What makes a name date later on? Is there a general formula or rules? What are the red flags to look out for? When i look back at the top names of the past i was surprised that only a few sounded dated. The rest were just well known, so it makes me curious which of our current top names will date and which won’t
I think a name is more likely to feel dated if it rose in popularity very quickly. Names that gradually become more used are less likely to be tied to a specific era.
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Having a steep spike and fall in popularity, so that everyone’s mum or dad, aunt or uncle is called X, but there aren’t any younger people being named that. It ties it to an older generation. That’s my take, anyway!
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Seconding this!
For me, it’s also names that feel like ‘mum’/‘dad’ names - maybe ‘younger grandparent’ names too. Names that were specifically popular in one or two decades and then fell down the charts.
Names whose data looks like this:
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I agree with the others that names that have a sudden, massive spike in popularity are more likely to seem dated later on, compared to names that have maintained a more consistent level of popularity over the decades. “Dated” names are usually former “trendy” names.
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I wonder if a name has ever had the dramatic rise without the fall…
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Hmm, that’s a good point, so I went searching 
and have so far found:
[name_m]Kevin[/name_m]
[name_f]Nicole[/name_f] (it’s fallen more steadily)
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Interesting… so I’m side eyeing Violet… definitely a dramatic rise. Think it’ll date?
