My friends and I were out in full force battling the crowds on Black Friday, but not for what you think. Nope, we were standing in line for the latest “Twilight” movie, “Breaking Dawn Part 2.” Yes, we 40-something cougars love sparkly vampires and smelly wolves, OK?

As we were surrounded by texting tweens wearing hoodies and flip flops in 30-degree temperatures, some of us hit up the concession stand, others the ladies’ room, but at no time amid all this underage mayhem were we concerned about being separated from each other.

You see, in this day and age of iPhones, smartphones and androids and aliens, our form of communication is much more basic. We simply call out each other’s names. Unlike when a lost child calls out for his mother and 10 different women whip their heads around or when you may hear cries of “Kayla!” “Sophia!” or “Megan!” we are fairly sure there won’t be that many shouts of “Nancy!” “Mary!” “Cathy!” or “Cindy!”

The Social Security Administration just released its list of most popular baby names in Ohio for 2011. Not a Nancy among them. The top name for girls is Emma, followed by Sophia, Ava, Olivia and Isabella. For the boys, after a successful No. 1 run since 1995, Jacob has been replaced by Mason as the big dog. Jacob, Noah, William and Liam round out the top five.

Having a nontrendy name has its pluses and minuses. While I was the only Nancy in my class at school, which meant I didn’t have an initial behind my name, such as “Nancy W,” I was also well aware when the teacher called out a sharp retort using my name, I was the guilty party.

My mother was still learning English when I was born, having moved here from Germany after she met and married my father, who was stationed there in the Army. To help her learn the language, she watched soap operas. I was named after a character on “The Edge of Night.” Ditto for my sister Diana.

Country singer Jake Owen and his wife Lacey welcomed their first child on Thanksgiving Day, a daughter they named Olive Pearl. Jake told me in October when he stopped by Troy’s Hobart Arena on the CMT Summer Never Ends Tour they were going to call the baby Pearl after Jake’s godmother, a major influence in Jake’s life who died in July.

He said he and his wife both loved the name Olive and were going to go with that first when they found out actress Drew Barrymore had recently given her daughter the same name. Jake said although the celebrity attachment gave the name some weight with his parents, “My mom and dad thought it was cooler, because at first they kept thinking, Olive Oyl (Popeye’s girlfriend)!”

I may not have the most popular name out there, but when you think about it, Isabella and Jacob are two of the main characters in “Twilight.” However, my favorite, Edward is pretty old-school, just like Nancy. Sparkly indeed.