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

Jessica Jessica is a girl's name invented by Shakespeare for The Merchant of Venice in 1596.
Girl Hebrew #665 in US
Ahmad Ahmad is a boy's name of Arabic origin meaning "most praiseworthy".
Boy Arabic #671 in US
Lillie Lillie is a girl's name from the flower, which has stood for purity in Christian art for so long that the association predates the name.
Girl English #676 in US
Donald Donald is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall, meaning world ruler.
Boy Scottish Gaelic #690 in US
Tomas Tomas is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," a form of Thomas used across Ireland, Scandinavia and the Hispanic world.
Boy Irish #691 in US
Louisa Louisa is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," a Latinate form of Louise.
Girl Germanic #694 in US
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
Boy Welsh #699 in US
Dennis Dennis is a boy's name that traces back to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic release — one of the few widely used Christian names derived from a pagan deity.
Boy Greek #708 in US
Julien Julien is a boy's name, the French form of Julian, from a Roman family name whose meaning was never established.
Boy French #709 in US
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
Girl Aramaic #712 in US
Bridget Bridget means exalted one, and it belonged to a goddess before a saint — Brigid was the Irish deity of poetry, smithcraft and healing, and the saint absorbed her feast, her fire and her attributes.
Girl Irish #724 in US
Marcel Marcel is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "little warrior," a diminutive of Marcus and so ultimately from Mars.
Boy French #730 in US
Hugh Hugh is a boy's name from a Germanic word for mind or spirit, brought to Britain by the Normans.
Boy Germanic #732 in US
Monica Monica is a girl's name whose meaning is genuinely unknown, and whose saint — the mother of Augustine — came from Roman North Africa, so the name may be Berber rather than Latin or Greek at all.
Girl Latin #737 in US
Bruno Bruno is a boy's name from the Germanic word for brown, and it founded the Carthusians — the strictest order in the Western church, whose monks still live largely in silence.
Boy Germanic #740 in US
Penny Penny is a girl's name of Greek origin, a diminutive of Penelope, whose own name is bound up with a duck.
Girl English #740 in US
Adèle Adèle is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble," from the element adal.
Girl French #753 in US
Salvador Salvador means savior, and it names a country and an ocean crossing — El Salvador is the only nation named directly for Christ, and San Salvador was the first island Columbus reached.
Boy Spanish #756 in US
Magnus Magnus is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "great," which became a Scandinavian royal name through a misunderstanding about Charlemagne's Latin title.
Boy Latin #764 in US
Elina Elina is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "torch" or "bright," a Finnish, Baltic and Italian form of Helen.
Girl French #765 in US
Christina Christina is a girl's name from the Latin for a follower of Christ, and the fullest of the family that includes Christine and Kristina.
Girl Latin #770 in US
Celia Celia is a girl's name of Latin origin from the Roman family name Caelius, whose meaning is disputed between "heaven" and a much older Etruscan word.
Girl Latin #775 in US
Harry Harry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
Boy English #776 in US
Tony Tony is a boy's name from the Roman family name Antonius, whose meaning has never been established.
Boy Latin #783 in US
Judith Judith is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "woman of Judea," borne by the heroine who beheads Holofernes in the deuterocanonical book named for her.
Girl Hebrew #789 in US
Calum Calum is a boy's name, the Scottish Gaelic form of Latin Columba, meaning dove.
Boy Scottish Gaelic #799 in US
Aileen Aileen means hazel, most likely, and the shining gloss usually given for it comes from confusion with Helen — the Norman Aveline is the likelier parent, and it has nothing to do with light.
Girl Irish #800 in US
Livia Livia is a girl's name of Latin origin, a Roman family name usually connected to livere, meaning to be blue or envious, though the olive tree is often given instead.
Girl Latin #819 in US
Alberto Alberto means bright nobility, and both halves are compliments — the Germanic joins a word for noble descent to one meaning bright or famous, with nothing descriptive about the person at all.
Boy Italian #820 in US
Alfredo Alfredo means counsel of the elves, and the elves were taken seriously — Anglo-Saxon naming treated them as beings whose advice was worth invoking, not as decoration for a children's story.
Boy Italian #822 in US
Nelson Nelson means son of Neil, and the admiral made it a given name — it was a surname until Trafalgar, after which parents across the English-speaking world started using it as a first name outright.
Boy English #826 in US
Erin Erin is a girl's name of Irish origin meaning "Ireland."
Girl Irish #835 in US
Alvin Alvin means elf-friend, from an Old English name that treats elves as beings whose favor was worth having.
Boy English #839 in US
Alfred Alfred is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "elf counsel."
Boy English #841 in US
Ben Ben is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son," used both as a short form of Benjamin and as a name in its own right.
Boy Hebrew #845 in US
Jimmy Jimmy is a boy's name, the pet form of James, meaning supplanter.
Boy Hebrew #846 in US
Neil Neil means champion or cloud, from Irish, and it traveled to Iceland with the Vikings and back to England with the Normans — so the English Neil arrived by way of Scandinavia and France.
Boy Irish #850 in US
Ramon Ramon means protecting counsel, and both halves are Germanic — the Visigoths brought it to Iberia, so a name that reads as thoroughly Spanish is Gothic underneath, like Fernando and Alonzo.
Boy Spanish #851 in US
Derrick Derrick means ruler of the people, and the crane is named after a man — Thomas Derrick, an Elizabethan hangman whose gallows design was distinctive enough that his name became the word for it.
Boy Germanic #852 in US
Paula Paula is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
Girl Latin #853 in US
Rex Rex means king, and it is the plain Latin nominative — which makes it the pair to Regis, the genitive meaning of the king.
Boy Latin #859 in US
Johanna Johanna means God is gracious, and it heads one of the largest name families in Europe — Jane, Joan, Jean, Janet, Sinead and Siobhan are all the same name arriving by different national routes.
Girl Latin #871 in US
Julie Julie is a girl's name, the French form of Julia, from a Roman family name of uncertain origin.
Girl French #872 in US
Lucien Lucien is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "light," the French form of Lucian.
Boy French #897 in US
Teresa Teresa is a girl's name whose meaning is genuinely uncertain, though harvester is the usual reading.
Girl Spanish #909 in US
Clare Clare is the older English spelling and the one the Irish county carries, and its history is British and Irish rather than American — England, Scotland and Ireland all peaked far above the United States.
Girl English #924 in US
Elisabeth Elisabeth is a girl's name meaning God is my oath, and the s-spelling is the older one — it follows the Greek and German, while the English z is a later change.
Girl Hebrew #926 in US
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
Boy Greek #944 in US

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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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