Which cheerleader name do you like best?

A few weeks ago, Deadspin posted a list of trendy girl names.

The reader who contributed the list said they were the names of girls participating in a “tumble and cheer” event. He didn’t mention their ages.

Here’s the list:

Cambree
Karli
Baylee
Jaslynn
Maccie
Balei
Addison
Izzabelle
Kasey
Jadyn
Abigayle
Kinley
Kinsley
Ryleigh
Kyler
Dravyn
Jacelyn
Jacelynn
Kolie
Khloe (2)
Caryss
Blayse
Karsyn
Jaylynn
Kennadi
Brooklyn
Rylynn

Deadspin editor Drew Magary wrote up a funny response. I won’t quote the whole thing, but here are a few lines. (I quoted more of it in Name quotes #8.)

  • “Well, this email has to be from Utah.”
  • “Maccie! I hope she has a sister named Jayceepynny.”
  • “I’d also like to single out Kyler for supreme awfulness.”

So let’s play a game with these names.

Pretend that one of your friends is expecting a baby girl. He/she shows you this list of trendy girl names and says, “We love all of these names! We can’t decide! Will you help us narrow it down to three?”

My three would have to be Addison, Kasey and Brooklyn.

Which three names do you suggest to this friend, and why?

Source: Kyler, Kolie, And Maccie: More From The World Of Terrible Baby Names

8 thoughts on “Which cheerleader name do you like best?

  1. Hmmm, hard one. All of them look, well, wrong :-/
    I think I’d pick based on ordinary sounding:
    Izzabelle, esp as many Isabelles use ‘izzy’,
    Jaslynn, as Jaslyn is a popular name in one of our ethnic communities, and thus not that out there,
    Ryleigh, prob because I like the sound for a girl, but there seem to be many more male Rileys…
    Kasey, khloe, abigayle, Karli… All just diminish otherwise nice names, or make dated names even daggier.
    But best worst, Kolie? I guess for a border collie…. Karsyn? A bit carcinogenic! Dravyn? Is that an attempt to go welsh with a count drac influence? And the Jacqueline forms? Are they pronounced jac-e-lin or jac-lin, or something altogether different? (Possibly Mary-jo?)
    These names all sadly will really mark these girls out as particular type of people from a particular class…. And what is “tumble and cheer” bastardised circus skills?

  2. I’d go with Addison, Kinley, and and Brooklyn. I actually like names like Addison just fine. It’s the respelling that bothers me. If I were choosing names in this style, I’d use Ellington, Sloane, and Schenley. I think …

  3. Karli, Caryss (Dear friend, did you know it’s traditionally spelled with only one S?), or Kinsley.

    I’m curious about Dravyn. Kyler looks better to me than the more traditional Cuyler (I grew up near a Cuylersville.)

  4. Ahhh, kyler here would be masculine, and most likely spelled with a Kh or as in Cuylerville, I missed caryss. I do like that one, but yeah with single s. a nice trad welsh name, apparently popularised by Catherine zeta jones, but still not everywhere. Ahh the politics of naming :-)

  5. The name ‘Jayden’ in Australia is over represented in statistics of young male offenders, and interestingly (sadly for those with the name) also in male child victims of abusive crimes.
    Sociologically, one might assume that these young males tend to be born into families with established links to the criminal world. Significant numbers of the Jaydens in the corrections system as well as the birth families of many of the victimised Jaydens have been shown to have such links!
    If one has a criminal history, probably best not to name one’s son Jayden, unless one wishes the youngster to join the family business!

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