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

342 names, rare — 25 to 99 a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Lacy Peaked in 1982 · 27,296 births since 1880
Unisex 67 in 2025
Hillary Peaked in 1992 · 32,283 births since 1888
Girl 67 in 2025
Duane Duane means the little dark one, from an Irish surname built on the word for black — and that same root also gives us Dublin, which means the black pool that the city originally grew up around.
Boy Irish 51 in 2025
Lynette Lynette entered English through Tennyson, who reshaped a Welsh name for the Idylls of the King — Luned became Lynette, and the spelling he used is the one that survived.
Girl Welsh 66 in 2025
Murray Murray is a boy's name of Scottish origin from Moray, the northern province, whose name means "sea settlement."
Boy Scottish 58 in 2025
Antwan Peaked in 1980 · 12,680 births since 1958
Boy 50 in 2025
Ina Peaked in 1921 · 35,371 births since 1880
Girl 66 in 2025
Ericka Peaked in 1971 · 25,368 births since 1945
Girl 66 in 2025
Nicolle Peaked in 1938 · 17,646 births since 1901
Girl 65 in 2025
Herbert Herbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright army.
Boy Germanic 49 in 2025
Sheila Sheila is the Irish form of Cecilia, meaning blind — and parents outside Ireland should know it became Australian slang for a woman in the nineteenth century, which is why it barely charts there.
Girl Irish 65 in 2025
Iona Iona is a girl's name taken from the Hebridean island where Columba founded his monastery — and the island's name exists because a medieval scribe misread a letter.
Girl Scottish 65 in 2025
Katy Peaked in 1987 · 34,941 births since 1880
Girl 64 in 2025
Maricela Peaked in 1977 · 13,133 births since 1944
Girl 64 in 2025
Hershel Peaked in 1924 · 10,395 births since 1880
Boy 48 in 2025
Carrie Carrie is a girl's name, a pet form of Caroline meaning free man through Charles.
Girl English 63 in 2025
Keisha Peaked in 1977 · 25,347 births since 1961
Girl 63 in 2025
Kurtis Peaked in 1989 · 23,217 births since 1934
Boy 47 in 2025
Lamont Peaked in 1972 · 24,198 births since 1888
Boy 47 in 2025
Betsy Betsy is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath."
Girl Hebrew 63 in 2025
Willard Willard means bold desire, and both halves are Germanic words about force of will — it is a surname from a personal name, and its American use is almost entirely nineteenth-century onward.
Boy English 47 in 2025
Dwight Dwight descends from Dionysus, the Greek god of wine — through the medieval woman's name Diot, a pet form of Dionysia, which is an unusually indirect route for a masculine surname.
Boy English 46 in 2025
Farid Peaked in 1975 · 19,630 births since 1947
Boy 46 in 2025
Jamel Peaked in 1988 · 16,239 births since 1950
Boy 46 in 2025
Jaclyn Jaclyn compresses Jacqueline, and the name underneath means heel-grabber — Jacob was born gripping his twin's heel, and every Jack, Jacques and Jacqueline descends from that description.
Girl American 61 in 2025
Janet Janet is a girl's name, a Scottish diminutive of Jane meaning God is gracious.
Girl Scottish 61 in 2025
Weldon Peaked in 1920 · 14,279 births since 1881
Boy 46 in 2025
Juanita Juanita is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, the Spanish diminutive of Juana.
Girl Spanish 61 in 2025
Dino Peaked in 1960 · 11,054 births since 1912
Boy 45 in 2025
Roberta Roberta is a girl's name meaning bright fame, the feminine of Robert.
Girl Germanic 61 in 2025
Eugenia Peaked in 1919 · 30,813 births since 1880
Girl 61 in 2025
Rickey Rickey means strong ruler, and its peak is the largest in this group — 3,818 American births in 1958, against 45 in the most recent year we have.
Boy English 45 in 2025
Jarvis Peaked in 1989 · 18,772 births since 1882
Boy 44 in 2025
Jayne Peaked in 1957 · 31,000 births since 1895
Girl 60 in 2025
Malinda Peaked in 1969 · 21,500 births since 1880
Girl Armenian 59 in 2025
Alain Alain is a boy's name, the French form of Alan, and its meaning is genuinely unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from a Breton source that has never been identified.
Boy French 44 in 2025
Ward Peaked in 1961 · 15,247 births since 1880
Boy Dutch 58 in 2025
Anny Peaked in 1946 · 10,919 births since 1900
Girl Dutch 59 in 2025
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 59 in 2025
Cliff Peaked in 1959 · 9,645 births since 1880
Boy 43 in 2025
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 43 in 2025
Lourdes Peaked in 1963 · 15,679 births since 1916
Girl 58 in 2025
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 58 in 2025
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 58 in 2025
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 57 in 2025
Ottilie Ottilie is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "prosperous in battle" or simply "wealth."
Girl Germanic 57 in 2025
Lorna Peaked in 1957 · 39,214 births since 1885
Girl 56 in 2025
Marlena Peaked in 1978 · 11,796 births since 1925
Girl Polish 56 in 2025

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