How quickly do names come back into fashion?

[TicketToRideFan]

All the Archie, Albie, Alfie type names are massively popular right now, but for me they belong to men aged between 60 and 80.

Looking around my relatives in this age group, the next big names will be Stephen, David, Frank, Brian, Liam, James, Thomas, Allan, John or Peter.

Girls names in our family of a similar vintage include Elaine, Linda, Lynn, Claire, Julie, Jackie, Margaret, Anne, Alison, Maureen and Wendy.

it’s hard to imagine most of these making a come back soon, though of course some have never fully gone.

My money is on John, Peter, Alison and Claire coming back first.

I don't think Paula is ready for a comeback just yet, but I have noticed that feminised versions of classic male names seem to go through faster cycles.

Feminisations of Paul, for example, over the years have included Paulette, Pauline, Paula... all with very specific age ranges.
I could see Paulina maybe becoming trendy again. Or even Polly if wanting to name after great-grandma Paulette.

Likewise with Michael: Micheline, Michelle and Michaela would be associated with very different generations.

Same with Francis/ Frank and Francine/Frances/Francesca and more recently even just Frankie for girls.

I think it's usually great grandparents' names that start to sound new and nice, so probably 90-110 year cycles?

My DGM was surprised to meet a baby Ivy, because she thinks of Ivies as being about 15-20 years older than her.

We won't get many Jacquis, Dianes, Karens or Susans for about 50 years I wouldn't think.

Yes, children named after great-grandparents or that generation's names rather than the grandparents.

There are under 5s with some of those names already. (Though no Gertrude, Ethel or Doris)

Remember WW1 was over a 100 years ago.

Oh and some of the boys names were popular in the 1970s as I went to school/,college/university and now work with men in late 40s/early 50s with those names.

I’m in a Jackie/Alison generation too, but all my other examples are the same decade as me.

The generation above that in my family are all solid names like William, Robert, Elizabeth etc, timeless in my experience

I’d love to see John and Paul making a comeback, I love them both and strongly considered each for DS.

I wonder if there’s a regional variation to names too?

I suspect George is a steady contender always in England, while Robert (Rob, Robbie) and Andrew are constants in Scotland.

My Grandma was called Gladys and I always told her that if I had a girl one day I'd call her Gladys. She told me "don't you dare!" because she didn't like it. I'm pregnant now, but Gladys isn't on the short list, personally I quite like it in a way, but not sure it's got the cuteness of names like Elsie.

I think it's interesting though that some names are very popular in some parts of the world and not in others - if you search on Facebook there are plenty of young women called Gladys, and the same with other names that have been mentioned here. So maybe we just need to look at them with fresh eyes?!

Gladys isn’t pretty to my eyes or ears, but could you use Issy as a middle name as a nod to it?

Names like Barbara, Pauline, Sandra were used for the women in my Mum’s generation … every one of them utterly hates her name. It might take a while for these to come back.

There were 5 Christine's in my class of 1955.
Noone has mentioned Wiinifred or my own middle name, Marion,

Iris, Elsie and Ivy are very popular right now.

Yet to see Beryl, Gladys, Doris, Norma coming back. But you never know!

Gladys sounds bad in my accent - it’s probably nice in a Welsh one

Do you know any Ethels?

My three year old has a little Christine in his class.

We have an Ethel in our family who is ten and Lily Allen has a daughter called Ethel of about the same age.

Kitty is also the name of a late teen in our family and can think of several more early twenties/teens in my DCs’ friendship groups.

I wonder if Gary will come back before they die out!

I know it’s dated but I think Elaine is pretty written down. Also like Laney for nickname.

I love my name, thanks mom and dad.

Must be awful to hate your own name.

I had a great grandparent called Willoughby (first name), never heard that used.

Apparently old English name and means Willow Farm.

I quite like Gertrude, and Gertie, lovely names.

Be interested what age group you are in.

I know a 14 year old Winifred. I met her mum when she was 3 years old - really unusual choice, but really grew on me.

Mary, Anne and Margaret are creeping back I think. I know two Marys - one 14 again, the other 2!

I'm 59 and when I was at school the common names were Michelle, Susan, Carol, Gary, Carolyn, Phillip, Neil, Rodney, Karen, Mark, Steven, Kevin, Christine, Darren.
So all those names are nearly 60 years old and I don't think they're back in fashion at all.
Maybe it's more an 80-100 year thing?

Years ago I nursed elderly ladies with names like Esme ,June , Doris, and thought of that generations names disappearing for ever , but I've seen a few newly hatched Esme's popping up though no Doris' yet.

Im 49 in my school ,we had lots of Rachel,s Nicola,s ,Clare,s Janes,sammantha,s etc boys were all Mark,stephen ,Andrew Paul ,David ,Daniel .etc

My kids (newborn/ toddler) have friends called Agnes, Martha, Mabel, Dorothy, Edgar

I'm 33 and my generation seem to have very boring names: lots of Elizabeths, Rebeccas, Thomas, Emma Joshuas, Sarahs, etc. In my A-level drama class of 25, 5 of the girls were called Rebecca. I wonder if that's why we have some more unusual names. It also differs massively with your cultural differences: knowing a few church people I know a ton of under five Ezra's. Possibly also that when we were teens there was a big drive toward vowel names and traditional names: kids I babysat were Samuel, jack, Ella, May, etc.