A new study has shown that there’s a reason why different baby names go in and out of fashion. The recent research states that the ‘invisible hand’ of social convention or in other words, trying to fit in, is behind the choosing of names by parents. The academics from the University of Pennsylvania and City University London who were behind the study have revealed that although celebrities and other social aspects affect name choices, the main factor behind the rise and fall of the popularity of names is actually a subconscious act by parents of trying to fit in with their peer groups. The experiment was conducted by showing pictures of different people and asking participants to name the person in the image. They then won a reward if they chose the same name as somebody else. Participants were also shown what other users had picked which helped form their ideas for their next choice. “Spontaneous emergence is like the existence of an invisible hand,” said Andrea Baronchelli, the co-author of the study. “Everybody is just trying to agree with their social circle, and spontaneously there will be the emergence of a single consensus.” Last week, the Irish Times released the most fashionable baby names over the last number of decades.