# Names you don't hear much these days **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 8, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371 "2009-07-08T21:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/61 "2009-07-09T16:12:52Z")
> [@dwc1970](#): > > … Biblical names never go out of style… That’s why if I ever have a son, I’m going to name him… **Onan**. I’m sure he’ll thank me for it. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/62 "2009-07-09T16:18:56Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Never met a single person named Henry in my entire life. Not a young man, not an old man, not a baby. Nobody. My grandfather had a brother named Henry who died two years ago; I never met him. A few years ago I had a coworker named Henry. He was originally an immigrant from China. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/63 "2009-07-09T17:17:52Z")
One of the many things I like about “King of the Hill” is that they chose to name the main female character “Peggy.” It’s just so perfectly out-of-touch. I mean, can you imagine a bouncing little toddler named “Peggy” today? That name ONLY comes attached to older women with big, square glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/64 "2009-07-09T17:40:48Z")
> [@dwc1970](#): > > As for boys’ names, those tend to be names that have stood the test of time and are still popular today- Mike, John, Mark, Kevin, etc. It seems that boys names don’t go through as much in the way of trends the way girls names do. Yeah. Both my given names were in the top 5 for most of the 20th century, and are still in the top 20 (not that there was any choice involved - my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all had the same given names, and they appear with great regularly in earlier generations). My sisters’ names, while in the top 10/20 when they were named, are anywhere from 500-800 down now. Girl’s names from my mother’s and grandmother’s generations of the family are mostly rare these days: Yvonne, Cecily, Winifred, (although Chloë has skyrocketed into the top 10 after being totally out of favour for years). ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/65 "2009-07-09T18:56:12Z")
I’ve got my name a generation (maybe two) after the height of it’s popularity. I dominated in the 1930s and 1940s. I was still near the top in the 1950s and 1960s. Now I’m not even in the top 100. ☹ I have never met another person that shared either my grandmother’s or great grandmother’s names: Hazel and Maude. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/66 "2009-07-09T19:15:25Z")
> [@badbadrubberpiggy](#): > > I think the whole trend starts with people who want to use known names/spellings for their kids, but don’t want to use incredibley common ones, either - so the names that start getting chosen are the ones their grandparents & great-grand parents have/had. I think that was the idea when my sister named her two daughters Hazel and Evelyn. My sister’s name is Jennifer, and she was born in 1977. She very often had another Jennifer in her class in school growing up. I have a less common name, and I felt sorry for her always having another Jennifer in her class. I guess she didn’t particularly like it, and wanted to spare her kids from anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/67 "2009-07-09T19:43:47Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Isabella _used to be_ a name you didn’t see too much, but is now too common. I like the name, but it is now too tied with sparkly vampires. Indeed. Though I started noticing a distinct increase in Isabellas/Isabelles about 10 years ago, long before Twilight mania came along. (I’m an Isabelle, FWIW) It’s the bane of my existence… Growing up, it was still a very unusual name, so I never had to deal with hearing my name unless someone was speaking directly to me. Nowadays, walking through a crowd of young families is one hell of a confusing experience. On the bright side, at least I don’t have to correct people who assume I’m Elizabeth anymore. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/68 "2009-07-09T20:14:01Z")
I went to school with a Hazel. My cousins, all older than I by several years, are Eleanor, Dorothy, Joseph, Constance, Victoria, Kitty, Carolyn, and Peggy. My grandmother’s name was Juliana, but everyone called her Julie. My father-in-law’s given name is Bobbie, but he goes by Bob. I often wonder what his mother was thinking… My daughter, born in '85, had \*FIVE \*friends named Jessica when she was in middle school. That’s when I invoked the Jessica rule - she could only have friends by that name. 😃 I could give away something else about myself by naming my elementary school classmates: Mary Carol, Mary Claire, Mary Sue, Mary Jean… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/69 "2009-07-09T20:21:33Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I could give away something else about myself by naming my elementary school classmates: Mary Carol, Mary Claire, Mary Sue, Mary Jean… 😉 Are you Jewish? 🙂 BTW, Nephew Robert 2 is called Bobbert by his sister. Robert by everyone else. You mean to tell me I’m the only Lisa here? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/70 "2009-07-09T20:26:14Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I could give away something else about myself by naming my elementary school classmates: Mary Carol, Mary Claire, Mary Sue, Mary Jean… 😉 😃 You could always tell the Catholic families in my neighborhood, because the girls were Mary Kate, Mary Beth, Mary Teresa, Mary Pat… When I was in school (graduated in '82), there were tons of Mary Beths. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/71 "2009-07-09T20:30:34Z")
> [@Time\_Stranger](#): > > My grandmother’s name was Arilla, which I’ve never heard anywhere else. I’ve always wondered if it was a take on Ariella or Ariel. … that’s one of my [lastnames](http://www.paginasamarillas.es/resultados.asp?nomb=ARILLA&prov=NAVARRA&pgpv=1&mode=simple&site=paol)… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/72 "2009-07-09T21:00:15Z")
There’s a four-month-old Stella in my daughter’s baby room at day care. My daughter’s name is Josephine Violet, two other old names that are making a resurgence. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/73 "2009-07-09T21:07:42Z")
> [@Caricci](#): > > I have a twin. My name is Karen, hers is Virginia. She told me recently that her name is now more popular than mine. While this isn’t entirely true, it’s a hell of a lot closer than when we were born. Back then it was like having twins named Nevaeh and Muriel or something. > > Yeah, Karen isn’t a classic. Karen is one of my favorite names. Also Jessica. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/74 "2009-07-09T21:10:14Z")
> [@taxi78cab](#): > > I’m from the Sarah/Jennifer/Jessica days of those of us born in the late-70s and early-80s. I have no idea if anyone’s naming their kids Jennifer and Jessica any more. I think Sarah’s pretty classic, though, isn’t it? > > It’s a lot of fun to play around on the Social Security Admin’s baby name [website](http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/). I’m embarrassed to admit how much time my husband and I have spent there putting in every name we can think of and looking to see when its peak was in the last 100 years. Pretty interesting really. The popularity of my first name has increased dramatically over time. according to that website, it was number 338 in the year I was born (1967) and has increased steadily every year - now it is number 38 in 2008. In contrast, my wife’s name has decreased dramatically in popularity. It was number 28 in the year of her birth and it is now number 580. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/75 "2009-07-09T21:12:09Z")
Oh yeah - my dad’s name was Thaddeus. That was also the name of The Chief in Get Smart. Definitely not a name one hears often… ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/76 "2009-07-09T22:34:39Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > I’ve got my name a generation (maybe two) after the height of it’s popularity. I dominated in the 1930s and 1940s. I was still near the top in the 1950s and 1960s. Now I’m not even in the top 100. ☹ > > I have never met another person that shared either my grandmother’s or great grandmother’s names: Hazel and Maude. I recently had a series of professional encounters with a physical therapist named Hazel. (Shoulder injury.) She is a fairly young Filipino woman. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/77 "2009-07-09T22:38:03Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Anyway, my mom is named Lorna, which I think is a fine name. It had a respectable following in the 30s, 40s, and 50s but seems to have vanished. That’s too bad. One of my nieces is named Lorna. There were some “Lorna Doone” jokes when people heard what my brother and SIL were planning to call their baby. The girls I went to school with in the 70s had names like Lisa, Cheryl, Jodi and Lori. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/78 "2009-07-09T23:30:53Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > And there were a lot of 1-syllable or shorter 2-syllable full names that were popular for the boomers: > -Ann/Anne > -Joan > -Jean > -Amy > -Jill Between this and your first list, you have named my mom’s sorority sisters almost entirely. The only ones missing are: Gail Joyce Sandra Judy ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/79 "2009-07-09T23:53:15Z")
> [@Time\_Stranger](#): > > My grandmother’s name was Arilla, which I’ve never heard anywhere else. I’ve always wondered if it was a take on Ariella or Ariel. I think it is a Spanish take on “Aurelia”, actually. I knew someone who named her daughter Arilla. Pronouced it “ah-REE-ah”. My oldest son is named George, a rather old-fashioned name for a 3-year old, that you don’t often hear. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371/80 "2009-07-10T00:09:21Z")
I was born in 1973 when Jason was at the height of it’s popularity. I somehow escaped having a lot of Jasons at my school. There was one other kid in my first grade class named Jason, and after that, I don’t think I had another, even in the same grade, until high school where there was 3 or 4. From Kindergarten through 12th grade, there was at least 2 or 3 Michaels in every class. There was a lot of Jennifers and Jessicas in grammar school. There was one girl named Xiomara. I’ve never run across that name again, although the NameVoyager site shows it from 2000-2008 at around 80 ppm, but zero before 2000. She was from somewhere in Central America. Maybe the recent influx of Spanish speaking people in the U.S. has brought it’s popularity up. I know a bunch of Henrys, but they’re all 10 to 30 years older than I am. A lot of the names listed don’t seem all that strange to me, but I guess I’m at that age where I know all of these old people with old names. The names that I think of as really old are Gertrude, Bertrand, Elmer, Alice, Lloyd, Alene, Amelia and Wanda and sure enough, they peaked in the 1890s to the 1920s (all names of my grandparents, great-grandparents and great aunts/uncles). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-dont-hear-much-these-days/502371.md?page=5)