Traditional names - whatever happened to Ada and Percy?

[GiantKitten]

There are some small neighbouring terraced streets in a town near me called Ada, Alfred, Mary & Percy - I’m guessing names from the builder’s family.

Mary and Alfie are not that unusual currently, but does anybody know any Adas or Percys? (Or Herberts, come to that? Both my Victorian-born grandfathers gloried in that fabulous name. We need more Herberts.)

I know a little Ada (1yo) but yet to meet a young Percy

Percy seems to be gaining ground and we know 2 small Adas. Don't know any Marys under the age of about 70 though.

Ada is bang on trend at the moment!

I'm always surprised Herbert /Herbie isn't more popular. I do know one but the name is very low down in the charta

I doubt Percy will make a come back.

We have an estate here with the names very much of their time. There is Linda Gardens, Ian Road and Pauline Gardens.

I know 2 small Adas and Percys! No Herberts though

I know 3 Adas aged under 5!

I know one percy

Ada has risen rapidly in popularity in recent years; now ranks 38. Graph here:
names.darkgreener.com/#ada

Percy is less popular, but also rising. Graph here: names.darkgreener.com/#percy

[quote florascotia2]Ada has risen rapidly in popularity in recent years; now ranks 38. Graph here:
names.darkgreener.com/#ada

Percy is less popular, but also rising. Graph here: names.darkgreener.com/#percy[/quote]
Ah, thanks for that, @florascotia2

I love those charts!

I know a Percy and an Ada. Different parents. Both sets of parents are very posh, and both the children are privately educated.

I know a Herbie too. He was going to be Albie, but about a week before he was born a close friend of the parents had an Albie. They eventually settled on Herbie.

I don't know a Herbert though.

I wonder if Ada Lovelace has anything to do with Ada’s rise - it was her bicentenary in 2015 and the numbers look to have shot up after that!

(Percy started coming back in 1997? Maybe Thomas the Tank? Or Percy Pigs?)

Herbert is on the rise too, surprisingly.

names.darkgreener.com/#herbert

(Off to check on Cedric, & any others I can think of, now...)

There's an Ada in our family (3.5 years old) I believe she was named after a character in Peaky Blinders

I know a 2 year old percy, and about 5 Ada's between the ages of 2 weeks and 5 years.

I was just saying last night how I love the name Percy. I also love Ada. I don’t think they would be out of place these days. I was also saying that I can’t imagine anyone calling their child Gordon though (yes, we were reading a Thomas the tank book!)

We have named the garden pigeon Percy . Due a boy in September and it did come up in discussion but only as a joke haha

I have a 9 year old Ada

I think Ada's supposed to be quite popular at the moment, pretty sure DD8 has one in her class. I know quite a few fairly young Marys but have an Irish Catholic family, so it may be more common there.

Met a few little boy's called Alfie, so I'd assume that was short for Alfred. IMO, Percy should be allowed to die a quiet death.

Alfie is on the way down and Alfred going up!

I would think Ada was more popular than Mary.

I know three Adas under 15 but not a single Mary under 20.

No, wait, I know one Ada and two Avas.

Herbert fell massively out of favour in the 1800s, when the Prince Regent (named Herbert) proved to be extremely unpopular with the masses. It was then that the name became a commonly used insult - he’s a proper Herbert! Perhaps enough time has passed for it to have a resurgence.

@Orphlids

Herbert fell massively out of favour in the 1800s, when the Prince Regent (named Herbert) proved to be extremely unpopular with the masses. It was then that the name became a commonly used insult - he’s a proper Herbert! Perhaps enough time has passed for it to have a resurgence.

Prinny was another George, wasn’t he? (Became George IV.)

The daft Prince in the Holy Grail was Herbert though...