By Linda Rosenkrantz
Which 2019 baby names follow the hundred-year rule and are ready for a comeback from the 1919 popularity list? At the beginning of each new year, we like to take a century-long look back hoping to discover some lost names that could be perfect for today.
In 1919, the First World War—aka the war to end all wars—was finally over and the emphasis was on preserving the peace as the Treaty of Versailles was signed and the League of Nations was founded.
In the US, Prohibition went into effect, and Babe Ruth joined the Yankees.
1919 saw the births of J. D. Salinger, Jackie Robinson, and Nat King Cole, the debut of Felix the Car and the passing of Theodore Roosevelt and there were new literary works by Proust, Kafka, Virginia Woolf and Thomas Hardy.
And how about baby names? As they were for so long, John and Mary still topped the list, to be followed by William and Helen, James and Dorothy, Robert and Margaret and Charles and Ruth. But diving deeper into the list, we were able to unearth 100 names from the 1919 Top 1000 that have disappeared from today’s list—but had the potential to find their way back.
And this year, we’ve found some particularly promising word names for boys, and nickname names for both genders, so I have separated those out.
GIRLS’ NAMES
(starred names were in the Top 200)
Nickname Names
The rest
BOYS’ NAMES
Nickname Names
Word Names
The rest
Linda Rosenkrantz
Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. You can follow her personally at Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books.