I look at the Baby Name Wizard ( Pregnancy, Parenting, Lifestyle, Beauty: Tips & Advice | mom.com ) to see if there is a spike for old people, then a dip of less popularity, then another spike for new babies. “Grace” illustrates it very well, “Julia” does a little bit, but seems to have always remained somewhat popular so the dip and rise isn’t so dramatic. Most of the names on your list were more popular in previous generations than they are now – although I see that “Jane” is the most popular in the years that I think of as my mom’s generation, not my grandmother – but you also need to factor in the idea that even today’s most popular names are not as ubiquitous as popular names of the past.
There really aren’t that many Slavs where I grew up-- actually, that’s not true; there were few to none of them when I was growing up, but the Slavic immigrant population is growing. However, most of the girls I met with my name growing up were Hispanic or had quite a bit more melanin content in their skin. I did, however, meet a lot more LaTashas than Natashas growing up. I do, however, remember the couple of people with Slavic backgrounds I knew growing up asking if I was Russian/etc. when just about everyone else was making a lame “moose and squirrel” joke or a “you must be named after [actress with different Natasha spelling than mine]” comment.
To get back on topic, I haven’t really noticed a big trend toward younger hipster types having old fashioned names, but I have noticed that there are more old fashioned names that are popular among a lot of immigrant parents; I think it’s more of a novelty thing than anything else.
My friends and I are all in our childbearing years, and I have been paying a lot of attention to names lately as I am having a hard time coming up with anything for our next baby. I have definitely noticed the trend toward more old-fashioned names. Recently I visited my grandmother in her nursing home and noticed the nametags on the doors read like a newborn’s wing at the hospital. Rose, Lila, Lily, Grace, Sophie, Alice, Lucy, Ella, Eva, Ava. To name a few. I think those are all lovely names, but they are definitely trendy right now and not popular during my school years at all, I don’t have any friends in their 20s and 30s with those names. It is a departure from my generation of Lisa, Jennifer and Amy.
I think it might also be a backlash against the Brittanies, Makaylas and Ashleigh’s of odd spellings and super cutesy names, people want something a little more grounded. In the past month I have heard of 3 Ellas being born, to me that is an old-fashioned name and part of the old is new again movement. I have to say I like this trend and the names much better than the recent past.
We named our last child Ivy, thus beating the hipster-granny-name-curve by several years.
Ivy - it’s the kind of name that grows on you.
mm
Bertha is actually pretty cool sounding if you use a German pronunciation — BEHR-tuh.