# Why do names disappear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2007, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599 "2007-08-31T08:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599/61 "2007-09-02T15:03:01Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] Well, by “disappear” I guess I need to correct myself and say “not commonly encountered, or at all by me.” Some include Godbye, Selting, Hoppe, Heiskell (reputedly English), Rowles, Barloe, and even the common-sounding Trueblood. I know some may be spelled differently nowadays, (Barlow) but is seems to me that of the names above, I have not really encountered any of them IRL. [/QUOTE] Without endorsing its accuracy, [this site](http://www.hamrick.com/names/) may be of interest. It shows a distribution map for the most common 50,000 surnames in the US, past and present (well, up to 1990). Godbye, Selting, and Barloe don’t feature at all, but here are the locations and ballpark numbers for [Hoppe](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Hoppe&year=xxxx&type=html), [Heiskell](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Heiskell+&year=xxxx&type=html), [Rowles](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Rowles&year=xxxx&type=html) and [Trueblood](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Trueblood&year=xxxx&type=html). ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599/62 "2007-09-03T02:29:37Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] Without endorsing its accuracy, [this site](http://www.hamrick.com/names/) may be of interest. [/QUOTE] Wow, that is a really cool site, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599/63 "2007-09-03T02:32:31Z")
The first born sons in my line have been named Richard going back at least twelve generations. I do not plan to mess with tradition. Dunno what that has to do with the topic at hand, but isn’t it cool? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599/64 "2007-09-03T13:11:17Z")
hey, daria is a very popular name with slavic types. still going strong. i know quite a few. it is interesting to see what names carry across the various ponds. anders and erik still are popular amoung scans. there is a leif erikson thing in philly in october where the viking boat gets to sail around the schylkill river. when they introduce the boat men it is a very comic moment. and sailing the boat today: erik, eric, erick, erik, erick, erik, bill, and eric. bill got the biggest laugh and applause. sven-elvis is just scarry. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599/65 "2007-09-03T14:24:26Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] Without endorsing its accuracy, [this site](http://www.hamrick.com/names/) may be of interest. It shows a distribution map for the most common 50,000 surnames in the US, past and present (well, up to 1990). Godbye, Selting, and Barloe don’t feature at all, but here are the locations and ballpark numbers for [Hoppe](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Hoppe&year=xxxx&type=html), [Heiskell](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Heiskell+&year=xxxx&type=html), [Rowles](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Rowles&year=xxxx&type=html) and [Trueblood](http://www.hamrick.com/names/names.cgi?surname=Trueblood&year=xxxx&type=html). [/QUOTE] Whoa, Hoppe was only in Illinois, then they all moved to Iowa and Wisconsin, now they’re all over the place. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599/66 "2007-09-03T14:28:45Z")
Regarding names that have come right back into fashion, I give you the totally ubiquitous Jack and Joshua. Twenty years ago, maybe even 15 or less, I would have said that Jack was likely to be a grandad, and Joshua was _his_ grandad - a Victorian industrialist with bushy sideburns. There was nobody called Jack or Joshua among my contemporaries at school. Now, they are everywhere. The trend seems to have died off in the past couple of years as saturation point has been reached, but around 2000-2003, if I heard that someone had a baby boy, I could bet there was about a 50% chance they would name him Jack or Joshua. My girlfriend teaches at a primary school and last year she had three Jacks, one Joshua and a plain Josh, out of 14 boys in her class. As I said, the decline seems to have started as people recognise how common they have become. And in 70 years or so, expect Jack and Joshua to be deeply unfashionable old-man names. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599/67 "2007-09-03T14:37:57Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] I was actually taken aback one day last week to meet a woman whose 14-year-old daughter was named Lisa. After growing up knee deep in Lisas, it was kind of odd to realize that I hadn’t heard of one under age 20 or so in years. [/QUOTE] I feel the same way about the name Susan. I have a 21-year-old co-worker named Susan, and I think she’s the only one I know under 40. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-names-disappear/417599.md?page=3)