I have been looking at all the names that were in the top 1000 in the UK in the 20th century but are not in the 2015 UK top 1000. These names are special because they are so unusual but nearly everyone is familiar with them. But some just sound extremely dated. I wonder which names off the below list you think are usable at the moment? Which of these names do you think will come into fashion next? I’m interested in your thoughts about this. You don’t have to trawl through all of them - just name about 10 that are the most usable. Thanks
Also - isn’t it interesting how the boys’ list is significantly shorter?
Alison
Anita
Ann
Anne
Barbara
Bertha
Beryl
Bessie
Beverley
Blanche
Brenda
Carol
Carole
Carolyn
Chantelle
Charlene
Cheryl
Clair
Cynthia
Dawn
Debbie
Debra
Denise
Diane
Donna
Dora
Doreen
Doris
Edna
Eileen
Elaine
Ethel
Fanny
Freda
Gail
Geraldine
Gertrude
Gillian
Gladys
Glenys
Glynis
Gwendoline
Hilary
Hilda
Irene
Jacqueline
Jane
Janet
Janice
Jayne
Jean
Jeanette
Jemma
Jenny
Jill
Joan
Joanne
Jodie
Jordan
Joyce
Judith
Julie
June
Karen
Kay
Kelly
Kerry
Kim
Kirsty
Leanne
Lesley
Linda
Lindsay
Lindsey
Lorraine
Lynda
Lyndsey
Lynn
Lynne
Lynsey
Mandy
Margery
Marian
Marilyn
Marion
Marjorie
Marlene
Maud
Maureen
Mavis
Maxine
Michele
Mildred
Muriel
Nichola
Norma
Pamela
Pauline
Phyllis
Rachael
Rhiannon
Rosina
Sally
Sharon
Sheila
Shirley
Sian
Stacey
Susan
Suzanne
Sybil
Tanya
Teresa
Thelma
Theresa
Tina
Toni
Tracey
Tracy
Valerie
Vera
Wendy
Yvonne
Allan
Barrie
Barry
Basil
Bertram
Brett
Cecil
Clarence
Claude
Clifford
Clive
Cyril
Derek
Derrick
Desmond
Donald
Duncan
Gareth
Garry
Gary
Gavin
Geoffrey
Gerald
Gerard
Gilbert
Glen
Glenn
Gordon
Graeme
Graham
Harold
Horace
Howard
Iain
Jeffrey
Karl
Keith
Leigh
Leslie
Lionel
Malcolm
Martyn
Maurice
Melvyn
Mohammaed
Morris
Neville
Nigel
Norman
Percival
Rodney
Roger
Roland
Roy
Royston
Stewart
Terence
Trevor
Wayne
In my opinion most dated names are usable. The ones that I think are quite hard for modern girls to pull off are the heavier ones like [name_f]Margery[/name_f] and [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f]. But I went to school with girls named [name_f]Cheryl[/name_f], [name_f]Cynthia[/name_f], [name_f]Janet[/name_f], [name_f]Karen[/name_f], [name_u]Stacey[/name_u], [name_f]Susan[/name_f], [name_f]Toni[/name_f], [name_f]Wendy[/name_f], and [name_f]Valerie[/name_f] (all given when the names were past their prime in the US) and as far as I know none of them had any major issues with it and their names all suited them. I would actually use half of those now on my own daughter.
I think names from the 50s/60s will probably be “in” by the time today’s babies are college-aged, so anyone given names from that time period will be ahead of the curve, even if they’re “off trend” now.
I’m not sure when these names were popular in the UK, so this is from my US perspective, but the ones that feel the most usable - in terms of not standing out too much - to me are:
Lol, the boys is significantly shorter. I do not see any of the other names ever taking off in the UK again. People have gone to cuter names like [name_f]Maisie[/name_f], [name_f]Millie[/name_f], [name_u]Ollie[/name_u], [name_f]Hattie[/name_f], [name_m]Tommy[/name_m] etc.
Interesting. There are quite a few girls especially, that I have been quite pleasantly surprised aren’t more popular. I can definitely imagine these as being quite on trend for here, mostly those with a more vintage feel to them. It’s kind of difficult to not be biased towards names I like haha.
[name_f]Ann[/name_f]/[name_f]Anne[/name_f]: I get them being less popular than it once was, but I expected it to still be somewhere in the top 1000. In my head it feels like a timeless classic
[name_f]Jane[/name_f]: Same as [name_f]Ann[/name_f]/[name_f]Anne[/name_f]
[name_u]June[/name_u]
[name_u]Marian[/name_u]
[name_f]Marilyn[/name_f]: to me has a similar vibe to [name_f]Tallulah[/name_f] or [name_f]Beatrix[/name_f]
[name_f]Mavis[/name_f]
[name_f]Sally[/name_f]: fits with names like [name_f]Elsie[/name_f], [name_f]Tilly[/name_f], [name_f]Milly[/name_f] etc.
[name_f]Sybil[/name_f]
[name_f]Vera[/name_f]
Also, it might be because I have far fewer boys’ names on my list, but I seem to find they do tend to be. I haven’t researched it or anything, but it just seems people stick to family names or just more popular/familiar names for boys, and are more adventurous with girls. But there do seem to be more interesting names cropping up near the bottom of the top 1000 for boys, so maybe that’s changing.
I’m just going to say the most unusable, since that list is significantly shorter for me (I’m a vintage name fan!)
Unusable Girls
[name_f]Bertha[/name_f]
[name_f]Beryl[/name_f]
[name_f]Doris[/name_f]
[name_f]Edna[/name_f]
[name_f]Ethel[/name_f]
[name_f]Fanny[/name_f]
[name_f]Hilda[/name_f]
[name_u]Marion[/name_u]
[name_f]Mildred[/name_f] (Guilty pleasure for me…but I don’t see it coming back)
[name_f]Muriel[/name_f]
[name_f]Sian[/name_f] (mostly because I don’t know what this is…?)
Unusable Boys
[name_u]Barrie[/name_u]
[name_u]Barry[/name_u]
[name_m]Horace[/name_m]
[name_u]Leigh[/name_u] (for girls now)
[name_u]Leslie[/name_u] (ditto, especially spelled this way)
[name_m]Morris[/name_m]
[name_m]Norman[/name_m]
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I think most of them are usable, just very dated. I like [name_m]Clarence[/name_m], [name_u]Lionel[/name_u], [name_u]Marion[/name_u], [name_f]Suzanne[/name_f] (after the [name_m]Leonard[/name_m] [name_m]Cohen[/name_m] song) and [name_f]Vera[/name_f] (when pronounced VEH-rah). I also have a soft spot for [name_f]Hilda[/name_f] but I can’t see it coming back soon.
[name_f]Fanny[/name_f] is definitely unusable now though, and probably [name_f]Bertha[/name_f] (Big [name_f]Bertha[/name_f]) and [name_m]Horace[/name_m] too.
[name_f]Sian[/name_f]/[name_u]Si[/name_u]ân is a common Welsh name.
For me, I’m a stickler for dated names. I cannot stand when you can guess a person’s age based on their name. For instance, every [name_f]Debbie[/name_f] is most likely 50, every [name_f]Brittany[/name_f] is probably around 20, and so forth.
I’m in the US, so not sure about trends in the UK, but here are the ones I like and would consider using, I put variations I think would be more likely to trend over here in (). Its funny but many of the boys names I don’t think were ever popular in the US, so it was a bit harder.
I think the names from the earlier half of the century are more useable that those in the latter half. I think names skip a generation or two. I’m not at all surprised that there are more girls than boys names, as there are more combinations of girls names, and girls names seem to fluctuate with style more than boys. These are the names I think are useable today:
