Julia, Imogen, Thomas (Tom) in 1970 the same as what now?

[Cortina]

The Julias, Thomas (Tom), maybe even Antonias and Imogens circa 1970 were comparatively few and far between. The children with these names seemed to grow into them and the names just got better with age. You can probably think of better examples.

There were other much more popular names, Steven, Jackie, Claire, Alison, Lorraine, Julie, Sharon, Karen, Kevin etc. Sarah, although a classic, was also going through a popularity surge back then, ditto Emma. Perhaps some haven worn as well?

So who can pick a 'Julia', 'Thomas', 'Imogen' etc of 2010? It has to be the sort of name where for 10 years or so they will likely be the only child of that name in the class and the next generation will pick up on the name and use more broadly.

A name we've all heard of but not quite in vogue as yet. The sort of name that is a grower.

I'll have a try:

Daphne
Judith
Gloria
Natalie
Jaqueline
Caroline
Gillian (?)

Yes, Jane or Ruth, Belinda or Irene maybe. I'm a big fan of Irene.

My dd will be having a baby Shirley! I would use it but it rhymes with dd's pet name.
I hope i have done this with dd1, she is nearly 10 and called Iris, which is starting to get more popular.

Jennifer

Patricia - has a pretty sound, maybe in a few years.

Great thread, really interesting!

Cortina, my DH is 'Gerard' but is often mistakenly referred to as Gerald (or Gerrard). He choses very plain names for potential DCS as he's hated being called the wrong name. I've a boring, common name (for my age) and would love to go for something more unusual.

I think Jean is making a comeback, and also Teresa. Not sure for boys, maybe Douglas?

Verity
Otillie
Gillian
Barbara

Gregory
Victor
Mark
Paul

Douglas, yes, I know a very handsome matinee idol looking one in his mid 30s.

I predict Julian to grow in popularity and Mark, Marcus and John as I think I've said.

On the 'old lady' thread people are also saying that Daphne will become popular again and Patricia. They say 50s names are on the rise, Marilyn etc?

I also I think in about 20 years we will see Joan as a popular name again, there is something almost cool about it even now. Ditto Irene as I've said before, which is still call if you're European.

Thing is Cortina, in the 1970s kids were given a much narrower range of names than they are today. There were loads and loads of babies called Claire/Lisa/Karen/Steven etc. Choosing a more unusual name was not so common as it is now. Nowadays everyone's at it and the holy grail for many people is to find what you're asking for - something that's relatively unique but not way out.

That's a good point LadyM. The pool of names that we draw from will just get wider too.

Mind you I still think each generation will have a glut of a certain sort of name. Poppy/Lilly/Evie/Amelia/Isabella will 'sound' like Claire/Lisa/Karen/Steven etc in years to come.

I was born around then (early 70s) and had a fairly unusual name that is on the brink of being in vogue now, so people were using less mainstream names too in the early 70s. Maybe less often?

It would be interesting to see which class in the 70s were broadly using which name or if things crossed over more or less than no? You could go onto Friends Reunited and look at various Alumni etc, maybe when pregnancy insomnia really strikes :).

People were naming after various celebs and pop stars just as they do now: Tracy, Gary, Wayne, Dean etc.

Corinne
Mary
Susan
Alexandria
Juliet
Daphne
Aurelia
Amanda
Sylvia
Frances
Larissa

Julius
Samson
Miles
Leopold
Jerome
Peter
John
Edwin
Jonathan
Clifford
Martin

I have a John and a Da vid, and no3 will be Mary An ne. When I chose John it was after a dear grandfather, but once I'd chosen it I started to get really into super plain Enid Blyton ish names. I love Jane and Susan too. Also Peter, Antony, Richard, Michael, Nicholas etc.

My mum was/is horrified - she likes Olivia, Harry, Imogen etc - and thinks mine are terribly dull. But she had her chance to name her children

Gordon
Kenneth
Barry
Carl
Donald
Frank/Francis

Virginia
Rosalind
Sally
Stephanie
Kim
Janet
Miranda
June
Maureen

Simon
Gerry
Brian
Harold
Royston
Alastair
Reginald

Jill
Carol
Antonia
Lynette
Jayne
Peta
Marjorie
Elspeth

Popular names from the 1920s (90 years ago) were:

Popular names of the 1920s
Males Females
Rank Name Number Name Number
1 Robert 576,271 Mary 701,615
2 John 563,943 Dorothy 368,800
3 James 515,236 Helen 290,339
4 William 512,268 Betty 283,050
5 Charles 297,986 Margaret 244,966
6 George 261,890 Ruth 218,473
7 Joseph 243,756 Virginia 169,524
8 Richard 222,567 Doris 151,164
9 Edward 197,318 Mildred 147,135
10 Donald 191,806 Frances 140,366
11 Thomas 161,079 Elizabeth 139,655
12 Frank 151,765 Evelyn 124,143
13 Harold 133,551 Anna 123,861
14 Paul 132,367 Marie 110,534
15 Raymond 124,187 Alice 110,499
16 Walter 119,768 Jean 105,980
17 Jack 115,953 Shirley 98,588
18 Henry 104,524 Barbara 97,197
19 Kenneth 99,465 Irene 92,813
20 Arthur 97,098 Marjorie 91,206

(sorry about the formatting, hope you can make sense of it)

Link to the 1920s list is here

And here's one for the 30s, so we should be seeing some of these names creep back in about 10 years time, if the 3 generation thing is accurate.

Virgil, Leroy? - these have to be American names?

I can never find lists for the UK for 20s/30s , do they exist?

I think Susan or Jane would be great names to give a dd now. By the time they're grown up the names will have come back into vogue and they will be very cool.