Classic Names

Names that have never really left. They rise and fall within a band rather than disappearing, which makes them the safest choice on the site and the hardest to say anything surprising about.

Rankings for

69 names, uncommon — 100 to 499 a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Ralph Ralph is a boy's name of Norse origin meaning "wolf counsel."
Norse 211 in 2025
Karim Karim means generous, and it is one of the ninety-nine names of God in Islam — al-Karim, the Generous — which is why the name carries weight beyond its ordinary sense as an adjective.
Arabic 198 in 2025
Rene Rene is a name from the Latin for reborn, given at baptism to mark spiritual rebirth.
French 210 in 2025
Brendan Brendan is not Irish in origin — it comes from a Welsh word meaning a prince, borrowed into Irish, and its saint is credited with a transatlantic voyage six centuries before Columbus.
Irish 195 in 2025
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
Germanic 187 in 2025
Adrien Adrien is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "from Hadria," a town that also gave the Adriatic its name.
French 189 in 2025
Will Will means will-helmet, and the compound is stranger than it looks — the Germanic joins desire to a piece of armor, so the name reads as protection by determination.
English 170 in 2025
Norman Norman means a Northman — a Viking.
English 169 in 2025
Marc Marc is a boy's name from a Roman name probably meaning dedicated to Mars, the god of war, and it is the source of the month of March.
French 162 in 2025
Pierre Pierre is a boy's name, the French form of Peter, from the Greek for rock.
French 159 in 2025
Jerome Jerome is a boy's name meaning sacred name, and it belongs to the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin — the version Western Europe read for over a thousand years.
Greek 158 in 2025
Seamus Seamus is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter," the Irish form of James, and it was used in Britain as a slur for an Irishman.
Irish 154 in 2025
Reginald Reginald means counsel-power, and England and Wales ranks it 229th on 217 births against 1285th in the United States — one of the sharpest British-versus-American splits in this group.
English 153 in 2025
Bernard Bernard is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning brave as a bear.
Germanic 137 in 2025
Jules Jules is a boy's name, the French form of the Roman family name Julius, traditionally explained as "youthful."
French 219 in 2025
Micheal Micheal is a boy's name of Hebrew origin whose full form is a rhetorical question — who is like God?
Irish 130 in 2025
Nick Nick means victory of the people, and the compound is political rather than personal — the Greek joins victory to the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph and not an individual one.
English 124 in 2025
Arnold Arnold means eagle power, and England and Wales ranks it 631st on 59 births — well above the United States at 1478th, which is not what the name's twentieth-century American associations would predict.
Germanic 120 in 2025
Ewan Ewan is a boy's name, the anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic Eòghann, generally given as born of the yew.
Scottish Gaelic 120 in 2025
Karl Karl means free man, and it is the original German spelling behind Charles — the word named a free peasant, so it began at the bottom of the free classes and rose to name emperors.
German 107 in 2025
Denis Denis is a boy's name from the Greek god of wine, and Ireland places it 240th — its strongest market by a wide margin.
French 101 in 2025

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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