My name is common but about to be extinct – I’m hoping for a comeback, it’s classy and many celebs are called the same
A WOMAN has been left gutted after finding out her name was becoming extinct.
The mum wants to start a campaign to give the name a comeback after finding out her moniker had been included on a list of names that clocked up precisely zero registrations in the UK in 2022.
Stacey Dennis was shocked to see that her name was going extinct like the once popular Lindsey and Kelly.
Now, she is holding out hope that it will make a return, and urges people to “be more Stacey, be less Karen”.
Baby name data has yet to be released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the year 2023, but baby name pros have yet to see a rise in popularity for the title.
She revealed that growing up, she wasn’t always a fan of her name as she found it difficult to key ring or pencil case with her name on it.
But now she has grown up – she realises how nice it is to have a name you don’t hear all of the time.
While there are many of iconic women called Stacey such as Stacey Solomon or Stacey Dooley, not a single baby was called Stacey in 2022 and the mum didn’t know any other Stacey’s when growing up.
Now she is often correcting people who get her name wrong because it’s so uncommon.
She told the Mirror: “I always get called Tracey, and I’m like, ‘It’s Stacey!’ And there are a couple of variations, and you can’t really shorten it.
“I like it now as an adult, I’ve gotten over myself, but as a kid, I didn’t, just because it’s not as popular.
“As an adult, I do, probably for the opposite reasons of why I didn’t like it as a kid.”
She added: “It sounds a bit classier than Tracey, I guess!”
Although Stacey isn’t quite sure of the exact story behind her name choice, she says her parents Steve and Shirley – now also an endangered name – gave her a name beginning with ‘S’ to match her older brothers.
Moving forward, the mum is now even thinking of starting up a hashtag, with a campaign encouraging people to ‘not be a Karen, be a Stacey instead.’
She continued: “I’m really sad to see Staceys are going the same way as the dinosaurs. I want to see ‘bring back Stacey!’ I want to see loads of people named Stacey next year!”
Now Stacey, a graphic designer, has her own company called Love Layla which produces lots of name-based merchandise.
Some of the stock centres around ‘Karen Memes’ and Gary – a name that has also become extinct.
Stacey has previously fielded complaints from disgruntled “Karens”, many of whom aren’t too keen on the negative connotations of the now-dwindling name which some of her merchandise pokes fun of.
But Stacey revealed it was all in good fun and addressed younger people who may feel self-conscious about having a lesser-used name, Stacey urged them to “just embrace it” and to “enjoy the uniqueness”.
