PAGE 19 MARCH 11, 2016 REMARKER
L LIFE
NAMES
mispronounced
first day of school
trendy
celebrity
name?
“spelled-wrong”
ethnic
introductions
traditional
unique
what’s in a
“conformist”
beautiful
first impressions
inventive
foreign
uncommon
family name
boring unprofessional
“basic” cultural
1st Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Emre Muharremoglu top-ten most common name Most common name 16% James Hoak
4th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Temi Balogun top-ten most common name Most common name 4% Joseph Day
7th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a most SEMAJ MUSCO top-ten common name Most common name John Hubbard
16%
2nd Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Ailesh Sadruddin top-ten most common name Most common name 14% William Taylor
5th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Sky Park top-ten most common name Most common name 9% James Thomson
8th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Tianming Xie top-ten most common name Most common name 12% Billy Lockhart
10th Grade 11th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Waseem Nabulsi top-ten most common name Most common name 17% Jimmy Rodriguez
Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Devan Prabhakar top-ten most common name Most common name 14% John Crawford
W
hat’s in a name? Here at 10600 Preston Road, it may be a lot more than you think. In a community of great diversity, we have a rich assortment of unique and interesting names. For all the James, Johns and Jacksons we have, the community is full of names from other cultures and traditions. To take a look at the most unique names on campus, ReMarker staff members John Gunnin and Davis Marsh used the website “How Many of Me” to determine the most common — and uncommon — names in each grade, according to national statistics.
3rd Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Shyam Maddukuri top-ten most common name Most common name 11% Charlie Gordy
6th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Fisayo Omonije top-ten most common name Most common name 11% William Fitzpatrick
9th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a Rhys Arana top-ten most common name Most common name 20% James Rogers
12th Grade Hello, my name is...
Most uncommon name Percent w/ a top-ten most Grant Uebele common name Most common name 20% Will Clark
A word from the expert
O
ne go-to resource for all things name-related is Nameberry.com, a website that tracks the most popular, unique and celebrity-influenced names for any given birth year. With her colleague Linda Rosenkrantz, New York Times bestselling author Pam Satran founded Nameberry.com, and is considered to have had a great influence on the increasing variety in American baby names over the past 20 years. One of the pair’s most impressive abilities is to predict which names will surge in popularity in the near future. ‘’We look at all the lists,’’ Satran said. ‘’We look at movie stars’ names and what they’re naming their children. We look at names that cut across several trends at once. But after that, it’s just instinct.’’ Although she is all for giving children unique names, ones that might not necessarily make Nameberry’s most-popular lists, Satran understands that many parents feel drawn to more conventional names. ‘’There’s this ideal,’’ Satran said, ‘’not just in names but other things that have to do with style, that you should make a personal statement. But the fact is that most people are not that adventurous. They say they want individual style but they pick their furniture at Pottery Barn. So if you tell them you’re going to name your child Matilda, they’ll say, ‘That’s awful.’ But if you say Sophia or Lily or any of the names that I’m totally sick of, they’ll say, ‘That’s such a beautiful name.’’’ Satran’s philosophy about names, and her embrace of more uncommon and individualistic names, leads her to believe that names are mostly superficial. ‘’There are people who want to sell the idea that your name is your destiny,’’ Satran said. ‘’Names aren’t your destiny any more than your shoes are.’”
KEY • Most common/uncommon name determined by how many US residents share the same first and last name. • Names in red are the most common/uncommon in the entire school. • Percentages in red are the highest/lowest in the entire school.
STORY DAVIS MARSH, JOHN GUNNIN INFOGRAPHIC DAVIS MARSH
Junior independently producing electronic music online by Waseem Nabulsi
T
o most of his friends, junior Isaiah Kazunga is known as Isaiah or simply, Kazunga. But to his fans, he’s known as DJ Squizzo. Kazunga has been independently producing and releasing electronic dance music — or — EDM, since 2014, under the stage name DJ Squizzo. Kazunga was first introduced to the genre by his classmates at his last school. After becoming more familiar with EDM, he decided to take a music production class offered by his school. From there, he was hooked. “When [the beat] drops, I can feel myself getting goosebumps,” Kazunga said. “That’s how I know it’s a good song.” Kazunga was initially drawn to EDM because of its unique sound and the effect the music had on him. “For me, its always just been a more emotional thing — something about it just makes me happier,” Kazunga said. “I like the power and speed of it; its not really
slow, its not usually sad.” With a newfound interest in the genre, Kazunga eagerly used up his free time to produce his own EDM, using programs like Garage Band to create his own mixes, and uploading the finished product on platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud for people to hear. “I wouldn’t consider any of my stuff really really good, but I do like to look at how far I’ve come and how much progress I’ve made just by keeping at it and practicing all the time,” Kazunga said. “When I started out [on SoundCloud] it took me almost about a year to get to 20 followers and now I’m at 83. So, its just nice to look back and see the progression.” With his following growing steadily, Kazunga says that he spends more than seven hours a week producing EDM. “When I’m not working on it, I’m usually thinking about it,” Kazunga said. “I like to try to find inspiration in things I hear around me.”