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

22,357 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Anny Peaked in 1946 · 10,919 births since 1900
Girl Dutch #2,882 in US
Brigitte Brigitte is a girl's name from an Irish goddess whose name means the exalted one, and she is the clearest case in Europe of a pagan deity becoming a Christian saint largely intact.
Girl French #2,889 in US
Cliff Peaked in 1959 · 9,645 births since 1880
Boy #2,893 in US
Carlton Carlton means the settlement of the free peasants, and the word for those peasants became an insult — ceorl gave English churl and churlish, so the name preserves a class that the language later turned against.
Boy English #2,898 in US
Lourdes Peaked in 1963 · 15,679 births since 1916
Girl #2,908 in US
Doris Doris is a girl's name from Greek mythology, where she is a sea nymph and the mother of the fifty Nereids.
Girl Greek #2,913 in US
Lora Lora means from Laurentum, and the laurel is one step removed — the Roman town was named for its bay trees, and the personal name says which town you came from rather than which plant crowned you.
Girl Latin #2,927 in US
Anne-Marie Anne-Marie joins grace to a name nobody can translate — Anne means favor, and Mary's meaning has never been established, so only half of this compound has a settled sense at all.
Girl French #2,949 in US
Ottilie Ottilie is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "prosperous in battle" or simply "wealth."
Girl Germanic #2,956 in US
Lorna Peaked in 1957 · 39,214 births since 1885
Girl #2,958 in US
Marlena Peaked in 1978 · 11,796 births since 1925
Girl Polish #2,962 in US
Huey Peaked in 1935 · 7,815 births since 1880
Boy #2,969 in US
Frédéric Frédéric is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning peaceful ruler, the French form of Frederick.
Boy French #2,973 in US
Brice Brice means speckled, and the fourth-century saint who carried it was a difficult man — Brictius succeeded Martin of Tours after years of insulting him publicly, and was driven out before being restored.
Boy French #2,982 in US
Pauline Pauline is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
Girl French #2,994 in US
Antoinette Antoinette means little Antoine, and the meaning usually given for the parent name — flower — is a false etymology.
Girl French #2,998 in US
Loren Loren means from Laurentum, a town rather than a plant — the laurel reading came second, and the town itself was probably named for its laurels, so the connection is real but runs the long way round.
Unisex Latin #3,011 in US
Hilda Hilda means battle, and it is the surviving fragment of longer Germanic names — Hildegard, Brunhild and Matilda all contain it, and the element outlived most of the compounds it belonged to.
Girl Germanic #3,025 in US
Joann Joann is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, a simplified spelling of Joanna.
Girl English #3,030 in US
Minnie Minnie Mouse did not make Minnie popular.
Girl Scottish #3,054 in US
Claude Claude is a name from a Roman family name meaning lame, one of very few widely used names with an unflattering literal sense.
Unisex Latin #3,060 in US
Jody Jody serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why it is 64 percent female rather than resolving to one side — three unrelated parents pulling in different directions.
Unisex English #3,061 in US
Rick Rick means brave ruler, shortened from Richard — and the medieval habit of rhyming pet names is why Rick also produced Dick, which is the same name with a different first letter.
Boy English #3,075 in US
Brandy Brandy is named for the drink, and the drink means burned wine — the Dutch brandewijn described wine heated to distil it, so the name records a manufacturing process rather than a quality.
Girl English #3,084 in US
Stacey Stacey is the e-spelling of Stacy, from Eustace or Anastasia.
Girl Greek #3,088 in US
Connie Connie is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "steadfast" or "constant."
Girl Latin #3,090 in US
Clarice Peaked in 1921 · 26,931 births since 1880
Girl Italian #3,110 in US
Hal Peaked in 1956 · 17,248 births since 1880
Boy #3,150 in US
Cornelia Peaked in 1921 · 22,970 births since 1880
Girl #3,160 in US
Cyril Cyril means lord, and the man who carried it invented an alphabet — Cyrillic is named for the ninth-century missionary, though the script we call by his name was largely devised by his followers rather than by him.
Boy Greek #3,164 in US
Lulu Peaked in 1886 · 13,585 births since 1880
Girl #3,169 in US
Irma Irma means whole or complete, and it is the surviving fragment of much longer Germanic names — Irmgard and Irmintrud both begin with it, and only the first element outlasted them.
Girl German #3,178 in US
Kris Peaked in 1965 · 30,390 births since 1937
Unisex #3,184 in US
Boris Peaked in 1988 · 21,768 births since 1902
Boy #3,186 in US
Ted Ted is a boy's name that serves two unrelated names at once, and it exists because medieval English moved the n from "mine Edward."
Boy English #3,192 in US
Candace Candace is a job title mistaken for a name — Kandake was the word for the queen mother of Kush, and Acts uses it as though it were personal, so a Sudanese royal office became an American given name.
Girl English #3,205 in US
Yolanda Yolanda means violet, and the flower reaches it through a chain of respellings — the Greek Iolanthe became Violante in Italian by association with viola, and Spanish then rendered that form as the Yolanda we know.
Girl Spanish #3,215 in US
Gladys Gladys is a girl's name from Welsh, usually taken as a form of Claudia — which would give it the meaning lame.
Girl Welsh #3,222 in US
Augusta Peaked in 1915 · 35,817 births since 1880
Girl #3,230 in US
Daren Peaked in 1965 · 12,303 births since 1922
Boy #3,232 in US
Kristine Kristine means a follower of Christ, and it is the fourth spelling of this name to appear in our gap band — after Kristin, Kristen and Kristina, all four of them American-led rather than Scandinavian.
Girl Scandinavian #3,241 in US
Rosetta Peaked in 1948 · 28,854 births since 1880
Girl Italian #3,250 in US
Valarie Peaked in 1964 · 18,741 births since 1910
Girl #3,254 in US
Ken Peaked in 1960 · 35,203 births since 1900
Boy #3,260 in US
Kathy Kathy is a girl's name, the pet form of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
Girl Greek #3,262 in US
Lowell Lowell means little wolf, and it is Norman French rather than English — louvel is a diminutive of loup, so the name is affectionate about an animal most cultures feared.
Boy French #3,262 in US
Esmée Esmée is a girl's name of Old French origin meaning "esteemed" or "beloved," from the past participle of esmer.
Girl French #3,308 in US
Ginger Ginger reached English from Sanskrit by way of four languages — shringavera, horn-root, named for the rhizome's antler shape, and every step of that journey is documented.
Girl English #3,325 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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