For What It's Worth
In the age of the smart speaker that we live in now, two names we may have never heard of before are now being bandied about like they were common, everyday words.
But before the iPhone required us to say a name before we asked it to do something for us, or our Amazon Echo smart speaker needed a name before it would play music or inform us of the news, I frankly had never heard of Alexa or Siri before and I had never met anyone by those names. I eventually did meet an Alexa at a store, but still have never met Siri.
Now, the name Alexa is being tossed around in my home daily ahead of it being asked to turn lights on and off, play a certain type of music, or inform me of the latest news, sports, and weather. Alexa and I can even have a bit of a conversation between ourselves now about how the day is going and what might be on my schedule. I’ve even asked Alexa to recommend car repair shops or restaurants, when a certain store might be closing for the day, or tell me how long and at what temperature my food should be cooked in my air fryer.
Meanwhile, Alexa’s “cousin” Siri is my go-to in calling my wife, sons, a contact, or most anyone on my iPhone. Siri can also tell me such things as the weather and such if Alexa is not available at that time.
There’s also a distant relative called “Google.” That’s another branch of the family tree we won’t get into here, but I deal with Google, as well. Google thinks it can do everything Alexa and Siri can do and tries to show that to me on occasion.
What brings this all to mind here today comes after reading a note from USA Facts, a “know-it-all” of American information from the pertinent to the mundane. The website quoted Social Security Administration statistics where the popularity of the name Alexa had dropped from 32nd most popular in 2015, down to 806th popular in 2024, the last year statistics were available. The Amazon Alexa and Echo devices were initially released in 2014.
You must wonder what has caused the plunge in popularity for the past nearly a decade. Did parents not want their child to be tagged Alexa for their lives with all the devices around? We have to be careful at home about saying “Alexa” too loudly if we don’t want our Echo devices to respond if we don’t want them to.
As a name, Siri is even less popular, never cracking the top 1,000, although there was a slight bump when the Apple assistant for iPhone was introduced. Fewer than 20-30 children born in the United States now are named Siri each year, but it is more popular in Scandinavian countries where it was first derived.
FYI, Google is very rarely used as a first name, and a fraction of the population even have a last name of Google. I’d like to meet a Mr. or Mrs. Google and ask them how their lives have gone as part of that family tree.
That brings to mind a question of what names are actually popular, at least in the state of Mississippi. The State Department of Health (MSDH) annually issues a report on the names most used for babies in the past year. It’s interesting what parents select for their child’s name and how those names trend from year-to-year.
Compiled by the MSDH Office of Vital Records and Public Health Statistics, the most popular boy’s name in Mississippi in 2025 was James, used 163 times. William was next (157), followed by John (154), Noah (120), and Elijah (108).
Amelia was listed as the most popular name for a girl, selected 113 times. Charlotte was second at 104, Olivia (96), Ava (95), and Elizabeth, chosen 86 times.
MSDH said the reports were based on provisional birth certificate data. The reports come out after the end of the calendar year, so we’ll know what, if any, trends have developed for name popularity during the past 12 months.
So what drew your parents to name you as you are? My first name, Robert, was the most common name or spelling of anyone in my family of a half-dozen children, me followed by five girls.
The name Bob never was used for me until the start of my freshman year in high school. My algebra teacher, also named Robert, looked at the roll of students in his class, saw my name and asked, “Do you want to be called Robert, or Bob?” For no real reason, I quickly answered, “Bob,” and the name stuck from that day until now. After that, Robert was only used around our farm home by my parents, mostly my mother, exclaiming “Robert!” when I got into trouble. Legal documents also have me signing off with Robert, of course.
The other part of my full name is my middle name, which is the same as my father’s first name. We continued the tradition with our eldest son having my first name as his middle name and our youngest son using my father-in-law’s first name as his son’s middle name. Keeping it all in the family, I guess.
Space won’t allow me here to continue the story about the names of my five sisters, but how we are assigned our first name at birth to follow us for the entirety of our lives is a story in itself.
But don’t expect to meet any Alexas, or Siris, anytime soon. And if you do meet Alexa, make sure a smart speaker is away from earshot.
That’s what I have for now... for what it’s worth.
Bob Bakken is Editor of the South Reporter.