Extinct Baby Names

Tue Jul 07 2020By Pamela Redmond

If you're hoping to find a list of wonderful extinct baby names ready for revival, keep looking. What we have here are extinct names that were commonly used for babies a century today but have faded from use for reasons that may be obvious.

Perhaps it was not difficult to be named Nimrod or Elmo in 1920, but those names would be difficult for any child to carry today. Some of these baby names have gone extinct because of changes in slang, some because of changes in values or unpleasant associations.

Whatever the reason, most of these extinct baby names should probably stay extinct. Read the list for a laugh -- did people really do that?!? -- but if you're looking for a lovely antique baby name, keep looking.

For even more choices, see our blog on Extinct Names.

Farmer

Origin:
Occupational name
Meaning:
"farmer"
Description:
Shepherd is soaring in the charts, so why not Farmer? Perhaps because, unlike some of the occupation names that are so popular today, it is still an everyday word. Even so, if you're looking for a name that fits modern trends but no one else is using, Farmer could be the one.

Farmer Continued

Lolita

Origin:
Spanish, diminutive of Lola and Dolores
Description:
In Nabokov's notorious novel, Lolita is the pet name given by the pedophilic narrator, Humbert Humbert, to his victim: a young girl called Dolores and nicknamed Lola or Lo by her mother. Still, it seems that a few parents are prepared to look past this problematic association, seeing this as a offbeat option for those who defy convention. We would recommend thinking seriously about the background of this name before bestowing it on your daughter.

Lolita Continued

Cherry

Origin:
Fruit name
Description:
With other fruity names like Clementine, Olive and Plum ripe for the picking, sweet Cherry remains remarkably underused: just 27 baby girls received the name in 2017, down from 343 at its peak in 1948. The unsavory slang meaning no doubt goes a long way towards explaining its fall from grace.

Cherry Continued

Cinderella

Origin:
French
Meaning:
"little ash-girl"
Description:
One familiar name never used for real people, for obvious reasons.

Cinderella Continued

Lemon

Origin:
American fruit name
Description:
Lemon is one of the more unique names related to fruit, compared with sisters Clementine and Apple. That may be because lemon is also a word that's slang for a clunker, something that doesn't work very well. No baby wants to feel like a Lemon, so this is one of those unusual names that is best avoided.

Lemon Continued

Elmo

Origin:
Italian from German
Meaning:
"protector"
Description:
Elmo, like fellow Sesame Street characters Kermit and Grover, has a hard time being taken seriously. (It isn't easy being red either.)

Fanny

Origin:
Diminutive of Frances
Meaning:
"free man"
Description:
As this word is less often used to mean derriere, it becomes more possible to view Fanny as the kind of appealingly quaint nickname name, like Josie and Nellie, that many parents are favoring now.

Fanny Continued

Gaylord

Origin:
French
Meaning:
"brisk, high-spirited"
Description:
Best left on the old southern plantation, sipping his mint julep.

Gaylord Continued

Doc

Origin:
English word name
Description:
A boy with this name is certain to be bombarded with "What's up, doc?" every day of his life. Even Doctor would be preferable.

Babe

Origin:
Word name or diminutive of Barbara
Description:
You can call your baby "babe," but don't name her that.

Hedwig

Origin:
German
Meaning:
"war"
Description:
An ancient German saint's name – and most famously the name of Harry Potter's snowy owl – but the combination of "head" plus "wig" feels a little too literal in English.

Hedwig Continued

Pansy

Origin:
English flower name from French
Meaning:
"thought"
Description:
Pansy is an early floral name that lost credibility when it became a derogatory slang term for gays. Better these days: Posy or Poppy.

Pansy Continued

Mayo

Origin:
Irish place-name
Meaning:
"yew-tree plain"
Description:
When ordering a baby name, hold the mayo.

Coy

Origin:
English surname
Description:
Though rarely heard today, Coy has been around for a century and was not an uncommon name a hundred years ago. There have been a couple of NFL players named Coy, Coy Bowles is in the Zac Brown band--and of course there was Coy Duke in 'The Dukes of Hazzard.'

Sister

Origin:
Word name
Description:
Sister is an old-timey nickname-name for girls, ranking in the Top 1000 as a proper name for girls until the beginning of the 20th century. But more often, Sister was used as a nickname in the truest sense of the word, not a short form ala Kathy but a nickname in the way that Chip and Bud are. Or maybe Junior is a more appropriate name analogy: Sister was sometimes the nickname given to the only girl in a family of boys, so literally a descriptive word name like Junior.

Sister Continued

Hyman

Origin:
Anglicized variation of Chaim
Meaning:
"life"
Description:
Hyman is still down at the schvitz with Morty and Myron. Hyman was commonly used by first-generation Jewish immigrants to Anglicize Chaim, but similarities to terms like heinie and hymen have taken it out of the realm of modern possibility. The original Chaim would be preferable to Hyman.

Hyman Continued

Nimrod

Origin:
Hebrew
Meaning:
"we shall rise up, we shall rebel"
Description:
Our kids laughed when they saw this name. Enough said.

Nimrod Continued

Almond

Origin:
Word name
Description:
Almond may seem like a hippy modern name, but its use for American boys goes right back to the mid-nineteenth century.

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Icy

Origin:
English word name
Meaning:
"icy"
Description:
A short form of the modern coinage Icelyn that feels cool as a short form, but too frosty for a full name.

Philander

Origin:
Greek
Meaning:
"loving mankind"
Description:
Old southern name too close to "philanderer".

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Dimple

Description:
An adorable nickname for a smiley baby, but not suggested as a legal name.

Dimple Continued

Melvina

Origin:
Celtic
Meaning:
"chieftain"
Description:
Melvina ranked in the Top 1000 for over 65 years in the US, coinciding to a large extent with the years its much more popular masculine counterpart Melvin ranked in the Top 100. Today, Melvin is still hanging on in the Top 1000 for boys, but Melvina hasn't been given to more than 20 babies in a year since 1991.

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Little

Origin:
Word name
Description:
A name that shows up on the Social Security roles of a hundred years ago. Let's hope it was a never-to-be-repeated mistake.

Little Continued

Deforest

Origin:
English
Meaning:
"living near the forest"
Description:
Nature surname with an aristocratic edge. Spelling it DeForest distances it from deforestation.

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Brown

Origin:
Color and surname
Description:
Most color names, like Scarlet and Violet, are definitely female, but not this one. Brown is as rich and warm as the tone it denotes, though we must admit the Italian version Bruno has more spark and substance.

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Fairy

Fairy Continued

Santa

Origin:
Feminine variation of Santo, Italian
Meaning:
"saint"
Description:
Santa has an appealing sound, or maybe that's sleigh bells we hear? It's difficult to separate the Italian girls' name Santa from the association to Mr. Claus, king of Christmas. The German diminutive Senta -- or Snow or even Christmas -- might be an easier name to handle.

Santa Continued

Gay

Origin:
French
Meaning:
"joyful"
Description:
Out of the question these days.

Worthy

Origin:
English
Meaning:
"valuable"
Description:
Here too lies the danger of entitlement.

Worthy Continued

Alf

Origin:
Diminutive of Alfred
Description:
Strictly for TV aliens.

Oral

Pocahontas

Origin:
Algonquin
Meaning:
"playful one"
Description:
Seen from one vantage point, Pocahontas is a name that will please no one. It's sure to invite playground mockery, and some will accuse parents without Algonquin ancestry of cultural appropriation. In certain circles, the 1995 Disney movie still stirs up bad blood. The name doesn't even present any obvious nickname possibilities to hide behind.

Pocahontas Continued

Meta

Orange

Orange Continued

Toy

Hoke

Description:
Hoke is a surname name with a Southern feel, thanks to Morgan Freeman's character in the Oscar-winning movie Driving Miss Daisy. Parents may have passed this name by because of the similarity to hokey and hokum, slang for exaggerated or contrived. But there's at least one distinguished bearer: Chicago journalist Hoke Norris, famous for his coverage of the Civil Rights movement.

Welcome

Origin:
Word name
Description:
Warm and open, but way too much teasing potential.

Welcome Continued

Doll

Oddie

Oddie Continued

Velva

Velva Continued

Ether

Ether Continued

Curry

Origin:
Word name; surname from Ó Comhraidhe
Description:
Perhaps too spicy for some, but this is a popular Gaelic surname that might appeal for those looking to honor a family branch or to fans of legendary British comedian Tim Curry.

Curry Continued

Irl

Butler

Origin:
English occupational name
Description:
We don't see that bright a future for this one either.

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Luster

Luster Continued

Hermina

Hermina Continued

Nedra

Nedra Continued

Loring

Loring Continued

Arthurine

Origin:
Feminine form of Arthur, Celtic
Meaning:
"bear"
Description:
If you're looking for a girl's name that honors an ancestral Arthur, try Artis.

Arthurine Continued

Handy

Handy Continued

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