Vintage Boy 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

6,580 names, most popular first in the United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Jimmie Jimmie means supplanter, shortened from James, and about 17 percent of recorded births are female — a much higher share than most nickname-names of this shape, which usually resolve firmly to one side or the other.
English #3,738 in US
Wilfred Wilfred is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "desiring peace."
English #3,805 in US
Rupert Rupert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
Germanic #3,828 in US
Dewey Peaked in 1898 · 34,923 births since 1887
#3,864 in US
Donny Peaked in 1977 · 13,325 births since 1927
Dutch #3,872 in US
Armand Armand is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "army man," the French form of Herman, borne by the cardinal who built the centralized French state.
French #3,934 in US
Willy Peaked in 1973 · 23,134 births since 1900
#3,961 in US
Wilber Peaked in 1919 · 6,917 births since 1880
#3,962 in US
Graeme Peaked in 1979 · 12,292 births since 1974
#3,993 in US
Stewart Peaked in 1959 · 37,223 births since 1880
#4,010 in US
Derik Peaked in 1987 · 5,619 births since 1952
#4,031 in US
Rich Peaked in 1962 · 4,430 births since 1880
#4,035 in US
Russel Peaked in 1920 · 16,944 births since 1880
#4,043 in US
Jamaal Peaked in 1982 · 9,150 births since 1970
#4,054 in US
Lavern Peaked in 1924 · 17,081 births since 1880
#4,082 in US
Jerald Peaked in 1942 · 26,323 births since 1909
#4,093 in US
Freeman Peaked in 1918 · 11,040 births since 1880
#4,112 in US
Donnell Peaked in 1970 · 15,443 births since 1912
#4,131 in US
Chadwick Peaked in 1975 · 13,422 births since 1914
#4,153 in US
Mose Peaked in 1919 · 7,999 births since 1880
#4,158 in US
Rudolph Rudolph means famous wolf, and the reindeer was invented to sell things — a Montgomery Ward copywriter wrote him for a giveaway booklet in 1939, which makes him a corporate creation rather than a folk one.
German #4,168 in US
Earnest Earnest respells Ernest, and the Germanic behind it is not mild — eornost meant vigor in battle, seriousness of the deadly kind, long before it settled into the sense of being sincere.
English #4,177 in US
Aric Peaked in 1977 · 7,832 births since 1946
#4,256 in US
Brad Brad means broad clearing, shortened from Bradley — and the broad element is the same word as the modern English broad, one of the few Old English place-name terms still transparent.
English #4,260 in US
Ferdinand Peaked in 1903 · 25,633 births since 1900
#4,316 in US
Demond Peaked in 1974 · 5,882 births since 1963
#4,324 in US
Ron Peaked in 1960 · 37,232 births since 1919
Dutch #4,341 in US
Rodrick Peaked in 1977 · 9,033 births since 1914
#4,363 in US
Grover Peaked in 1884 · 27,205 births since 1880
#4,367 in US
Andrée Andrée is a girl's name meaning manly or brave, the French feminine of André — so it is a woman's name built from a Greek word for a man.
French #4,442 in US
Galen Peaked in 1949 · 17,356 births since 1889
#4,443 in US
Buddy Peaked in 1935 · 24,463 births since 1893
#4,503 in US
Marques Peaked in 1983 · 8,213 births since 1952
#4,506 in US
Chauncey Peaked in 1981 · 10,196 births since 1880
#4,508 in US
Odell Peaked in 1922 · 19,059 births since 1883
#4,528 in US
Burton Peaked in 1925 · 22,595 births since 1880
#4,529 in US
Napoleon Peaked in 1926 · 8,337 births since 1880
#4,599 in US
Elroy Peaked in 1922 · 7,608 births since 1880
#4,664 in US
Robby Peaked in 1964 · 11,252 births since 1921
Dutch #4,679 in US
Karon Peaked in 1948 · 9,417 births since 1933
#4,745 in US
Dirk Peaked in 1954 · 11,064 births since 1918
#4,761 in US
Shelton Peaked in 1972 · 12,299 births since 1880
#4,778 in US
Raymon Peaked in 1926 · 8,101 births since 1889
Dutch #4,782 in US
Greg Greg means watchful, and the Greek is a command rather than a description — gregorein means stay awake, which early Christians took as an instruction about the second coming.
English #4,784 in US
Alphonso Peaked in 1962 · 15,367 births since 1880
German #4,785 in US
Homer Homer means hostage, which makes it the third pledge name in this group alongside Gage and Giselle — and the ancient tradition that the poet was blind may have been read backward out of a dialect word rather than recorded from life.
Greek #4,854 in US
Aloysius Peaked in 1916 · 5,766 births since 1880
#4,888 in US
Elwin Peaked in 1926 · 5,357 births since 1882
Dutch #4,915 in US

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