If you visit certain websites, you can get information regarding popular or trending names. You can do so by date. When you do, you’ll learn interesting facts.
Names that pop up when you click on a date reveal what happened that day. You can learn about current or recent events that way.
You can trace the evolving popularity of traditional names by researching history this way. Let’s discuss names and dates more right now.
The Date Someone Famous Becomes Infamous
If you click on a certain date on one of these sites, you might get many hits on one name. Perhaps you click on a date and get the name Aaron Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers plays quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, and he sometimes does and says things that draw ridicule. A couple of years back, he refused the Covid-19 vaccine. He made statements doubting the vaccine’s efficacy on a podcast. That got him into the news cycle, and not for a good reason.
Recently, he went on a self-imposed “darkness retreat” after the Packers lost to the Detroit Lions in the season’s last game and consequently missed the playoffs. Rodgers went on the darkness retreat to center himself, or so he claimed. That also brought him a lot of attention.
These kinds of actions usually mark when someone famous becomes infamous. If someone’s name trends on a certain date, maybe they did something heroic, but more likely, they acted embarrassingly or ridiculously. When you click on a date and see their name trended, you’ll know they made themselves tabloid fodder.
Celebrity Squabbles
Many times, celebrity squabbles cause name trends. Consider the recent high-profile court case that pitted former spouses Amber Heard and Johnny Depp against each other.
Depp and Heard married after becoming close on a movie set a few years back. They seemed happy, but only briefly. Depp came out with a string of box office flops, and Heard’s career wasn’t doing much better.
Then, Heard said that Depp assaulted her. They had separated at that point, with Depp trying to resurrect his career. The bad press resulting from Heard’s statements lost Depp a role in the Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Depp sued Heard and claimed character defamation. The two went at it in the courtroom, with Depp saying Heard antagonized and physically attacked him. He claimed self-defense.
The jury eventually ruled in Depp’s favor, saying he should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and another $5 million in punitive damages. The judge knocked that amount down to $350,000 because of a state cap.
The two names, Depp and Heard, dominated the news cycle for several days, but not for any good reason. Their careers both suffered, with no directors willingly hiring Heard anymore and Depp getting smaller and less prestigious parts.
When an Unknown Becomes Famous
You might also click on a date on one of these sites and find a name dominating the news cycle that sprang from obscurity. Maybe this person rescued children from a burning building, but more likely, they did something wrong or at least controversial.
The name Kyle Rittenhouse is a perfect example. Rittenhouse became a household name back in 2020 when he took a gun from his hometown of Antioch, Illinois, to Madison, Wisconsin. He shot two men and wounded another. The men were there protesting police brutality.
The police did not arrest Rittenhouse at the scene. He returned home, where the cops came and got him hours later. He went to trial for the shootings, but the jury eventually acquitted him. He claimed self-defense.
This decision delighted some and infuriated others. For many days, Rittenhouse’s name stayed in the news cycle, and even today, he sometimes shows up in the news.
Names Make Up History
When you click on dates and learn what names were in the news that day, what you read might inspire or appall you, depending on this person’s actions. Sometimes famous names reach new heights, while other times, names that meant nothing to a broad audience the day before suddenly become nationally or even internationally known.
Names make up human history, from Napoleon to Shakespeare, from The Marquis de Sade to Genghis Khan. If your name becomes famous, you’d hope you trend for a good reason. It all depends on how you conduct yourself. Your five minutes of fame that Andy Warhol spoke about might benefit you, or they may not.
