Also older than Sesame Street - only Kermit that comes to mind is Kermit Ruffins, the jazz musician. Only Grovers are Cleveland and Norquist. But Oscar - lots of Oscars, but I’m pretty sure most of them were Hispanic.
The only Kermit I was ever familiar with was Kermit Schaefer, who did the “Blooper” videos that mostly featured recreations based on urban legends. I knew one Grover personally , and that was his father’s name. The only Elmos I can think of was one of the first Tarzans, Elmo Lincoln and Archie Bunker’s unseen co-workers Black Elmo and Regular Elmo. I’ve known one Oscar.
So, in my personal experience, “Sesame Street” probably didn’t help these names, but they havent been particularly common in many years, if ever.
There was a pro golfer on the PGATour named Kermit Millard Zarley. He won three times on Tour, and after interview with Bob Hope, he was referred as being from the moon because of his name. Yes THE Bob Hope.
and there was a Kermit who was few years older than me when I was about 11-12 yrs old. I never knew him.
I play golf with an Oscar occasionally.
and there is a constetant on Survivor who goes by Ozzie, his given name is Oscar. He is Mexican American and I think Oscar is a fairly common name in Latin America.
Gaylord Perry. HOF pitcher. Born 1938
My younger nephew, who is 13, is an Oscar, so I got curious. The name hit its nadir in popularity around 1960 and had somewhat of a revival in the 1990s-2000s, well after Oscar the Grouch entered popular culture, so I don’t think people are avoiding it for that reason. (Actually, the steepest drop-off occurred between 1894 and 1900, which tracks 100% with Oscar Wilde’s conviction for “gross indecency,” FWIW.)
^^As noted above, Oscar is a pretty common Hispanic name, which I suspect accounts for the uptick. 
Was Fudd the end of Elmer?
Aside from Kermit Schaefer of Bloopers fame, the only Kermit I could recall is Kermit Roosevelt, son of president Theodore. And since I first learned about him after the Muppets got big (unlike Schaefer, who I knew about earlier), I inevitably picture Kermit Roosevelt as a green felt puppet, maybe wearing a Slouch Hat and pince-mez.
Kermit the Frog wasn’t always one. When I first saw him in the early 1960s on TV he was a lizard-like thing (and, being he was in black and white – at least on OUR TV – he wasn’t green) with no obvious species. According to the muppet wiki, Johnny Carson was the first to call him a frog, in 1965, and he officially became one in 1971.
He might not even have been named “Kermit”. No names were given in those early TV appearances.
There’s a school in Chicago named after Oscar Mayer.
Elmer Dessens was a pitcher for several major league teams in the early 2000s. I’ll encounter a student named Elmer occasionally; they’re always kids of Central American descent.
A press account from April 1964 indicates that “Kermit the Frog” would be on the Jimmy Dean show. Kermit was originally known as “Kermit the Minstrel! (1962)” Well, he did sing a lot.
Side note: It also indicates that "One part of the Muppet segment will feature “Cool Hands,” a hand pantomine with four hands. Jazz Hands!
Also in this ep were characters Skoop and Skip, which might be forerunners of Bert and Ernie.
One f my favorite lines in any monster movie is from Frank Henenlotter’s 1988 movie Brain Damage after one character discovers that the people in the apartment next door have been harboring a monster that produces a brain-expanding drug, and have named it “Elmer”
(blurred for strong language)
Character 1: “Elmer???!!!” You fucking named him Elmer?
Character 2: Not “Elmer” – “Aylmer”. It means “Beautiful Thing”
Regarding the name “Oscar” – it became “in vogue” because of James MacPherson’s translations of the poems of the “Northern Bard” Ossian , which McPherson published 1760-1765. These were of huge popularity, and painting and musical works featuring items from Ossian’s works appeared all over the place. And people started naming their kids after characters in the poems, chiefly Oscar and Fiona and Malvina.
Only it turned out that….
MacPherson made it all up. There were no Ossianic poems. Some of the names were real, but he made up incidents, and he made up the names “Fiona” and “Malvina”. He didn’t make up “Oscar”, although he did popularize it.
What did you name your kids?
Reminds me of a Gary Gulman comedy sketch where he jokes about flirting with very old women. An old woman starts fanning herself, saying “Young man, if only you knew how old I was”. “Well, I’ve got some idea, Phyllis, given that the Department of Names retired Phyllis in 1953…”
Kermit and Grover were never really popular names, Muppets or no.
Sesame Street introduced a new monster named Murray in 2005, by which time that name belonged almost exclusively to Jewish men over 60.
Kermit Ruffins is a prominent local (to the New Orleans area) celebrity, but I wasn’t sure how well-known he was outside of this area. Should have mentioned him.
The Muppets didn’t gain fame until 1969, and I think those names were archaic long before then. I’ve never even heard or read about a real person with those names.
I also know surprisingly few people called Gonzo, Dr. Teeth, Animal or Beaker. However, I do know a Janice and people comment on her similarity to other Janices given her hippie vibe and diminutive stature.
Floyd feels like it’s due for a comeback.
Not sure how you define ‘fame,’ but they’d been on national TV at least by 1963, frequent guests on “Ed Sullivan” and other variety shows, but that’s getting off-track of name commonality.