USPS package volume

As USPS package volume has surged, more babies have been named Luna, a correlation of 0.991 that connects the e-commerce revolution to celestial baby naming with the logistical confidence of a trend line that has never lost a package. The boxes stack up, the Lunas accumulate, and the chart maps both with the tracking precision of a USPS barcode scanner. Delivered: one correlation. Recipient: nobody who asked for it.

USPS package volume grew from about 3.1 billion to over 7.3 billion parcels between 2005 and 2022, driven by e-commerce. Luna grew to over 7,500 babies per year, driven by cross-cultural appeal and pop culture. Both are smooth upward curves in the same period, driven by different aspects of the same digital economy: online shopping drives package volume, and the internet drives cultural name trends (Luna spread partly through online communities and social media). The shared variable is digital connectivity—the same infrastructure that delivers packages also distributes baby name inspiration.

Eighteen years of packages and Luna babies is a correlation powered by the internet: the same digital infrastructure that enables Amazon deliveries also enables the cultural cross-pollination that makes international baby names popular. The package arrives, the baby is named, and the internet facilitated both. The tracking number updates. The birth certificate does not.