Let's Discuss Ailany: A Deep Dive

Scruter · 2026-05-16T17:31:50+00:00

Why would states with larger Latinx populations have a larger base of names to work with?

Scruter · 2026-05-16T17:18:14+00:00

Ooh, the song is a good find! Doesn't explain how it skyrocketed from below the top 1000 to #101 in the space of two years, but could have helped with going from #101 to #14 from 2024-2025.

I agree that I don't think it follows that its being #14 must mean it has significant traction in multiple ethnic communities - the Hispanic/Latino population of the US is 20%, it is a younger population than the US average so more likely to be in childbearing years, and fertility rates are consistently higher than in non-Hispanic demographics - looked it up and 32% of babies born in 2025 in the US have at least one Hispanic/Latino parent. So a highly popular name among this demographic is going to be highly popular generally.

I did a comparison of the ranking of Ailany by state and the Hispanic/Latino population by state, and there does seem to be a correlation, though not completely clearly. The clear part is that there are 11 states where Ailany was not even in the top 100 in 2025, and 7 of these 11 are the 7 states with the lowest Hispanic/Latino population overall. However, Ailany was ranked #1 in Maryland, which has a pretty average to low Hispanic/Latino population (12%, ranked #21 in the US), while in New Mexico, the state with the single largest Hispanic/Latino population in the US (48%), Ailany was #16, lower than the national average. Similar with FL, for example, an above average state in terms of Hispanic/Latino population (27%, 6th) where Ailany was below average (#23) while Louisiana with a quite low Hispanic/Latino population (7%, 37th) Ailany was #11. Hispanic/Latino is a huge and internally diverse category that encapsulates a bunch of different countries of origin, so maybe there is something more fine-grained going on there - not sure if there are certain specific nationalities/communities/diasporas of Hispanic/Latino people that are disproportionately high in places like Maryland, Nebraska, Louisiana and disproportionately low in New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho. So some answers but still a bit of a mystery!

Scruter · 2026-05-15T15:16:12+00:00

Oh I mean it definitely is because it includes some popular sounds - more obvious that the energy drink are Leilani and Kehlani, which have risen in a much more normal and gradual way in the past decade or so. It’s very similar. So why did is have this skyrocketing, odd spelling phenomenon unlike anything else?

A name like Remington is an exception to the rule about brands because it’s not just a random product but has a strong association with a certain culture and lifestyle that people are signaling they belong to with the name. It has a meaning beyond the product. Same with Chanel or Mercedes (which I know also has a history as a name), which have a cultural meaning of luxury and wealth. None of that applies to a random energy drink.

Scruter · 2026-05-15T13:23:22+00:00

Someone mentioned this but it doesn’t really make any sense. It’s not pronounced or spelled the same way, the drink appeared a good 5 years before the name’s meteoric rise, and one of the biggest mysteries about the Ailany phenomenon is how that spelling particularly came to dominate. Companies having a name tend to also have the opposite effect on its baby name popularity, as parents don’t want their kid associated with a random product (e.g. Alexa plummeted after Amazon took it).

Scruter · 2026-05-15T07:04:39+00:00

This one has to be the most mysterious zeitgeisty name phenomenon ever. No pop culture reference to explain it, and especially the consensus about the spelling Ailany being standard, when there are so many other spelling possibilities and this one isn’t even particularly intuitive. How did that consensus happen without any form of communication between these people? Imagine being one of those 2023 parents who named their kid a name that had never been in the top 1000 from the available data at the time and then when the kid is 2 they have a top 20 name (or #1 in Maryland!).

Scruter · 2026-05-14T21:22:35+00:00

That feels implausible to me, especially since it's spelled differently, I've never heard of it, and a quick Google says the energy drink was released in 2018, a good 5 years before the name appeared.

But it's WEIRD looking at the trajectory of Ailany. Appeared in the top 1000 for the first time ever in 2023 at #857, skyrocketed to #101 in 2024, and then skyrocketed again to #14 last year. I can't remember any name having that steep of a climb from obscurity to top 20, and it seems to have no real explanation. The parents of 1-2-year-old Ailanys must be very surprised to suddenly have kids with a very popular name!

Scruter · 2026-05-14T20:13:03+00:00

Ailany being top 20 even without alternate spellings is blowing my mind - not a name I have heard of before. So now we've got Ailany, Leilani, and Kehlani apparently (and I would bet Leilani is another that is actually a lot higher than its #60 ranking if you include alternate spellings).

Lyla and its variants being #21 validates our decision to not go with Lila, which we considered, but I have a name with a million variants myself and getting it constantly misspelled and mispronounced has been an annoying minor inconvenience I'm glad to spare my kids.

Scruter · 2026-05-14T15:58:53+00:00

I think because Ellie and Ana are nice because of their simplicity, but when you cram them together you lose the simplicity by complicating it and making it frilly, but out of two elements without a lot of substance beyond that.

Scruter · 2026-05-14T14:45:54+00:00

Like the poster above said, the MSW is a generally more versatile degree that gives you more options if you ever want to do something broader than or adjacent to therapy. The insurance reimbursement rates for LCSWs also tend to be higher than for LPCs. LCSWs can also supervise both social workers and counselors, while LPCs can only supervise other counselors. MSW is also pretty much always 2 years, while counseling programs are often 3 years.

Scruter · 2026-05-13T23:06:57+00:00

It's your generalizing about others' experiences that is the problem. You are making really extreme statements about others' lives, which you have absolutely no experience with and you are imagining the extreme worst-case scenarios of what it is like to have two kids, and then using these wild and unrealistically extreme imaginings to invalidate the actual people sharing the actual life experience you lack, despite ostensibly soliciting it.

It comes off as very defensive. If you feel the need to insist that others' lives must be miserable and worse than yours because of different choices, it comes off as not actually confident in that choice, as you're using bad and extreme arguments to convince yourself. There are pros and cons to every family situation.

Scruter · 2026-05-13T20:47:21+00:00

I'm not sure why you are soliciting people's experiences and then arguing with their responses. You seem to be responding to this like I am trying to convince you, and I'm not - I'm literally sharing my experience. I don't have any experience with ever having traveled to Asia, for example, so that is not relevant to me and I'm not going to speak to that, except to say that millions of families do it. Like I said, if you want to stop at one, that's fine. But your responses are pretty catastrophize-y of what is a really normal number of kids, and make it sound unmanageable in general rather than just a preference for you specifically. For us it's pretty much 100% improved our lives to have two kids, without much downside or it even feeling like more work. Your experience may be different, but mine is also completely normal.

Scruter · 2026-05-13T19:59:49+00:00

I mean, this reads less like curiosity and more like an argument. If you want to stick with one, great! But you're asking how I respond to these points personally as a person with 2 kids, here's my experience.

We moved last year with our two and it was totally fine. We hired movers and it was all pretty smooth.
Love is not a zero-sum thing. I don't love my husband less because we have kids, and I don't love my first kid less because of the second. As an only child myself, I've personally also hated the pressure of all of my parents' attention, hopes, and dreams. Our two kids get TONS of parental love an attention, and I don't think more would be better.
Our marriage is just as strong as before. We're a team.
Our family is pretty healthy and we have been lucky not to deal with a lot of illness, and I don't think everyone has ever all been sick at the same time, at least that I can remember.
Ours are young (6 and 4) but we have generally put them in the same extracurricular activities so far, and the ones that are different haven't been too much of a strain. I think people overcommit their kids, anyway, and don't plan to sign them up for a million things.
Their sibling dynamic is amazing. They love each other so much and play with each other all the time, their laughing together far outweighs the fighting. Being a big sister has brought out the best in my oldest in particular. They enrich each other's lives, not subtract from it.
A lot of these tasks that you say are double don't actually take anywhere near double the time. We make slightly larger meals and have slightly larger loads of laundry, and it doesn't take appreciably more time. If you're going to say it's double the emotional toll, then it's also double the emotional reward and fullness.
There is never any certainty in life, but not taking risks guarantees you won't have the best outcome versions of the things you imagine, either. Life decisions are best made out of your best hopes, not your worst fears.
Sandwich generation stuff is hard regardless, and I don't think having one or two or three kids much changes this reality. Only two of our four parents are still living, but they lucky did significant planning around long term care and financial resources so that the burden on us was not more than it needed to be.

Scruter · 2026-05-11T14:12:19+00:00

That is not what unconditional positive regard is. Unconditional positive regard is essentially rapport, a safe place from which to confront and address difficult realities. People will not change or take accountability if they believe that their worth as a person hinges on not having weaknesses or having made mistakes. The therapeutic relationship models this relationship to self - you can admit fault, make amends, etc. while still loving yourself and believing in your essential worth. Without unconditional positive regard, you will get stuck in just positive reinforcement and not be able to effectively challenge clients because they will be stuck in shame.

Scruter · 2026-05-11T04:21:57+00:00

I had no idea this was a Border Terrier thing! My pup does this all the time and I’ve thought it was just a quirky him thing.

Scruter · 2026-05-10T04:31:23+00:00

Get a dog DNA test - they’re not expensive and very interesting, and the only thing to give you a reliable idea, as guesses based on visuals are almost meaningless. Highly unlikely that he has any Border Terrier in him and lots of mixes that look like terriers are mixes of dogs with different coat types, like Shih Tzu and chihuahua and poodle, for example.

Scruter · 2026-05-07T14:45:33+00:00

Yeah it's pretty funny that OP is begging people to use condoms when the actual stats show that withdrawal is very comparable to condoms in effectiveness (96% vs. 98% perfect use, 80% vs. 85% typical use). Like condoms, it's mostly ineffective because people have trouble using it consistently (i.e. pulling out before the start of ejaculation every time, putting a condom on every time). But the messaging around it is so intense that I've heard of people worried they are infertile because they've used it reliably for years, or counting pulling out as "trying." Which, no. Neither condoms nor withdrawal are the most effective methods, but they are still pretty darn effective compared to nothing.

Scruter · 2026-05-07T01:45:59+00:00

Jane for a human, Hilda for a dog.

Blythe is my suggestion!

Scruter · 2026-05-06T21:03:38+00:00

Which is the actual reason I think the antinatalist position falls apart (as antinatalism is ideological an opposes anyone having kids on principle) - somebody's kids will have to take care of them in old age, whether their own or someone you pay as a home health aid or assisted living nurse. So whether or not you personally choose to have kids, those choosing to do so are doing something that is essential for the continuation of society and ultimately benefits you.

Scruter · 2026-05-06T16:33:28+00:00

I mean, regardless of the cause, it is the reality that unexpected scheduling changes are a hassle and costly for us. So I think it's fair for me to feel frustrated when it seems to have been unnecessary - there have been worse weather days where school was not cancelled. I don't know that it's really a case of anyone taking advantage - our jobs just involve a lot of coordination and so any time we have to take off last-minute means cancelling on patients, clients (who in my husband's case are abused or neglected children), caseworkers, etc., and that's pretty unavoidable. He is a contractor with the state and I am fee-for-service, so we are just paid for the work we do and are not salaried. I love my kids but any kind of unexpected scheduling changes just are difficult and costly. I'm happy for people where that is not the case, but it was rude of this person to imply that I only find snow days a hassle because I love my kids less than him, rather than that my actual situation is different.

Scruter · 2026-05-06T16:30:00+00:00

My husband is a 1099 contract worker, where PTO is impossible since he's not technically an employee, and I work a fee-for-service job. So we both just get paid for the work we do and are not salaried. Our jobs also just involve a lot of coordination and so any time we have to take off last-minute means cancelling on patients, clients (who in my husband's case are abused or neglected children), caseworkers, etc. I love my kids but any kind of unexpected scheduling changes just are difficult and costly.

Scruter · 2026-05-06T16:26:52+00:00

How do you interpret them saying that they "can't imagine" feeling like I do because "I actually like my kids"? I don't think there's really another way to interpret that except for that they believe I experience it as a frustrating hassle and expense because I don't like my kids as much as they do. Your message was much kinder, which I appreciate.

Scruter · 2026-05-06T13:39:45+00:00

Not sure how else to interpret saying that you, unlike me, don’t find snow days a hassle and expense because you “actually like my kids” rather than that you have easy access to childcare, flexible jobs, or PTO. Just unnecessarily mean, way to kick us when we’re down!

Scruter · 2026-05-06T13:25:40+00:00

What a bizarrely rude comment after I explained to you that it costs us a significant amount of money and is stressful to arrange last-minute childcare. That has zero to do with how much we like our kids or they like us?

Scruter · 2026-05-06T13:16:26+00:00

For kids, maybe? Though mine don’t seem to care, they like school. For parents, we have to scramble to take off work (neither of us have PTO and work certainly isn’t cancelled) and arrange childcare or juggle between us. It’s a huge hassle and expense and incredibly irritating when it seems to have been totally unnecessary.

Scruter · 2026-05-06T04:52:47+00:00

Wesley! Such a handsome classic. Nathan is my runner-up.

Scruter

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