Names don’t age well – 1940 vs. Today
While indexing the 1940 census last week, we noticed that many of the first names in the census are no longer popular. In fact, some names are so obscure they run the risk of becoming endangered.
We were interested in how names have changed since 1940 so we did a study on baby names. Our source was the US Social Security Administration which has recorded baby names, based on Social Security applications for births, since 1879
What we found is that baby names are really period pieces and have changed dramatically over time. Girl’s names have experienced the most drastic change. For example, of the top ten baby girl names in 1940 only one (Mary) ranks in the top 500 for 2010. Many like Betty and Carol no longer rank in the top 1000.
For boy’s baby names, Donald and Ronald came in as the biggest losers, dropping from 9th and 10th to 377th and 342nd. William on the other hand is still in the top ten dropping from 4th to 5th.
Here are the top 10 baby names in 1940 and 2010.
Top U.S. Baby Names
| 1940 | 2010 | |
| Girl’s names | ||
| 1 | Mary | Isabella |
| 2 | Barbara | Sophia |
| 3 | Patricia | Emma |
| 4 | Judith | Olivia |
| 5 | Betty | Ava |
| 6 | Carol | Emily |
| 7 | Nancy | Abigail |
| 8 | Linda | Madison |
| 9 | Shirley | Chloe |
| 10 | Sandra | Mia |
| Boy’s names | ||
| 1 | James | Jacob |
| 2 | Robert | Ethan |
| 3 | John | Michael |
| 4 | William | Jayden |
| 5 | Richard | William |
| 6 | Charles | Alexander |
| 7 | David | Noah |
| 8 | Thomas | Daniel |
| 9 | Donald | Aiden |
| 10 | Ronald | Anthony |
Source: Social Security Online
What is the most unusual name you have in your family tree?
Some strange names in our family tree are Skelton Felton, Lemon Beadle and Onesiphorus Allen. But my all time favorite is a cousin named Hatevil Nutter!
I do have a GAMALIAL BAKER and a CREWMENTIA WALSINGHAM. I also have the name EBENEZER HANCOCK in at least 3 generations of my family and at present am looking for EBENEZER HANCOCK (born 1895) who was living in Buffalo, Erie, NY during the 1930 Census with his wife Louisa but they have both vanished by the time of the 1940 Census. Have to wait till it’s all indexed I guess before I can find him!
I have Hatevil too. Do you know his story? He was a very nasty piece of work.
I’d like to start by knowing how to pronounce his name. THEN, I’m interested in his story….
ihave some very common names for my g. rand mother trouble is she has used a new one in any thing i look up about her her last names change to i am beginning to wonder if she didnt create the bureau of idebty theift,lol oh modst common was mar.y. sheis driving me nuts……
How about Ogereta Steck??
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My Dad’s father was named Boston Lafayette Foust, and predictably enough, he was always called “Bossy”, which was very appropriate.
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We have at least two females with odd names both are my nieces.Ta’Kayshia & Aziren.And they’re both “my personal favorites neices”.
I have a great-great-great-great- (not sure how many greats) grandmother named Truelove. (Around the late 1700′s). Such a sweet name.
i have a friend who’s named Sincerely…
bhn ji in rachnaaon ki phranssa ke liyen mere paas shbd hi nahin hai or tlaashne pr mil bhi nahi rahe hai fir bhi badhaai ..akhtar khan akela kota rajsthan
The name struck a cord with me and sent me to find my relative. But when I found if, she is named Loveday Payle. Md. Feb 1655. Cornwall. Wonder if they are the same family with names like that?
I convinced my wife to name our son Random. She insisted on Levi as his middle name. So his name means “by chance brought together in harmony”.
I look forward to you playing well for my Longhorns this season!
My mother’s name was Edith and her mother’s name was Lula. Mae was a common middle name in our extended family back in the early 1900s. None of the names were considered odd, merely old-fashioned.
I have become enamored with Emily Rose for a girls name. That seems to be very feminine to me,
Wasn’t that a character in a horror movie or Stephen King book/movie?
I once had a neighbor named Ophelia Teets….
LOL!!!
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I met a man a couple of weeks ago named Dick Sauce. True story.
I think if I were him, I would def go by “Richard”…lol
come on
“I think if I were him, I would def go by “Richard”.
Naw. Dump the ‘Sauce’.
Went to high school with a fellow named Richard Head..We called him Dick Head…No joke…
Robert- my mom went to school with a Richard Head (Lake Placid, FL ’70)
I served in the army with a Dick Head or rich to his friends.
I kid you not…I know someone whose ex-husband is named Richard (Dick) Yanker…
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That guy’s parents should have been shot.
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epic fail. :O
keziah was one of my great-great-great grandmothers
I have a friend named Keziah.
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I am a descendant of an English Lord named Cuthbert! Grandmother’s name was Rufina and aunt named Balbina
My sons name is Marcial Yves Caceres
My paternal grandmother’s first name was Millicent, a name from a bygone era. Everyone used her nickname, Babe. My father’s name was Herbert, though everyone called him Buddy or Bud. Babe and Buddy didn’t have quite the same meaning as they do today. Babe was the short version for baby, when referring to the youngest e.g. “she’s the baby of the bunch”.
That’s crazy, because there was a lady in my hometown that was named Babe, and she had a son named Bud, But I don’t think he ever had any sons, so can’t be the same folks. This was in a town in Iowa.
I once had a friend named Littleton Fiveash. His mother’s name was Ova Ozelene Fiveash. Everybody called her Winnie.
My grandmother’s brothers name was Deaddy.
“Ardis” was an old girl’s name I came across in historical school records
Grandfather and grandson Zadoc and Supply Nims.
My husband’s mother’s siblings had some unusually paired names: brothers named Arthur and Othur (long /o/); sisters named, Dorothy and Dorothea; Nancy & Nina (my mother-in-law); twins named Bonnie May & Bronnie Faye; and an infant named Golden Olen. My sweet mother-in-law and several of her siblings understandably chose nicknames.
My mom’s first name is Eunice, but she goes by her middle name, Jean. One of her aunts’ names was Orpha Poe. Especially interesting, since “Aunt Orph’s” siblings were named Elizabeth, Emma, and George…terribly normal, except for the one…
I am sorry, but Madison sounds like a boys name. PERIOD. MadiSON?? REALLY for a girl
Sure Mad I didnt have a son…madison
How about odd names of my family, like Sir Micheal Hunt, or my late uncle Dick Hertz from Holden (ma.), or that famous book “IP Daily” by ” Rusty Springs”
I am waiting for Dorcas an Seymour to make a comeback.
Maynard too.
Two brothers in my neighborhood were Komander and Sargent.
I named my daughters Kiara Elizabeth, Kyla Amari, and son Kaysen Emmanel
The KKK.
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My G-grandma: Myrtle, One grandma: Creta. Her daugher (my Mom): Beverly. The other grandma: Kaziah Birdsel. Her son (my Dad): Soloman Jet Arthur. I don’t know any people my age with any of those names.
Uncle: Ora Buford. Grandmother: Neva Bell.
Ex-mother-in-law “Anise Baggett” (pronounced An nus). Her mother “Bula Baggett”
Story: 50 yards to the Outhouse …by Willie Makit, illustrated by Betty Dont
I’ve got a very good friend in Rome named Biggus Dickus.
He had a wife, you know …
My grandparents were named Mildred and Briscoe, names you will look in vain for today. A handsome couple, I’m sure.
mildred is still very much around.
My ex-husband swore he went to school with a girl named Ima. Ima Hogg was her full name. I think he went to far when he said he sisters’ name was Youra.
There’s a famous Ima Hogg from Texas. She’s known as the first lady of Texas because of all the philanthropic work she did… especially here in the Houston area (she died in the 70s). People like to say she had a sister named Ura, but she only had brothers.
The funniest name I ever heard of, in the category of painful combinations of exotic and plebeian, is “Turalura Lipschitz” !
My father’s name was Harlow.
My friend’s toddler son is named Harlow.
My grandmother had two brothers, who were twins, named Dewey and Harry Cox.
My old choir teacher’s name was Mrs.Dick. You’d never guess what her husbands name was… Harry. LMFAO! That poor man must’ve gone through hell in his childhood.
When clearing a sailor who was being discharged I noticed his full name: True Love Story.
There was a family in the town I grew up in that had a tradition past down to the oldest son of the oldest son… Alternating the first and middle names. Richard Harold, then Harold Richard, and so on. Every other generation had a male named Harry Dick D*****. Sad but true.
Oh, I don’t think many of the names are likely to be lost. I think that they just go in and out of fashion.
Some of the “newly” popular names are thousands of years old.
What I never get, is how sometimes a girl’s names become a fad, at least in America. A few years ago, I might have supported fines for anyone who named a girl “Brittany.”
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