So all things become new again, right? Or maybe not. Are there any vintage names you think will just never, no matter how many years have past, become fashionable or popular again?
For example, and for many reasons, I’m going to guess my great grandpa [name_m]Adolph[/name_m] will never ever have a namesake.
But also maybe my grandpa [name_m]Floyd[/name_m]?
I can’t see [name_f]Bertha[/name_f] becoming fashionable ever again.
[name_f]Gertrude[/name_f], [name_f]Walburga[/name_f], [name_f]Myrtle[/name_f], [name_m]Bertram[/name_m], [name_m]Wilbur[/name_m], & [name_m]Herbert[/name_m] are a few I can think of.
[name_f]Dorcas[/name_f], Groveretta (a name in my family tree), [name_f]Mildred[/name_f], [name_f]Beulah[/name_f], [name_f]Gladys[/name_f], [name_f]Hortense[/name_f], [name_u]Gay[/name_u]
[name_m]Humphrey[/name_m], [name_m]Horace[/name_m], [name_m]Homer[/name_m], [name_m]Milton[/name_m], [name_m]Lester[/name_m]
Gay and Isis
I think it’s interesting how a lot of names seem to have missed the revival boat: [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f], [name_f]Gladys[/name_f] and [name_f]Bertha[/name_f], for example, were very popular throughout the last decades of the Victorian era, and yet there are no signs of their coming back into fashion. If everything had gone according to the usual cycle, they would have come back in with the first wave of vintage names ([name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f], [name_f]Florence[/name_f]).
And yet there is nothing wrong with them that couldn’t be surmounted… [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f] was stereotyped as a witch name once it had fallen out of fashion, it’s true, and [name_f]Bertha[/name_f] has some unsavoury associations such as “Big [name_f]Bertha[/name_f]” and the madwoman in the attic in [name_f]Jane[/name_f] [name_f]Eyre[/name_f], but associations and stereotypes should be able to change with the passing of years.
[name_f]Gertrude[/name_f], I suppose, is very consonant-heavy and doesn’t match our current tastes for light and feminine names. But this problem doesn’t apply to [name_f]Gladys[/name_f] and [name_f]Bertha[/name_f], which both have very pretty sounds and could be seen as rare alternatives to names like [name_f]Alice[/name_f] and [name_f]Bella[/name_f].
[name_f]Ethel[/name_f] is also late making her well-deserved comeback, but the signs of it are there. I wonder if we will see [name_f]Hilda[/name_f] and [name_f]Doris[/name_f] with the next wave?
I don’t think [name_f]Hortense[/name_f] and [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f] are coming back as name
I think [name_u]Gary[/name_u]/[name_u]Jerry[/name_u] are going to be unfashionable for a long time.
I can’t see [name_f]Edna[/name_f] making a comeback anytime soon.
I don’t see [name_m]Hannibal[/name_m] or [name_m]Herbert[/name_m] coming back just for their pop culture references. Maybe after those have been forgotten.
I can’t see [name_f]Hortense[/name_f] or [name_m]Melvin[/name_m] making a comeback any time soon, and I really feel like [name_f]Isis[/name_f] will probably die down for quite a while given the current events of the last several years…