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The "Chelsea as a boy's name thread" got me to thinking. Are there any names that used to be common that you wish still were?
I think most names today are nice, but sometimes I like the originality of names I see in trees. Back then, there were a lot of girls named Mary, Margaret, Ann, Sarah, and Janes and a lot of boys named John, Joseph, Jacob, William, Benjamin, James, Lee, Clarence, Roy, and the like.
However, there are a lot of unique names from back then that I wish would come back. For example, Emeline, Louisa, Almyra, Amelia, Ardella for girls. I could go on. Columbus is one I like for a guy. It seems regal or something.
I also found out that a family member of mine, who is named Clara, has that name because her great-grandmother did. You don't hear of people being named after family members much anymore. In some of my southern lines (mostly Tennessee area) I've found examples from generations ago of sons having their first or middle name the same as their mother's maiden name. To me that kind of makes it unique.
I don't know, something about today's names seem less unique, though my name is pretty unique. Still, sometimes to the frustration of researchers, it does seem like there were a wider variety of names a few generations ago. You had a lot of common ones, but a lot of unique ones, too. Of course, many people were illiterate, so maybe they just came up with those names because they couldn't spell them. Maybe names then weren't any more unique than names are today, but it kind of seems that way.
Are there any names you've found in your trees that you wish would be more popular again? Or any naming traditions that you miss?
I like the unique names of the past also. Names like America, Etta, Electra, Carrean and Dovie are my favorites. I also love the "old" names: Jane, Alice, Robert, Frank, and William. My family and my husband's family have a long history of naming kids after family members or close family friends. I'm named after my father. He's named after this father. My husband has his mother's maiden name as his middle name. Maybe it's because our families are Southern. I don't know. We plan to name any kids we have after their great-grandparents, who had "simple" names like Jane, Ann, Alice, Frank, William, James, etc.
I like names for girls taken from lovely and sweet-smelling flowers & plants ie Rosemary, Iris, Jasmine and also treasured finds ie Pearl, Ruby.
Not sure about names for boys...
Quote:
Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989
The "Chelsea as a boy's name thread" got me to thinking. Are there any names that used to be common that you wish still were?
I think most names today are nice, but sometimes I like the originality of names I see in trees. Back then, there were a lot of girls named Mary, Margaret, Ann, Sarah, and Janes and a lot of boys named John, Joseph, Jacob, William, Benjamin, James, Lee, Clarence, Roy, and the like.
However, there are a lot of unique names from back then that I wish would come back. For example, Emeline, Louisa, Almyra, Amelia, Ardella for girls. I could go on. Columbus is one I like for a guy. It seems regal or something.
I also found out that a family member of mine, who is named Clara, has that name because her great-grandmother did. You don't hear of people being named after family members much anymore. In some of my southern lines (mostly Tennessee area) I've found examples from generations ago of sons having their first or middle name the same as their mother's maiden name. To me that kind of makes it unique.
I don't know, something about today's names seem less unique, though my name is pretty unique. Still, sometimes to the frustration of researchers, it does seem like there were a wider variety of names a few generations ago. You had a lot of common ones, but a lot of unique ones, too. Of course, many people were illiterate, so maybe they just came up with those names because they couldn't spell them. Maybe names then weren't any more unique than names are today, but it kind of seems that way.
Are there any names you've found in your trees that you wish would be more popular again? Or any naming traditions that you miss?
Gabriel is one from my tree which I love, especially the nickname Gabe, but it has actually become suddenly popular. In 2009 and 2010, it ranked the 21st most popular baby name in the US according to Social Security: Behind the Name: Most Popular Names for Births in the United States 2010
Another one from my tree I like is Josiah - but the nickname would probably be "Joe" which is too common for me. Another one was Jeremias/Jeremiah but again, the nickname seemed to be "Jerry", which I don't like.
For girls, Karina is one from my Norwegian side - it's not popular in the US and I think even in Norway it's not hugely popular today. From looking through Norway's Digital Archives, it didn't seem like an uncommon name back then (the early to mid 1800s).
Another girl name from my tree is Octavia - but this was usually a name given to the 8th child of a family (and she was) so it might be a bit strange to give it to just any girl.
I don't know that any of these names were particularly popular in the past though, they're just unique ones from my tree.
It's interesting to see the trending of names though - if you look at the top 10 or 25 most popular names from 2010 (that's of babies born in that year) on Behind the Name: The Most Popular Names many of the names are ones which have shot up in popularity in the last 10 years. And many of the names I grew up with - names which were common for my generation (which is the generation having babies right now) have plummeted in popularity. For example - the name "Amanda" ranked in the top 10 from 1976 to 1995 (particularly in the 80s when I was born it was either the 3rd or 4th most popular name) but from then to now, it's popularity has steadily declined to position 188. It's like everyone from my generation grew up and thought "There's too many Amanda's, I'll name my daughter Isabella because I don't remember any Isabella's when I was growing up" - sure enough, Isabella did not even register in the top 1000 names during the 80s but unfortunately, it's like everyone had the same idea because Isabella is now the most popular baby name. So if you're looking for a unique name, don't assume that just because it's not popular for your own generation, it won't be popular for your child's.
The use of "last names" as first names, especially those of former Presidents. Except for Madison and Taylor it seems to have disappeared. What about the once popular Franklin, Washington, Jackson, Roosevelt, Tyler, Harrison, and Wilson?
Funny, I have a few George Washingtons and Thomas Jeffersons in my family history. None sense about the mid 19th century though.
My oldest daughter was born when i was in my early 20s and I had no appreciation for my family's history so I didn't name her after anyone from my family. My three youngest children were born much later and I named all of them after family members. My oldest son is named Thomas which is my Grandmother's maiden name. She was tickled to hear that name. My second son is named Martin after my grandfather and me. My youngest is named Marie after her mom and her mom's grandmother.
My oldest daughter had her first child a few years ago and I tried to get her to name her Caroline.. her grandmother is named Caroline and I have a gg grandmother named Caroline but my daughter would have none of it.. she named her Evyn. What could I say, I did the same thing at her age!
Funny, I have a few George Washingtons and Thomas Jeffersons in my family history. None sense about the mid 19th century though.
That reminds me I have an Abraham Lincoln in my tree, born 1866 - his father served in the civil war on the Union side so it's not surprising. Apparently, that was not uncommon just after the civil war.
on one side of the 'tree' Biblical names were popular, and although there were numerous instances of 'naming after,' the naming-after was more common on the other side of my 'tree.'
personally I'd like to see the 'trend' go back to the average kind of names that were popular during my school years-- Barbara, David, Joe, Cindy, etc.
the one trend I wish would go away is the popularity of misspelling names in order to be "creative" or "different."
My sister gave my niece my grandfather's name as a middle name -- his name was Garman. And my nephew was given my father's name as middle -- John.
But no one has ever used my 2nd great grandfathers name. Ananius Jeremiah. His siblings? Susan, Barbara and George.... All we can think of is it must have been a bad labor...
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