What's in a Name? Marketing, of Course!

O.K., Madison marketing genii, there's got to be a way to turn this to our advantage: LiveScience.com reports that Madison was the fifth most popular name for girls in America in 2007. Check out the 2007 top ten list of names for boys and girls:

1. Jacob / Emily
2. Michael / Isabella
3. Ethan / Emma
4. Joshua / Ava
5. Daniel / Madison
6. Christopher / Sophia
7. Anthony / Olivia
8. William / Abigail
9. Matthew / Hannah
10. Andrew / Elizabeth

The only South Dakota town appearing higher on the list than Madison is Ethan. (Isabel comes close, but close doesn't count in branding!)

Check out the extremely cool Baby Name Wizard interactive name rank chart, and you'll see that other South Dakota towns haven't been able to break into the name racket with the same success as Madison. Junius had some cachet back in 1890, ranking 384th as a boy name, but it dropped off the chart in the 1950s. Winfred hung on for girls a little longer. The last 100 years haven't treated Chester well, but Colton is enjoying a healthy surge. Still, no sign of a boom in kids named Sioux Falls or Watertown.

So how do we turn the popularity of our name (Madison is also the eighth most popular town name in America) to our advantage? How about a Madison Discount Festival? Come to Madison during Crazy Days, prove your name is Madison, and the Chamber issues you a discount card that gets you half price on anything: lunch at Country Cafe, Blizzard at DQ, waders at Campbell's Supply, Jeep at Prostrollo's, anything! Think of all the lovely Madisons who would come to Madison... and bring their friends, who would still pay full price for everything. Brilliant!