Vintage Names

Names that were everywhere a century ago and then were not. The reliable pattern is the hundred-year rule: a name usually has to feel like a great-grandparent rather than a grandparent before it can come back, because the generation in between still hears it as merely old.

Rankings for

6,543 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Anthonio Peaked in 1976 · 533 births since 1955
#13,368 in US
Edsel Peaked in 1927 · 3,962 births since 1914
#13,495 in US
Thurston Peaked in 1918 · 3,544 births since 1884
#13,501 in US
Olaf Peaked in 1916 · 3,680 births since 1880
#13,512 in US
Cheston Peaked in 2013 · 856 births since 1970
#13,531 in US
Kashif Peaked in 1985 · 1,421 births since 1973
Arabic #13,549 in US
Antron Peaked in 1980 · 1,264 births since 1962
#13,559 in US
Jermon Peaked in 1981 · 511 births since 1971
#13,562 in US
Kedrick Peaked in 1978 · 2,184 births since 1927
#13,610 in US
Rasheen Peaked in 1977 · 1,490 births since 1971
#13,666 in US
Granville Peaked in 1918 · 5,501 births since 1880
#13,673 in US
Remo Peaked in 1932 · 1,404 births since 1913
Italian #13,676 in US
Johny Peaked in 1929 · 5,941 births since 1888
Dutch #13,689 in US
Cicero Peaked in 1920 · 1,453 births since 1880
Latin #13,740 in US
Ashok Peaked in 1975 · 278 births since 1950
#13,776 in US
Willam Peaked in 1959 · 3,539 births since 1880
Welsh #13,791 in US
Berry Peaked in 1963 · 6,296 births since 1880
Dutch #13,799 in US
Alwin Peaked in 1915 · 1,178 births since 1895
#13,811 in US
Walther Peaked in 1912 · 301 births since 1900
#13,816 in US
Leron Peaked in 1991 · 1,760 births since 1918
French #13,841 in US
Tod Peaked in 1962 · 7,724 births since 1915
#13,847 in US
Narciso Peaked in 1990 · 2,128 births since 1893
#13,855 in US
Reco Peaked in 1976 · 1,217 births since 1956
#13,878 in US
Lonny Peaked in 1957 · 6,966 births since 1920
#13,903 in US
Smiley Peaked in 1926 · 418 births since 1900
#14,832 in US
Christophe Christophe is a boy's name meaning bearer of Christ, and the legend behind it explains the saint who carries travelers across a river on his shoulders.
French 383,600 births
Stéphane Stéphane is a boy's name meaning crown or garland, the French form of Stephen.
French 313,262 births
Franck Franck is the French spelling of Frank, and the tribe it names is the reason France is called France — the Franks gave their name to the country, and the word came to mean free.
French 178,077 births
Gilles Gilles is a French boy's name from a Greek word for a young goat — by way of the aegis, the goatskin shield of Athena.
French 176,246 births
Jean-Claude Jean-Claude is a French compound of two names, God is gracious and lame.
French 174,748 births
Hervé Hervé means battle-worthy, and it is Breton rather than French — a Brittonic name closer in ancestry to Welsh than to anything Latin.
Breton 140,182 births
Fernand Fernand means bold journey, and it is Germanic rather than Spanish despite having arrived through Spain — the Visigoths carried it there, and it went on to become the royal name of both Castile and Aragon.
French 120,178 births
Jean-François Jean-François joins God is gracious to a name meaning Frenchman — and the second half was itself a nickname, since Saint Francis was baptized Giovanni and called the little Frenchman by his father.
French 101,775 births
Jean-Marc Jean-Marc joins God is gracious to a name dedicated to the god of war — Marc descends from Mars, so the compound sets a Hebrew statement about grace directly against a Roman war god.
French 91,528 births
Jean-Michel Jean-Michel joins God is gracious to a question — Michel means who is like God, expecting the answer nobody, so the compound is a statement followed by a challenge.
French 88,012 births
Jean-Louis Jean-Louis joins God is gracious to famous in battle — and Louis is the same name as Clovis, so the compound contains the first and last forms of one word that named eighteen French kings.
French 80,833 births
Bertrand Bertrand means bright raven, and the raven is deliberate — Germanic naming treated it as the bird of the battlefield and of Odin, so the compound is martial rather than ornithological.
French 71,464 births
Jean-Jacques Jean-Jacques joins the French forms of John and James, and the second half is the more interesting — Jacques is Jacob, whose Hebrew name refers to grabbing a heel, because he was born holding his twin's.
French 54,127 births
Jean-Baptiste Jean-Baptiste means John the dipper, and the second half is a job description — baptizein is the ordinary Greek for dipping something in liquid, so the title says plainly what he did in the river.
French 49,373 births
Jean-Philippe Jean-Philippe means God is gracious and lover of horses, and the second half is aristocratic by design — owning horses marked a Greek man as wealthy enough to fight mounted.
French 48,567 births
Norbert Norbert means bright north, and the north in it is the direction rather than a place — Germanic naming used compass points as elements, which is rare in any other European naming tradition.
German 47,560 births
Yoann Yoann is a French respelling of one of the most widely borne names in history — John, whose forms include Ian, Sean, Juan, Ivan, Giovanni, Jens and Hans, all from one Hebrew sentence.
French 43,069 births
Yvon Yvon means yew, and the tree armed medieval Europe — the English longbow was cut from yew, so a name meaning yew is closer to a name meaning bow than to a name meaning tree.
French 40,818 births
Cyrille Peaked in 1973 · 38,481 births since 1900
38,481 births
Jean-Yves Peaked in 1959 · 37,903 births since 1914
French 37,903 births
Martial Peaked in 1969 · 36,913 births since 1900
French 36,913 births
Jean-Christophe Peaked in 1967 · 33,617 births since 1944
French 33,617 births
Dick Peaked in 1934 · 29,326 births since 1880
Dutch 29,326 births

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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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