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

530 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Edith Edith is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "prosperous in war."
Girl English #499 in US
Bianca Bianca means white, and France ranks it 242nd — ahead of Ireland at 373rd, the United States at 501st, England and Wales at 548th and Scotland at 742nd.
Girl Italian #501 in US
Hanna Hanna is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "favor" or "grace," and it is the source of Anne, Anna, Nancy and Hannah alike.
Girl Hebrew #513 in US
Frank Frank is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frank."
Boy Germanic #514 in US
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
Girl French #515 in US
Moses Moses is explained in Exodus as drawn out of the water, but the name is more likely Egyptian — mose means born of, and it is the second half of Thutmose and Ramose, where the god's name sits in front.
Boy Hebrew #515 in US
Marcos Marcos means dedicated to Mars, and the god behind it was not only a war god — Mars presided over agriculture too, which is coherent once you notice that farming and fighting were the same men's seasonal work.
Boy Spanish #516 in US
Lawrence Lawrence is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, an ancient Italian town linked to the laurel.
Boy Latin #518 in US
Eve Eve is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "living one," the name given to the first woman in Genesis.
Girl Hebrew #519 in US
Amber Amber is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "ambergris."
Girl Arabic #521 in US
Kate Kate is a girl's name of Greek origin, a short form of Katherine whose meaning has never actually been established.
Girl English #522 in US
Philip Philip is a boy's name from Greek elements meaning lover of horses.
Boy Greek #527 in US
Cecelia Cecelia means blind, and the saint who carries it became the patron of music through what looks like a misreading — a line in her acta about music playing at her wedding was later taken to mean she made it.
Girl Latin #530 in US
Priscilla Priscilla means ancient or venerable, and it is a diminutive — so the name literally reads as little old one, which was a mark of respect rather than an insult.
Girl Latin #544 in US
Erik Erik is a boy's name meaning ever-ruler or sole ruler, from Old Norse.
Boy Scandinavian #545 in US
Augustine Augustine means venerable, and it began as a title rather than a name — the Senate voted Octavian the style Augustus in 27 BC, and everything since descends from that vote.
Unisex Latin #547 in US
Armando Armando means army man, and it is the same name as Herman — one Germanic compound that reached Spanish through the Visigoths and English through the Normans, ending up unrecognisably different.
Boy Spanish #556 in US
Nadia Nadia means hope, from the Russian word, and it charts in all seven markets we track — Ireland 293rd, Scotland 312th, Northern Ireland 329th, England and Wales 501st, the United States 565th and France 754th.
Girl Russian #565 in US
Andy Andy means manly, and the Greek root is the ordinary word for a man — so Andrew is one of the few apostles carrying a Greek name rather than a Hebrew or Aramaic one.
Boy English #565 in US
Amalia Amalia is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "work" or "industrious," from the same root as Amelia and quite separate from the Latin for love.
Girl Germanic #568 in US
Roberto Roberto means bright fame, the Italian and Spanish form of Robert, and both halves of the compound mean roughly the same thing — which is normal in Germanic naming rather than a redundancy.
Boy Italian #569 in US
Enrique Enrique means ruler of the estate, and the home in it is territorial rather than domestic — the Germanic element named the land a lord held, not the house he lived in.
Boy Spanish #571 in US
Estelle Estelle means star, and France and the United States rank it within 55 places of each other — 518th and 573rd — which is unusually close for a French name in an English-speaking market.
Girl French #573 in US
Seth Seth is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "appointed" or "placed," given to Adam and Eve's third son after Cain killed Abel.
Boy Hebrew #581 in US
Maximilian Maximilian is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "greatest."
Boy Latin #590 in US
Gregory Gregory is a boy's name from the Greek for watchful or alert.
Boy Greek #593 in US
Marina Marina means of the sea, and it charts in five markets inside 276 places — Scotland 572nd, England and Wales 581st, the United States 602nd, Ireland 647th and France 848th, which is an unusually even international spread.
Girl Latin #602 in US
Alejandra Alejandra means defender of men, and the Spanish form lost a consonant Greek never had trouble with — Alexandros became Alejandro because Spanish shifted the sh sound to the throaty j it uses today.
Girl Spanish #605 in US
Roland Roland is a boy's name meaning famous land, and its bearer is the hero of France's national epic — a knight who dies at Roncevaux because he is too proud to blow his horn for help.
Boy Germanic #609 in US
Albert Albert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble and bright."
Boy Germanic #614 in US
Marie Marie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the French form of Mary, and the largest name in our entire dataset with more than 2.8 million births on record.
Girl French #618 in US
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
Girl Hebrew #619 in US
Dominick Dominick means of the Lord, and it was given to children born on a Sunday — dies dominica is the Lord's day, and the name records the day of birth rather than a hope for the child.
Boy Latin #624 in US
Gustavo Gustavo has no settled meaning, and the two accounts disagree on the language — a Norse staff of the Geats, or a Slavic name reshaped by Swedish, and neither has carried the field.
Boy Italian #626 in US
Arturo Arturo means bear, probably — but Arthur is one of the genuinely unsolved names, with a Celtic word for bear and a Roman family name both proposed and neither established.
Boy Italian #627 in US
Nathanael Nathanael is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has given," and it is the same name as Nathaniel with the spelling closer to the Greek.
Boy Hebrew #633 in US
Gabrielle Gabrielle is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my strength," the French feminine of Gabriel.
Girl French #634 in US
Raul Raul means wolf counsel, and it is the same name as Ralph and Rudolph — one Norse compound that entered Spanish, English and German separately and ended up looking like three different names.
Boy Spanish #634 in US
Shane Shane is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious," and it exists because English speakers wrote down how Ulster pronounced Seán.
Boy Irish #635 in US
Leonard Leonard is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "lion-strong," and its saint is the patron of prisoners and of women in labor.
Boy Germanic #637 in US
Julio Julio means downy-bearded, and France ranks it 517th — above the United States at 641st, which is not where a Spanish form of a Roman family name would be expected to lead.
Boy Spanish #641 in US
Katie Katie is a girl's name of Greek origin, a diminutive of Katherine whose meaning has never been settled.
Girl English #646 in US
Sam Sam is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has heard," a short form of Samuel.
Boy Hebrew #647 in US
Irene Irene is a girl's name from the Greek word for peace, and the name of the goddess who personified it.
Girl Greek #651 in US
Phillip Phillip is a boy's name meaning lover of horses, the doubled-l spelling of Philip.
Boy Greek #651 in US
Rosa Rosa is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "rose."
Girl Latin #652 in US
Lionel Lionel means little lion, and it entered English through Arthurian romance — Sir Lionel is a knight of the Round Table, and the name was rare before the stories carried it.
Boy French #659 in US
Valentin Valentin is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "strong" or "healthy," the French form of Valentine.
Boy French #660 in US

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