We discuss trends frequently in my writers’ groups. What’s happened in the past to affect the future. What’s happening right now. It’s amazing how trendy things can be– how you can get caught up in a movement without even knowing it.

I often reference the blind-trend participation with a couple of analogies– you know how you buy a new car and all of a sudden you see that car everywhere? New car! You love it! You leave the grocery store and have NO IDEA which of the awesome identical cars packing the lot is yours.

Another example is baby naming. When I changed my son’s name from Matthew (because I thought there were SO MANY) to Zachary, because I didn’t know any Zachs, I thought it was a uniquely interesting name. Zach. Zah. Ka. It just sounds cool, you know? Imagine my surprise when we got to elementary school and half the class was named Zach.

Someone recently posted this map of female naming trends in America.
(Another minor digression from my point, but here’s a fascinating article about the “calamitous decline of Mary.”)

I couldn’t find a name map for boys, but I have to assume that Dave/David has followed a similar trend– not nearly so calamitous (welcome new word to my daily vocabulary!) but I think it’s safe to say there are more Aiden/Caydon/Jaden’s being born than Daves.

Which brings me to the point of this blog–
Have any of you noticed the trend with Daves? Now, I’d say that Dave is a “common” name, sort of like Mary, but like Mary of whom I know few, I know even less Daves.
Yet Dave seems to be showing up a lot lately.

We just read a book called Next by Michael Crichton. One of the more interesting characters is named Dave.

There’s a very popular Minion named Dave!

He even has his own wiki page!

Have you seen the Dave commercial? Meet Dave!

I was looking for the quote, but I can’t find it… in the Jason Statham movie, Redemption, a woman mocks his name and tells him she thought he’d be named something cool like Dave. (totally paraphrasing– I said I couldn’t find the quote! But the gist is accurate.)

This example of Dave popularity is awesome:

Hair of the Dog Brewing Co. sold a single bottle of Dave for $2,000.
Who names their beer Dave? Excellent breweries, I guess.

Remember the movie Dave? With Kevin Kline.
It was a great film and I think the government could learn a lot from mandatory viewing.
This clip, for instance.

Maybe it’s just me noticing all these Dave things.
Maybe it’s because my Dave has been on the road for almost a week now.
Maybe that’s the longest I’ve ever been home without him.
Yeah, we’re that obnoxious couple.

I kind of wish we would trend.

In closing, here’s a very important review of the Daves I know according to the Kids in the Hall.