A True classic

James works too as does Helen or Eleanor and Sarah or Madeleine

Edward-I know a baby Edward and one in his 90's and one in his 30's

All names have peaks and dips in popularity. I think a classic name is one that you could choose at any time and nobody would think you had picked a weird and/or trendy name.

So Sarah qualifies, as does Catherine (varied spellings), Elizabeth, Victoria, Lucy, Alexander, Michael, Stephen, Peter, William etc. Too many to list.

You could have an 80 year old with those names and a 2 year old and it wouldn't be odd.

Yes, I agree about Emily, definitely an old lady name in my schooldays. It was some way behind Emma which was just starting to become popular, and I can remember my mother being appalled.

Something that surprised me, having grown up surrounded by Stephens and Steves, was how rare that name was before the mid 20thc. Tracing our family tree, we expected to have problems with a Victorian Stephen (common surname) in (big city) but he was the only one ...

I think Michael could join the ranks of classic names, although it was unusual before the 1950s. Emily was definitely an old ladies name when I was growing up, although there was one in the year below me at school.

I know lots of different aged Peters and Michaels - and Elizabeths. And quite a lot of different aged Emilys too.

Ok, I'm going to base these on whether I know people of all living generations with the name (around 70-80yo's, 50-60yo's, 30-40yo's, teens and children/babies)

Catherine
Elizabeth
Charlotte
Lucy
Hannah
Alice

William
James
Thomas
John (I know a 12yo John, an 8yo John and a 4yoJohn)
Peter
Edward

There are surprisingly fewer than I thought there would be ...

Millions of us Sarahs. Hated being one of many at school and there are 40 of us at my work! boring boring and very dated.

And that is why I gave my children more unusual names.

I did say earlier they look like American charts and it would be great to know of a UK equivalent - would be very interesting.

I have a 14 year old Helen, and she loves her name and has always been the only one in her school year. There are a few Helena's though.

Hum, chart says Emma was 400 and something for popularity in the 70s, yet I was one of 4 Emmas in my school class...

Interesting charts, but not representative of the UK. Try putting in "Nicola"

Helen - I don't know a single Helen under the age of 20, but loads of Helens over the age 35, so I wouldnt' consider it 'timeless'.

Thomas for a boy - has always been popular. Even eg William would have been unusual in the '70s, whereas I have known loads of Tom's of all ages.

I agree with ButterPecanMuffin that different classics may be more or less popular at different times, but they will never sound really odd or faddy.

Helen? That's my name and I've always felt it to be quite timeless- I think it passes the 'can't tell what age the person is' test.

Agree with Greencat about this. If you had said you were naming your DD, Sarah, in the 1950s, your gran would probably have asked you why you were giving your baby a servant's name.

Maryanna, the names Mary and Elizabeth weren't just in the top 5 but in the top 2 for most of the 19th century. About 25% of girls were called just these 2 names. Peter was the 3rd most popular in 1950, and could probably be regarded as a classic because, while not so common before, was not unusual either. Mark was the 2nd most popular in 1970. Christopher was unusual before the 1950s but has remained popular ever since. Quentin, OTOH, has never been a popular name.

It depends on how you define timeless imo. Just like fashion, some things are classic/timeless (e.g. a navy poloshirt) - they never become super popular and therefore never fall out of fashion again.

Names like Peter, Mark, Quentin, Christopher, Elisabeth, Mary all have a 'classic' feel to them - I don't think any of them have ever been in the top 5 or so (could be wrong though).

Timeless doesn't mean names that are always "in fashion", but they're names that have been used almost since the dawn of time, and are always there or thereabouts.

For that very reason names like Anne, Mary and Sarah are timeless. They might not as popular now, but they're names that have weathered the storm of fashion.

For example, Sarah is one of only two names that has been in the Top 100 girl's names ever year since the lists began in the 1890s, the other is Elizabeth.

That's timeless to me!

I'm guessing they are American sites - anyone know of a UK equivalent? :)

FilterCoffee, I love the voyager site. It bears out what I said about Jessica too; Shakespeare may have invented it, but it was barely used prior to the 70s. Elizabeth on the other hand shows steady use right through the decades. Just before anyone thinks I'm too smug, was wrong about Hannah; i thought there were more around prior to 70s than there were!

That was really interesting filter coffee - although neither Poppy nor Alfie were accepted as names in the top 1,000 names, yet they accepted Kaylee and Nevaeh. My daughter's name also didn't register.

Christopher
Thomas

Emily
Laura

and

www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#

Graphs of the rise and fall in popularity of any name you type in :)