Category: Name Image
A well-known rule of baby naming says that it takes about 100 years for a name to come back into fashion. That’s why we recently wrote a list of century-old names that are ready for a revival.
But not every vintage name deserves to be revived. We don’t predict the return of Hyman, for instance. Or Normal. Or Butler. Or Rube. Or Walburga. All these names were in use in 1918, given to at least five babies born that year, but are not used at all today.
They’re not alone. Nameberry analyzed Social Security data to discover over 5000 names that were given to babies a century ago but have now gone extinct.
Some of these names were obscure ethnic names, like Tsuyako and Mieczyslaw, that have faded from view as immigration patterns have shifted. Others are unusual variant spellings of names that have declined in popularity, like Ulysees and Lauraine. A few are usable, or even elegant.
But a lot of them are just plain funny to us now. We combed through the list to find the most hilarious of these extinct names from 1918 — and couldn’t whittle it down to fewer than 200. Here they are, in all their LOL-worthy glory, along with the number of sad children given each name in 1918:
March has World Poetry Day and April is Poetry Month, so this seems like a perfect time to turn to the topic of poetic baby names.
Of course one obvious source would be the many wonderful surnames of noted poets, such as Auden, Frost, Lorca, Emerson, Tennyson and Poe.
Another possibility is lyrical words associated with poetry and song, some of which have long been used for babies. These include Melody (now #144), which has been around since the 1940s; Harmony (#191) hit the charts in 1997, and has been heard for characters on several TV shows, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Lyric (#281), used for girls and occasionally for boys by a couple of musical celebs; and the 21st century hit Cadence (#376 now, as high as 199 in 2007).
But what if you’d like something a little more subtly poetic. Here are a few unusual related word names you might consider.
By Linda Rosenkrantz
I have to admit it, when I think of springtime baby names, it’s mostly girls’ options that come to mind—the flowery, feminissima ones in particular. But whoa! Just as many baby boys arrive during that season, and they too rate a name celebrating the period of their birth, and so I’ve put together this list just for them. It’s a mix of names that translate to Spring in different languages, green color names and some nature names, Easter references and even one inspirational spring-born honoree.
Blame Hulbert.
I was putting together a list of names that mean grace when there was Hulbert. A name that may well have several good qualities, but grace isn’t one of them.
So I started thinking: What other names have meanings that may be correct but seem so wrong?
Mary meaning bitter is one obvious example. But what are some others?
What names can you find that have meanings ridiculously out of step with their image or sound?
By Katinka
“Unusual but not weird” — anyone who’s spent any amount of time on the Nameberry forums will recognize this phrase. At times, it can seem like the whole world and his wife are on the hunt for the exact same thing: an appealing (but not popular), on-trend (but not trendy), wearable (but not predictable) baby name with a solid history, which is both universally familiar and felicitously underused… Phew!
Fortunately, there’s an absolute wealth of wonderful lists on the site which cater to those rigorous requirements: try Cool Classic, Rare Biblical, Exotic Lite… or how about some more off-the-beaten-track themes like Jazz, or Steampunk, or even Pixar-inspired names? All different styles, but all on the trail of that most elusive of baby-naming beasts: the perfect “stands-out-fits-in” choice.
But what if you don’t want something that fits in at all?
