Death of a Name | Reviving a Mobit

Mobituaries with Mo Rocca

iHeartPodcasts and CBS News

Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 20.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 December 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What do you think will be the top baby names of 2025? Will "Mildred" make a comeback? What’s in a name…that makes it popular to one generation, and downright ugly to the next? From "Bertha" and "Layla" to "Reagan" and "Katrina," history shows us that politics, pop songs and news events all play roles in sending baby names skyrocketing or plunging in the rankings. Mo (short for "Maurice"!) returns to his elementary school to speak with his fifth grade teacher about his own name then talks to Columbia University linguist John McWhorter and actor Todd Bridges about other names that have seen better days.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Once upon a time, Amazon Music met audiobooks and listeners everywhere rejoiced.
0:05.8	Oh yeah.
0:06.6	Because now they could listen to one audiobook title a month from an enormous library of popular audiobook titles, including romanticity,
0:15.3	autobiographies, true crime, and more.
0:19.3	Suddenly listeners didn't mind sitting in traffic or even missing their
0:22.6	flight. Amazon Music Unlimited now includes Audible. No way. Download the Amazon Music app now to start
0:28.4	listening. Terms apply.
0:31.5	Do you guys like to ask you a question? Did you guys like to answer questions for us?
0:37.6	A while back I visited my alma mater.
0:40.7	I'm talking about my first alma mater, Woodacre's Elementary School in Bethesda, Maryland.
0:46.8	Hi, I'm Mr. Rockah. I went to this school.
0:49.6	When I first came to Woodacres in the third grade, I wasn't Mo. I was Maurice Raca. Maurice, a name which
0:57.4	felt hopelessly out of style. I was the only Maurice in the whole school, but maybe the name
1:03.5	has a better rep now. Okay, I'm going to ask each of you question. That's what I've come back to
1:08.7	find out. I started off slowly, though, asking about other names, which peaked long ago.
1:15.3	When I say the name, Mildred, what do you think of?
1:21.2	London?
1:22.3	I think of an old British person.
1:24.4	I don't know.
1:25.0	Yeah, me too.
1:26.2	I agree.
1:26.6	Me too.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts and CBS News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and CBS News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.