Economist have a theory called negative externality. This is simply put, when an action of a product on consumers imposes a negative effect on a third party. For example when a company manufactures a product the air pollution of that factory production imposes a negative externality on the local population. They gain no immediate effect from the production, but take on the costs of the air pollution. Economists call this negative externality.
This brings me to this chart:
This chart is incredible. What it is showing us is in 1998 when Bill Clinton was caught up in the Monica Lewinsky scandal the name popularity had a rapid decline. Parents in a post Clinton-Lewinsky sex scandal were not too eager to name their daughters Monica. It appears the actions of Bill Clinton imposed a negative externality on the name Monica.
You can see in 1973, when Lewinsky and other prominent Monica’s were born, the name was fairly popular hitting its peak. While there appears to be a slow decline in the popularity of the name throughout the 80s and 90s it is very clear in a post Clinton Impeachment world the name Monica suffered the consequences.