The "too weird for Australia" club

Some names are massive in America — top 10, even — but Aussie parents just won't touch them. Why? It's not that we're boring (okay, maybe a little bit). It's that we have very strong opinions about what sounds "normal".

Take Brayden. In America, Brayden is everywhere. It's a modern invention, sounds tough, and parents love it. But in Australia? Barely anyone uses it. We hear it and think "that sounds like a made-up name from an American TV show". And we're right.

Or take Jaxson. America loves it. Australia doesn't. We hear "Jax" and think "that sounds like a wrestler". We're not about to name our baby after a WWE champion. Not on purpose, anyway.

It's not just that we're conservative. It's that we have a very specific sense of what sounds like an Australian name. If it sounds too try-hard, we're out. If it sounds like you're trying too hard to be unique, we're out. We like our names to sound like they've been around for a while, thank you very much.