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

13 names, rare — 25 to 99 a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Caitlin Caitlin is a girl's name of Greek origin, the Irish form of Katherine, and its English mispronunciation generated a whole family of new names.
Irish 78 in 2025
Diane Diane is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "divine" or "heavenly," the French form of the Roman goddess Diana.
French 66 in 2025
Roberta Roberta is a girl's name meaning bright fame, the feminine of Robert.
Germanic 61 in 2025
Antoinette Antoinette means little Antoine, and the meaning usually given for the parent name — flower — is a false etymology.
French 55 in 2025
Hilda Hilda means battle, and it is the surviving fragment of longer Germanic names — Hildegard, Brunhild and Matilda all contain it, and the element outlived most of the compounds it belonged to.
Germanic 55 in 2025
Olga Olga is a Norse name in Russian dress — Helga traveled east with the Varangians and became Olga, so the patron saint of Kyiv and Moscow carries a Scandinavian word meaning holy.
Russian 50 in 2025
Noémie Noémie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "pleasantness," borne by a woman in the Book of Ruth who asks to be called the opposite.
French 47 in 2025
Aline Aline means noble, worn down from Adelaide through Adeline — three names that are the same word at three stages of erosion, and France ranks it 292nd on 185 births.
French 44 in 2025
Hélène Hélène is a girl's name, the French form of Helen, whose Greek meaning was never established.
French 42 in 2025
Jeanne Jeanne is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious," the French feminine of Jean.
French 30 in 2025
Bertha Bertha is a girl's name from a Germanic word meaning bright, and it was Charlemagne's mother's name.
Germanic 30 in 2025
Myriam Myriam is the French spelling of Miriam, and France ranks it 287th while ranking Miriam itself 816th — so in its own market the respelling substantially outsells the original biblical form.
French 27 in 2025
Katharine Katharine is the spelling closest to the Greek, and that Greek has never been explained — the pure gloss comes from a later association with katharos, clean, applied long after the name existed.
Greek 27 in 2025

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