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

Salvatore Salvatore means savior, and it is a title rather than a description — Italian Catholic families gave it as a devotional name naming Christ's role directly, in the way Spanish families use Jesús.
Boy Italian #947 in US
Nancy Nancy is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace."
Girl Hebrew #967 in US
Barbara Barbara is a girl's name from the Greek for foreign or strange, the feminine of the word that gives us barbarian.
Girl Greek #969 in US
Joe Joe is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," a short form of Joseph that has become the English word for an ordinary person.
Boy Hebrew #995 in US
Corinne Corinne is a girl's name from the Greek for a maiden, and it was borne by a poet said to have beaten Pindar five times in competition.
Girl French #999 in US
Alfonso Alfonso completes a set on this site — Alphonse in French, Alonzo in Spanish and Italian, and Alfonso the Iberian dynastic form, all descending from one Visigothic compound.
Boy Spanish #1,012 in US
Allan Allan has no settled meaning at all — handsome, little rock and a deer are all proposed for the Breton original, and the name reached England through Brittany rather than through Ireland or Scotland at all.
Boy Breton #1,013 in US
Alexa Alexa did not simply collapse when Amazon launched the Echo — it rose first.
Girl Greek #1,030 in US
Ernest Ernest is a boy's name from a Germanic word meaning serious or resolute, and it is far stronger in Europe than in America — 252nd in England and Wales and 276th in France against 1042nd in the United States.
Boy Germanic #1,042 in US
Ralph Ralph is a boy's name of Norse origin meaning "wolf counsel."
Boy Norse #1,046 in US
Ellen Ellen is a girl's name of Greek origin, a medieval English form of Helen whose meaning has never been settled.
Girl English #1,062 in US
Chiara Chiara is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "bright" or "clear," the Italian form of Clare, and its saint is the patron of television.
Girl Italian #1,067 in US
Harriet Harriet is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
Girl Germanic #1,071 in US
Ann Ann is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning grace or favor, and the spelling without the final e.
Girl Hebrew #1,077 in US
Carla Carla is a girl's name meaning free man, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo.
Girl Italian #1,084 in US
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.
Boy Arabic #1,089 in US
Rene Rene is a name from the Latin for reborn, given at baptism to mark spiritual rebirth.
Boy French #1,093 in US
Claudia Claudia means lame, and it comes from one of Rome's most powerful families.
Girl Latin #1,097 in US
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.
Boy Irish #1,099 in US
Marian Marian is a girl's name that either joins Mary and Ann or diminutives Mary alone — the sources disagree.
Girl French #1,102 in US
Elsa Elsa is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a German short form of Elisabeth.
Girl German #1,106 in US
Inès Inès is a girl's name meaning "pure" or "holy," the French and Spanish form of Agnes.
Girl French #1,112 in US
Ingrid Ingrid carries a god's name — Ing, the Norse deity the Swedish kings claimed descent from, joined to a word meaning beautiful.
Girl Scandinavian #1,120 in US
Lucie Lucie is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "light," the French form of Lucy.
Girl French #1,131 in US
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
Boy Germanic #1,134 in US
Giulia Giulia is a girl's name, the Italian form of Julia, from the Roman family name Julius.
Girl Italian #1,143 in US
Kathleen Kathleen is a girl's name anglicizing the Irish Caitlín, a form of Catherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
Girl Irish #1,158 in US
Adrien Adrien is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "from Hadria," a town that also gave the Adriatic its name.
Boy French #1,161 in US
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.
Boy English #1,195 in US
Norman Norman means a Northman — a Viking.
Boy English #1,197 in US
Margaux Margaux is a girl's name meaning "pearl," a French respelling of Margot created in the twentieth century and associated with the Bordeaux wine commune.
Girl French #1,199 in US
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.
Boy French #1,240 in US
Pierre Pierre is a boy's name, the French form of Peter, from the Greek for rock.
Boy French #1,253 in US
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.
Boy Greek #1,259 in US
Paola Paola is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," the Italian form of Paula.
Girl Italian #1,260 in US
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.
Boy Irish #1,277 in US
Cassie Cassie is a girl's name of Greek origin, usually short for Cassandra, whose curse was to prophesy truly and never be believed.
Girl English #1,281 in US
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.
Boy English #1,285 in US
Nelly Nelly charts in five markets and England ranks it highest at 353rd — ahead of Scotland 486th, Ireland 640th, France 726th and the United States 1294th.
Girl English #1,294 in US
Roxanne Roxanne means dawn or bright, and it is Persian rather than Greek — Alexander married Roxana in Bactria, and she and their son were murdered after his death.
Girl Persian #1,313 in US
Emilie Emilie is a girl's name, the French and Danish form of Latin Aemilia, usually given as rival.
Girl Latin #1,314 in US
Patricia Patricia is a girl's name from the Latin for noble or patrician, the feminine of Patrick.
Girl Latin #1,338 in US
Bernard Bernard is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning brave as a bear.
Boy Germanic #1,364 in US
Jules Jules is a boy's name, the French form of the Roman family name Julius, traditionally explained as "youthful."
Boy French #1,395 in US
Micheal Micheal is a boy's name of Hebrew origin whose full form is a rhetorical question — who is like God?
Boy Irish #1,404 in US
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.
Boy English #1,444 in US
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.
Boy Germanic #1,478 in US
Ewan Ewan is a boy's name, the anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic Eòghann, generally given as born of the yew.
Boy Scottish Gaelic #1,483 in US

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