Possibly. But it’s also true that ‘old person’ names are seen as having an established, fitting-in quality and I could see where that’s attractive to immigrants. Supposedly that’s also how it worked with waves of Jewish immigrants a century ago. The parents gave their children names that they saw as classy and completely American. And today, names like Irving aren’t seen as American, they’re seen as Jewish.
I know a young woman with the middle name Alice and I’m friends with an Irene. I’ve met a lot of young Betsys in recent years. Elizabeth will always be popular but I’d previously thought of Betsy as an ‘old’ name. I went to elementary school with a Martha.
I think you’re right as well, that these ‘old person’ names were supposed to make the kids fit in, it’s just that their sources for the names were already out of date by the time the kids made it to the US. After all, how much do we (the bearers of ‘old-person’ names) fit in if there’s a whole thread mentioning how weird it is that young Asian people are the only ones that you see these old fart names?
Lilly and Lilian are huge. My fourth grade daughter has four of them in her class, and they don’t seem to have dropped in popularity. Hannah and Emma are also huge - Hannah has been on the downswing since 2000.
I think Lucy is become big because it has a similar sound to Lilly which some people feel is over used. Likewise, I think Emma became big because Emily got overused. (Same with Ellie, Eleanor). Most people want “different” names for their kids, but they don’t want the name to be so different that they are targeted for teasing (of course, there are always those that want a ‘unique’ name).
One of the kids of one of my friends is named Alice. I don’t know if they spell it in the traditional way, but I know them and doubt that they would spell it Alyce or some such.
I don’t have any to add to this, most of the kids we fill prescriptions for are “Jazzmyn” or “Bryttnee” or “Hunter” or…
But I did nickname my one girlfriend (it was for a week, in 9th grade) Gertrude. I think I remember it from an NES game of Monopoly (or maybe SNES?) that had a computer opponent named Gertrude.
There was a girl in my elementary school named Muriel. She was in kindergarten when I was in around fifth grade. She’d be about 16 now. And I see a lot of little girls named Olivia at work.
My cousin has a daughter named Loretta, who is in her mid-20s now, I guess.
My name is just plain rare - I was named after a great grandmother on one side of the family and a great grandfather on the other who had the same name. It was to be my name no matter what gender I popped out as. I’m quite glad I’m female, as it’s not considered a male name at all nowadays. Very very occasionally I’ll see a young girl with the name. My sister’s name, which my mother thought she made up, is far more common than mine.
There are some great old lady names in my family, though. Bonnie, Gladys, Betty, Marion, Bessie, Louise. But none of these are children.
My niece (12-years-old) goes by Martha. Officially, it’s her middle name, but it’s an ode to her mother’s favorite grandmother. Well, all our favorite. A woman very near and dear to us and central in our histories.
That is adorable! I hope you know there is a song that goes with that name combination! Do you know it? It’s also sometimes known as “Liza Jane” and “Little 'Liza Jane.”
There were names that I thought were very old when I was a child that have risen in popularity and now generally fallen from favor again. They are not out of style, but they are not first rank. They haven’t sunk to their “old-fashioned” status again though:
Amy, Mamie, Abigail, Abbie, Samantha, Anna, Emma, Emily. Samantha was particularly very countrified sounding to me. They it became very, very popular with Betwitched. Lots of Samanthas were called “Sam.”
When I was in the first grade in 1949, I didn’t know anyone named Debbie. They were about three years behind me in school. That would suggest that most were born after WWII.
My best friend is named Florence. She turns 25 today.
She was named after her great-grandmother, who was American. The rest of her family is Filipino, which means that her parents address her as “Plorence.” (Her brother is Franklin, or “Prankie.” I guess they enjoyed old-fashioned names.)
