The least popular name becomes 1.4% more popular each year. This cyclicality allows diversity to persist.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered how quickly the popular becomes rare, and the rare becomes popular. The study is described in the journal InScience.
To do this, scientists reviewed the names of people born in the United States since 1935 and found that when a name became very common - 1 or more people per 100 have it - then the popularity of that name drops by 1.6 percent per year.
Conversely, the rarest names - 1 in 10,000 - added 1.4% in popularity each year. Such cyclical changes help diversify the names used.
The same happens with popular dog breeds; the trends are constantly changing.
Scientists conclude that the names and breeds of dogs work for genes and organisms that carry them, they compete for scarce resources - the preferences of parents or owners of animals.