i asked, you said sure, i finally delivered 
Every year at Yom Kippur, my synagogue releases a list of congregation members that have passed/we’re still in a period of mourning for. The list is about 6 and a half pages long and this year had 401 unique names! I went through and made a top 81/86 list for masculine and feminine names.
To do this, I went through each page and marked down every name. I added an “x#”, where # is the amount of people with that name in the list, next to all names that had more than 1 person named that. Then I went through and divided my list into “masculine”, “feminine”, and “maybe unisex?”. From there I took every name that had more than 1 person and created a the top lists.
For reference, I think most of these people were born in the 1930s-50s, but the list doesn’t include ages so I really have no idea. There were a few outliers that really made me question this (did someone in the 30s name their child Rebel or does that sort of name just inspire people to pass young? Was there a before her time Stephanie?). Additionally, I didn’t count spelling variations as the same name because in Hebrew a difference in spelling means that they are pronounced differently.
The surviving family members of each person submitted the names for the list, so there were a lot of nicknames. I also counted these separately from their most common full names. This means that there were no women named Elizabeth but a ton with Elizabeth nicknames. I can’t really fix this. Sorry if it frustrates you.
Of the 401 unique names, there were:
31 unique names starting with A
27 unique names starting with B
15 unique names starting with C
10 unique names starting with D
33 unique names starting with E
14 unique names starting with F
16 unique names starting with G
20 unique names starting with H
10 unique names starting with I
28 unique names starting with J
4 unique names starting with K
30 unique names starting with L
50 unique names starting with M
8 unique names starting with N
3 unique names starting with O
11 unique names starting with P
29 unique names starting with R
34 unique names starting with S
6 unique names starting with T
2 unique names starting with V
4 unique names starting with W
and 1 unique name starting with Z
Masculine Top 81/60
[1] Samuel x31
[2] Joseph x23
[3] Harry x17
[4] Abraham x14
[5] Jacob x13
[6] David x12
[7] Henry x11
[8] Benjamin x10
[8] Irving x10
[8] Morris x10
[11] Bernard x9
[11] Charles x9
[11] Louis x9
[11] Nathan x9
[11] William x9
[16] Aaron x8
[16] Jack x8
[16] Robert x8
[19] Harold x7
[19] Herman x7
[19] Julius x7
[19] Max x7
[19] Solomon x7
[24] Alfred x6
[24] Isaac x6
[24] Milton x6
[27] Albert x5
[27] Edward x5
[27] Leonard x5
[27] Stanley x5
[31] Adolph x4
[31] Alan x4
[31] Herbert x4
[31] Irwin x4
[31] Jerome x4
[31] Leo x4
[31] John x4
[31] Lewis x4
[31] Martin x4
[31] Richard x4
[31] Sidney x4
[31] Sol x4
[44] Arnold x3
[44] Emil x3
[44] Frank x3
[44] Fred x3
[44] George x3
[44] Isidore x3
[44] James x3
[44] Leon x3
[44] Maurice x3
[44] Meyer x3
[44] Michael x3
[44] Moses x3
[44] Paul x3
[44] Philip x3
[44] Phillip x3
[44] Ralph x3
[60] Abe x2
[60] Arthur x2
[60] Donald x2
[60] Emanuel x2
[60] Ernst x2
[60] Eugene x2
[60] Felix x2
[60] Gary x2
[60] Israel x2
[60] Jay x2
[60] Joel x2
[60] Jonas x2
[60] Laurence x2
[60] Lawrence x2
[60] Leopold x2
[60] Melvin x2
[60] Murray x2
[60] Peter x2
[60] Ray x2
[60] Roger x2
[60] Sam x2
[60] Saul x2
[60] Seymour x2
[60] Sigmund x2
[60] Stephen x2
[60] Werner x2
Feminine Top 86/48
[1] Sarah x12
[2] Bertha x11
[2] Fannie x11
[4] Dorothy x9
[4] Hannah x9
[4] Ruth x9
[7] Helen x8
[7] Rose x8
[9] Anna x7
[9] Carrie x7
[9] Jennie x7
[12] Esther x6
[12] Florence x6
[12] Pauline x6
[12] Selma x6
[16] Beatrice x5
[16] Betty x5
[16] Celia x5
[16] Doris x5
[16] Janet x5
[16] Lillian x5
[16] Lillie x5
[16] Sadie x5
[24] Adele x4
[24] Anne x4
[24] Bessie x4
[24] Caroline x4
[24] Ethel x4
[24] Frances x4
[24] Gertrude x4
[24] Hilda x4
[24] Ida x4
[24] Shirley x4
[24] Sylvia x4
[35] Ann x3
[35] Birdie x3
[35] Blanche x3
[35] Edna x3
[35] Clara x3
[35] Fanny x3
[35] Henrietta x3
[35] Jean x3
[35] Joan x3
[35] Theresa x3
[35] Rosalie x3
[35] Sally x3
[35] Susan x3
[48] Alice x2
[48] Barbara x2
[48] Belle x2
[48] Bess x2
[48] Beth x2
[48] Charlotte x2
[48] Dora x2
[48] Eileen x2
[48] Eleanor x2
[48] Emilie x2
[48] Estelle x2
[48] Eva x2
[48] Evelyn x2
[48] Flora x2
[48] Grace x2
[48] Gussie x2
[48] Hattie x2
[48] Irene x2
[48] Jeanette x2
[48] Lottie x2
[48] Marjorie x2
[48] Mary x2
[48] Mildred x2
[48] Mimi x2
[48] Minnie x2
[48] Miriam x2
[48] Mollie x2
[48] Muriel x2
[48] Natalie x2
[48] Nettie x2
[48] Pearl x2
[48] Peggy x2
[48] Rae x2
[48] Reba x2
[48] Rebecca x2
[48] Rene x2
[48] Tillie x2
[48] Rosalind x2
[48] Sophie x2
Analysis
More girls were given unique names than boys, which lines up for the regular US top 1000 data too. I don’t think there were more boys names than girls, just that girls were given more spelling variations too. The boys top 10 didn’t surprise me, but I was really shocked by the girls? I expected Sarah, but not Bertha or Fannie.
Of these names, I think the ones that have the most chance of coming back are: Abraham, Louis, Saul, and Julius. Leo, Henry, Isaac and Solomon have already really come back, and names like Samuel, Joseph, David, etc never stopped being fashionable for Jewish boys. Although I love it, I don’t think Irving or Morris, Herman, Ernst, or Jerome will come back into fashion soon. Isaac, Manny, Henry, and Eli are much more fashionable for 2010/20s boys.
For girls, I think Dorothy, Esther, Adele, and the nickname-ending-in-ie names have the best chance of coming back in style. Especially the nicknames, those names are still semi-popular, it’s just that a lot of parents are going with y spellings now. I lowkey want Selma and Hilda to come back into style but I don’t think that’s likely. They’re too old sounding and not connected enough to Judaism for parents to seriously consider - Salem/Shalom and Hadassah seem like successors. I think that Bertha, Doris, Shirley, and Edna are going to be left in the dust. Edna especially doesn’t seem like a name that many Jewish parents are going to be picking, since it derives from Apochrypha. Eda, Edith, or Eidel seem like more likely ways for parents to honor Great Aunt Edna. Sarah, Hannah, Anna/Anne, and Rose never stopped being fashionable for Jewish girls.
Were there any that really surprised you? Would you be interested in the full list of 401 names? Or do you have more ideas of ones that seem ready to come back?
), [name_u]Sidney[/name_u] for a boy, [name_u]Sol[/name_u], and [name_u]Laurence[/name_u] come back! And, though they still rank decently high, I’d like to see more little boys called [name_m]Alan[/name_m] and [name_m]Louis[/name_m]. For the girls, [name_f]Dorothy[/name_f], [name_f]Betty[/name_f], [name_f]Celia[/name_f], [name_f]Frances[/name_f], [name_f]Eileen[/name_f], [name_f]Hattie[/name_f], [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f], and [name_f]Nettie[/name_f] are ones I’d like to see come back!