Selfie was declared the 2013 Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries back on November 19.
Why? Because the word selfie, which was coined in 2002, became extremely popular in 2013. According to the Oxford Dictionaries press release, “the frequency of the word selfie in the English language has increased by 17,000% since this time last year.”
This makes me wonder…did any parents name their babies Selfie in 2013?
Now, technically, the name Selfie already exists (e.g., Selfie Lee Borom, Selfie M. Moore). But all of the people I’ve found so far named Selfie were born long before the modern term selfie emerged.
Personally, I think there’s a decent chance that a baby or two got the name Selfie last year.
After all, Selfie sounds a lot like the stylish baby names Sophie (currently ranked 52nd) and Sofie (996th).
And, while a lot of people would be turned off by the explicit narcissism of the word, I’m sure others would not be bothered by it. How else could baby names like Awesome, Einstein, Epic, Goddess, Greatness and Prodigy have come to exist?
Do you think there’s a chance Selfie could debut on the SSA’s baby name list in 2013?
(For a name to appear on the national list, it needs to be given to at least 5 babies of either gender during a single calendar year.)
Source: Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013
Image: Adapted from People taking photos at the tower of Pisa by Sebastiaan ter Burg under CC BY 2.0.
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Interesting!
I don’t think I will be naming any future children ‘selfie’. To be honest, I never really liked the word — or the name. I definitely agree that SOMEONE will name their baby after this increasingly-popular word. However, I know it won’t be me! As for names like einstein, epic and goddess….are you kidding me? Haha.
Those names are crazy, aren’t they?
Allthough I can think of a more motivated way to a name like Selfie (derive it from the surname Selfridge or from the british department store Selfridges), I don’t think it makes a good name. It just sounds to selfish.
Horrible word, horrible name, but don`t be too surprised if some talentless starlet names her baby as such. Maybe they can even spell it “Selfi”.
Bad name love the meaning
Just noticed that there’s a character named Selphie in Final Fantasy VIII.