may be safe from Cody Juniors.

—Karen Hopkin

 

1 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

2 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

3 meteoric   

adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的

参考例句：

• In my mind,losing weight is just something meteoric.在我眼中，减肥不过是昙花一现的事情。
• His early career had been meteoric.他的早期生涯平步青云。

4 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。