Last year only 698 baby girls were named Alexa in the US.
A once popular name has drastically dropped in popularity rankings all because of household devices. Amazon’s Alexa was invented in 2014, and since then has been a nuisance and difficulty for people with the same name.
Jokes are a constant struggle for people with an identical name to the Amazon, Alexa. It’s bizarre that a popular, everyday, girl’s name is suddenly associated with a new form of technology.
“Sometimes people make jokes and say, ‘Hey Alexa, what’s the weather’ or ‘Alexa, turn off the lights,’” said Alexa Wolfe.
In many social encounters, it’s common but nevertheless still irritating, for friendly jokes or jabs to be made about one’s names. However the commonality of this name and the device, only makes the issue even more agitating.
“When I’m at my friends house and they call me, their Alexa will go off and it’s sometimes annoying for both of us,” said Alexa Delgado.
The Alexa was designed to be a helpful household tool, but it’s choice of name is affecting its usefulness. Having a name that’s not as common would provide a simple solution for the people that have to undergo the constant uncertainty when with these devices as well as the immature jokes that go along with it.
“The name should be something like Echo, because it’s not a common human-name like Alexa,” said Alexa Rodriguez.
Even though the process when changing the name isn’t the most difficult, it’s still a frustrating extra step for the people with the popular girls name. Different variations of the name Alexa are Computer, Amazon, and Echo, which can be used as a replacement for the original name. A popular human name shouldn’t be the default when having this Amazon owned device, instead it should be something that won’t get confused with an actual person.
“I actually go by Allie, but sometimes when my mom gets mad she’ll use my real name and the device goes off,” said Alexa Smolinski.
“I’ve gone to my grandparent’s house, where they have an Alexa, and it can be confusing,” said Alexa Leithner.
Family member’s of these girls have to either change the name of their Alexa, a common alternative choice: ‘Echo’, or have to go through the repetitive process of mistaking their child and the device. Many people also mute their device as an easy solution for the problem of being mistaken for the Alexa as well.
“I have to mute the device so it doesn’t go off,” said Alexa Jones.
It’s become such an inconvenience that people have to now mute the device completely, for the device to not go off.
When making new forms of technology, companies should consider how their name choice can affect people in a negative way.
