Vintage Boy Names: How To Find A Cool Old Name

Do you love vintage names but want to move beyond the usual classics and Biblical choices to cool names from history?  We looked at the popularity lists of 1910 to uncover hundreds of vintage boy names that are no longer in use — but could be revived.

It’s odd that there seem to be more terminally-antiquated boys’ names from 1910 than girls’ names.  After all, girls’ names change more quickly and dramatically than do boys’, which tend to hinge more on tradition and less on fashion.

Yet beyond the Johns and Williams that have always predominated for boys (and still do today), there are dozens, even  hundreds of names that filled the Top 1000 list a hundred years ago and now are lost to time.

They include hero names, surname-names, nickname-names, androgynous names, and even regular old first names that few people seem to use any more.

Sure, some parents who love vintage names might revive Chester or Homer or Julius or Oswald.  But many of these popular 1910s baby names for boys are rarely heard today.

1. Alvin

2. Arnold

3. Bernard

4. Carlton

5. Cecil

6. Chester

7. Claude

8. Cloyd

9. Clyde

10. Cornelius

11. Delbert

12. Dewey

13. Dudley

14. Earl

15. Edgar

16. Elex

17. Elmer

18. Elmo

19. Ernest

20. Eugene

21. Floyd

22. Franklin

23. Guy

24. Herbert

25. Herman

26. Homer

27. Horace

28. Hubert

29. Ira

30. Irving

31. Jerome

32. Julius

33. Lester

34. Lloyd

35. Marvin

36. Maurice

37. Melvin

38. Milton

39. Morris

40. Murray

41. Myron

42. Niram

43. Norman

44. Orville (or Orval)

45. Oswald

46. Percy

47. Rudolph

48. Sherman

49. Stanley

50. Sylvester

51. Vernon

52. Virgil

53. Waldo

54. Wallace

55. Wendell

56. Willard

Nicknames of 1910

When we looked at the lost names of 1880, one major focus was on nickname-names that had faded away.  Without repeating any of the names on the 1880 list, choices in use in 1910 and not often heard today include the following.  (And yes, we realize that Ike has a lot of hipster cachet, but it’s usually short for Isaac and not given on its own as it was in 1910).

1. Alvie

2. Bennie

3. Buck

4. Buddy

5. Buster

6. Cleve

7. Coy

8. Curley

9. Dock

10. Hal

11. Hoke

12. Huey

13. Ike

14. Junior

15. Lonnie

16. Mac

17. Obie

18. Ollie

19. Ossie

1910s Last Names Used As Firsts

Surname names were also highly fashionable in 1910.  Names of heroes of the day that were in widespread use include:

1. Booker

2. Cleveland

3. Clinton

4. Columbus

5. Edison

6. Fulton

7. Jefferson

8. Lafayette

9. Morgan

10. Napoleon

11. Newton

12. Taft

13. Ulysses

14. Washington

15. Watson

16. Webster

17. Wilson

18. Woodrow

Unique Surname Names

Other surname names frequently heard a hundred years ago, but not so much today, are:

1. Alford

2. Brooks

3. Brown

4. Burnett

5. Dorsey

6. Doyle

7. Evans

8. Felton

9. Fletcher

10. Freeman

11. Gardner

12. Garland

13. Grady

14. Granville

15. Harley

16. Haskell

17. Hayward

18. Hobart

19. Jones

20. Lawson

21. Levy

22. Oakley

23. Osborne

24. Preston

25. Rogers

26. Sanders

27. Stanford

28. Stanton

29. Thornton

30. Tillman

31. Warner

32. Wiley

1910s Males Names Turned Girlward

Hundreds of boys in 1910 were given names that would now be considered for girls only.  Used for boys back then but now lost from the male side of the ledger are:

1. Allie

2. Allison

3. Audrey

4. Averie

5. Bonnie

6. Clare

7. Cleo

8. Connie

9. Courtney

10. Dee

11. Ellie

12. Evelyn

13. Florence

14. Gale

15. Guadalupe

16. Halley

17. Ivory

18. Ivy

19. Jewel

20. Jodie

21. June

22. Kelly

23. Lacy

24. Lauren

25. Lavern

26. Lesley

27. Leslie

28. Lindsay

29. Lindsey

30. Marion

31. Meredith

32. Opal

33. Patsy

34. Rene

35. Ruby

36. Ruth

37. Sandy

38. Shelby

39. Tracy

40. Vivian

41. Winfred

Looking for vintage names for boys that are in style now? Check out this list of Vintage Boy Names