Any old WW1 soldier type names for boys that haven't been used much?

[NatureAbhorsAHoover]

I love Archibald/Archie and Alfred/Alfie, etc., but they're a bit overused in my neck of the woods now and any child would be one of three in the class.

Any less commonly used ones you that you like?

Er...you do know they poured themselves with blind obedience out of the trenches to be slaughtered in pointless millions, don't you? That the Britain they were ostensibly defending was one where you or I would not have been able to vote? That they were also defending an empire in which black and Asian people were also slaughtered and exploited 'for their own good'? That anyone who didn't choose to fight was reviled as a 'conchie' or shot for 'cowardice'?

You do realise these names would have existed without the war?

Poor OP! I don't think she was agreeing with the politics of the time, just the names! I personally am a fan of more modern names but each to their own. I like Jasper as an old fashioned name. X

I was taking issue with 'noble sacrifice and bravery and less cynical times'. There was a lot wrong with those time. But then I'm not much of a one for Noble Sacrifice either, and my maternal family was too busy trying to chuck the British out of India.

what about
"270 african soldiers"
after the nameless soldiers commemorated on the memorial at victoria falls.

sorry, just saw that mother inferior had already posted something similar - didn't want to beat the point OP. but the "noble sacrifice" is really a pretty naive approach.

I really didn't mean to raise any political issues, sorry I should have thought of a different name to describe that era.... in Australia we call them diggers names, meaning the lovely old blokes meeting for a beer at a returned soldier's club. It's really not as evocative of mud and blood for me. But I do see other's point.

And am at having to be corrected about Siegfried! History not my strong point!

How about The Red Baron? Or Ludwig?

I used to have a "thing" for Siegfried Sassoon actually "Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man" is quite a good read. As is Robert Graves "Goodbye to All That".

Maybe we could term them great-grandfather names?

OMG... Siegfried and Tristan as a sibling set ... just remembered "All Creatures Great and Small". And I shall name the dog Tricky Woo

Rilla - Oh yes, and Rupert Brookes's "The Great Lover"! DH cannot hear the line about 'the rough male kiss of blankets' without weeping. But he did go to boarding school and probably has ishoos.

Sorry OP, I wasn't being political, I was just teasing, i know what you meant ;-)

Roland!

Thomas, not a rare name, but my Grandfather who joined up at 16. Not brave, they hadn't a clue what they were going to.
The bravery came after, he returned semi paralysed by a snipers bullet. However, he worked, raised two children and never complained.
I have only DDs or I would have remembered him.

I know - get hold of a copy of Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain and you will probably have all the appropriate names of that lost generation listed therein. Seem to recall her fiance (who died and was friend of her brother) was called Roland....

Many of the popular names of that time, like George, Arthur, Henry and Albert have now come back into fashion, while others like, John, William, Robert and James have never really been out of fashion.

However, the top 50 boys names in England and Wales in 1900 were:

William, John, George, Thomas, Charles, Frederick, Arthur, James, Albert, Ernest,
Robert, Henry, Alfred, Sidney, Joseph, Harold, Harry, Frank, Walter, Herbert,
Edward, Percy, Richard, Samuel, Leonard, Stanley, Reginald, Francis, Fred, Cecil,
Wilfred, Horace, Cyril, David, Norman, Eric, Victor, Edgar, Leslie, Bertie,
Edwin, Donald, Benjamin, Hector, Jack, Percival, Clifford, Alexander, Baden, Bernard, Redvers

With the exception of Baden and Redvers, all these names would have been popular through the 1890s.

What were the girls called?

Some great names here -

Wilfred
Roland
Rupert
Tristan
Edmund
Laurence
Vincent
Maurice
Ernest
David

I do worry about somebody claiming to want a WW1 type name not knowing about Sigfried Sassoon though.

Siegfried

Mine are Alfred and Stanley. NEVER Alfie, sometimes Stan. I've met one other Stanley, but I've yet to find an Alfred.

I like the idea of Percy though.

I love Tristan.

My MIL knew Siegfried Sassoon's son George!

Like Rupert, Edward, Laurence and David myself - David could have been DS's name but for the diminutive being Dave!

Gerald. My lovely Grandad

Would highly recommend you visit your local war memorial, great inspiration for these types of names

Was also going to say Wilfred. I don't like it but it's very WWI

So are Rupert and Siegfried!

I was going to say those :p Sassoon in particular is a favourite of mine, marvelous poet and prose writer.

manicinsomniac - er, perhaps I should have said, names of soldiers who fought on our side

?