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Thursday, September 4, 2014

100 Years Later....

We name nerds love to cite the "100-Year Rule". It's common wisdom that a name will be up for revival in 4-5 generations (≈100 years), when current new parents no longer know anyone with the name.
It certainly seems to hold true for a few modern picks (Emmett and Sophie for instance), so I thought it'd be fun to take a look at names that were at their most popular (and at least in the Top 200) in the late 1800s - early 1900s, but have since died off. Perhaps they're ready for use today? Or are all the names worthy of revival already back....?
*note: since boys' names as a rule decline more slowly than girls; the genders were held to slightly different standards. Boys' names were considered "dead" if they're currently below the Top 500; girls' if they are currently below the Top 700.

Boys:
  • Alton
  • Amos
  • Archie
  • Bernard
  • Bert
  • Booker
  • Cecil
  • Clarence
  • Claude
  • Clifton
  • Clyde
  • Edmund
  • Elmer
  • Ernest/Earnest
  • Floyd
  • Francis
  • Grover
  • Herman
  • Hugh
  • Irving
  • Lee
  • Lloyd
  • Luther
  • Mack
  • Maurice
  • Milton
  • Morris
  • Otis
  • Otto
  • Percy
  • Ralph
  • Roy
  • Rufus
  • Sidney
  • Stanley
  • Sylvester
  • Vernon
  • Wilbur
  • Willard
  • Willis
  • Wilson
  • Woodrow

Girls:
  • Agnes
  • Alberta
  • Alma
  • Augusta
  • Bernice
  • Bertha
  • Beulah
  • Blanche
  • Cleo
  • Della
  • Dora
  • Dorothea
  • Edith
  • Edna
  • Effie
  • Erma/Irma
  • Estella
  • Estelle
  • Ethel
  • Etta
  • Eula
  • Eunice
  • Fern
  • Florence
  • Freda/Frieda
  • Gertrude
  • Gladys
  • Goldie
  • Henrietta
  • Hilda
  • Ida
  • Ina
  • Inez
  • Leola
  • Leona
  • Lottie
  • Louise
  • Luella
  • Lula
  • Mabel
  • Mamie
  • Maud/Maude
  • Mildred
  • Myrtle
  • Nell
  • Nettie
  • Opal
  • Ora
  • Pauline
  • Thelma
  • Velma
  • Verna
  • Viola
  • Winifred

1 comment:

  1. I know of babies Clyde, Pauline and Mabel, but think it will be a while before any of these names rise a lot in ranks.

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