Boy and Girl Names which are disappearing

[PistachioTiramisu]

Was thinking about this today - all the names I remember from my childhood and my parents' friends just don't seem to exist any more. I think it's sad as so many were good, strong, dependable names, such as:-
Mark
Matthew
James
Stephen/Steven
Geoffrey
Christopher/Chris
Nicholas/Nick
Anthony/Tony
Ian
Simon
Andrew

Jane
Linda
Patricia
Caroline
Julia
Lindsay
Sarah/Sally
Louise
Phillipa

Do you think these names will come back, once the current craze for either made up or Biblical names has passed?

Wendy (im one)
Sharon
Tracey
Angela
Christine
Deborah

Russell
Wayne
Colin
Gary
Lee

Are ones that are definitely dying out .My own name especially .

Nor me but then I couldn’t imagine a baby Elsie or Winnie or Iris when I was a teen but now they are really popular!

Nigel and Kevin seem to be disappearing.

My dcs friends are all having kids now. Popular names are Archie,Arthur,Stanley,Edith,Iris,Mia.

I suppose the names of my classmates will come round again eventually:
Mark
Paul
Stephen
John
Derek
Michael
Brian

Theresa
Fiona
Marie
Lynn
Margaret
Mary
Helen

My dcs friends are all having kids now. Popular names are Archie,Arthur,Stanley,Edith,Iris,Mia.

I suppose the names of my classmates will come round again eventually:
Mark
Paul
Stephen
John
Derek
Michael
Brian

Theresa
Fiona
Marie
Lynn
Margaret
Mary
Helen

Our son was going to be Iris but turned out to be Isaac. I know babies called Margaret and Julie, they’re both super cute ☺️ .

Speaking as a primary school teacher of almost 20 years... I agree that a lot of those names you've mentioned have fallen out of favour with the white British community. But they are still incredibly popular with first generation immigrant communities. Especially eastern European and black African families.

I have a little Matthew. When he was born the midwife seemed to think we were odd for naming him that because she’d never delivered a baby with that name before and thought it was so old fashioned. I was surprised as we’d chosen the name when we first got together in 2016 and back then it was still well within the top 100. I hadn’t kept up with the popularity of the name and had no idea it was considered unusual at all.

Don’t forget Karen! I’m one - there were 5 in my primary school class, late sixties early seventies.
Can't see it making a company time soon 😂

I know a little Lorraine.

Matthew and James are rhe most popular boys names where i am along with Thomas and Oliver. I personally know around 20 James, and about 8 Matthews under 15!

These things go in cycles - they’ll all come around again eventually. A GM of mine (born pre 1900) was Phoebe, which she hated, but it had a resurgence in relatively recent decades, because of Friends.

And a lot of the names I used to connect with the wizened, whiskery old great-aunts of my childhood, have been coming back with a vengeance. Ava, Ada, Eve, Edith, Lily, Florence, Mildred, even Mabel.

Old boys’ ’ names have done the same.

Comeback not company - bloody autocorrect!

We’ve got a James, William, Anthony and Abigail all the boys were named after grandads or uncles.

Yeah, there are plenty of 70s and 80s names around as kids are frequently named after their parents or other relatives! I know Christopher, Ian, many James’, John, Sarah and Katie, all under the age of 10.

I will never come to terms with the fact that there's a young, super-cool, influential pop star in 2025 with the name Mabel!

I love the name Mabel, and pop star Mabel is Nenah Cherry's daughter, Mabel was the baby her mum was holding in the man child video around 1988/89.

I was wrong, the baby was her older daughter Tyson in the video. Mabel was born 1996, quite unusual to name a baby such an old fashioned name in the 90s.
My own dd has an old fashioned traditional name which has since surged in popularity.

I find name trends really interesting.

I'm a carer for the elderly and, 30 years ago when I started out, the popular names were Gladys, Enid, Marjorie, Nora, as well as the regal names such as Elizabeth, Margaret and Anne.

Nowadays, the most popular names are Pauline, Sandra, Barbara and Mary.

I haven't thought of this until now but, in all my years, I don't ever recall looking after a Victoria. I wonder why, given its roots as a regal name?

One of the triplets who was on "Child of Our Time", so will have been born around 2000 was called Mabel. I hope those young people are all doing well. I also think about the young people who were on "Born Different" which was the channel 4 version. I hope the young woman who was training to be a nurse is now successful in her career. Sorry, bit of a tangent.

Tyson and Mabel are such different names. It’s a very jarring sib-set.

I think you’re a bit confused, OP. Several of the names you mentioned are still popular, several are Biblical, and the others will come back into fashion in time — they’re just not long enough ago in the cycle, because they’re your parents’ generation. In another generation, parents will be rediscovering the ghastly delights of Geoffrey and Patricia. The Mn baby names forum will be full of pregnant women debating over the merits of Bernard and Barbara.

DS(16) has a school friend call Ian. He stands out in a sea of Olivers, Joshes and Thomases.

Last year ONS said that no babies had been called Nigel or Carol the previous year. I'm in my mid 50s, and have several friends and peers by these names! I'm sure they will come back round as my generation become grandparents and greatgrandpatents.

Victoria was incredibly popular in the 80s - there were five in my year at school.

I knew an Arthur when I was in my teens, and felt so sorry for him having such a weird, old man name. Now I know three around the same age as my six year old.

What happens with naming patterns is that your parents and grandparents first names are seen as old fashioned. Your great grandparents names are exotic and unusual . It won’t happen in our lifetimes but Sharon , Tracey , Gary and Darren etc will suddenly become unusual and will come back into fashion . Fifty years ago a baby Fred would be as unusual as a baby Ian today is