What generation of names to we think will come back in fashion next?

[Rose825]

I'm thinking names such as:
David, Peter, Christopher, Ian, Kenneth
Shirley, Barbara, Pamela, Janet, Susan

I guess they're names from the 1940s/50s

I think it wil be 1930s names

Names like Jean, Joan, Brian, Raymond, Patricia, Terence

I love the name and think it will always be around😀

Judith
Nancy
Lisa
Maria
Patricia
Richard
Nicholas
Michael
Desmond

i love all of those (especially for a cat).

I'm going against the grain and say you need to look for 1920s names, not 1940. We're nowhere as close to that, but I guess time will come for little Glendas.
Also, keep in mind trends in UK and USA don't align much, Florence was all rave for decades without catching in USA, while Freya gotten to USA list faster than Florence.

Sarahs never really disappeared. It's only v recently dipped outside of the top 100. I know Sarahs of all ages.

I was born in the 60s and these were most of my classmate's names. Just add in Susan, Alison (I know several of those!) and Amanda and take away Laura 😊

My guess is Gladys might come back, it has lady inside of the Gladys and is featured in Gilded Age, or at least other names similar to Gladys.
We also see many Elaina's pop left and right and might be as close as getting Elaine back in trend, and I would love if Elaine gets more popular. It's such a soft sweet name.
Louise might come back, so could Mary and I see lots of Greta's, similar how Margaret was popular in 1920

I would see George, William, Charles making the list once new kings are in charge. For boys its much harder to predict, because new parents might find names popular in 1920 too classic, but back then everyone got nicknames and now we have nicknames names.

Agree about Linda. Think it's a great name. Works internationally as well, like Lina.

It's usually a couple of generations back, when people start naming their children after grandparents, ime.

So, I think it might be more of the 50s/60s type names that might come back first. I'm starting to see the odd one coming through in reception classes.

Might be a few more years on until we hit the 70s-90s names.

I think if Gladys was going to stage a comeback it would have done so already, like its peers Harriet, Evelyn and Elsie etc. have done. I think it's too marmite to come back in a big way. Same as Percy for a boy.

Elaine is pretty though, that will definitely re-appear.

@Elysant , you are mixing against the grain with against the flow.

Against the grain is when you are doing something that is contradictory to your natural inclination

Never (I hope) will there be a resurrection of Maureen, Doreen, Barry, Roger, Ann, Patricia, Maureen, Brian - I could go on!

If you yourself have v young kids you may well be introduced to a grandaughter Maureen or a grandson Barry in 35 years' time.

hopefully you will be able to bear it with fortitude

@timestheyarechanging , I like most of the names you've listed and prefer them to the whiny sounding names that are popular now

I think 70s names will come back in. I've seen lots of threads where people are suggesting Anna or Susannah. Both massive among my peer group born mid-late 1970s. So I think we will see names like Rachel, Rebecca, Nicola, Lisa come back too.

Susannah wasn't all that popular in the 1970s, Anna was only just in the top 50.

Nicola and Lisa to me are 1960s names.
Rebecca was very popular for a long time and a #1 name in the 1990s so won't be back soon.

The 90s won't come around for ages yet. People tend to like the names of their grandparents or great grandparents era, because they are old enough to sound novel and cute again. Names from our own generation seem boring and ordinary because we know so many. Names from our parents generation and the one between our parents and grandparents are associated in our minds with dusty old aunts and uncles and old people in general. But anything grandparent era and older is free of those stereotypes and is cool again.

Millennials are having babies now so born 80s/90s which means names from the 40s to the 80s are out, names from the 20s and 30s are in.

It will be 40s names next but I think it's still 5-10 years away.

There were several Sylvia's in my family. Born about 100 years ago.

I was only thinking today that I can suddenly imagine a baby Clare.

I can't see a revival of names like Gary, Wayne, Lindsey, Sharon etc making a comeback, but you never know!

Some of the 70s/80s names you mentioned like,
Sarah, Claire, Ruth, Rebecca, Ross, Stuart, Adrian, Robert and Adam are kind of classic, safe and inoffensive names. They are not my cup of tea, but I can see how they might become more popular.

Clare/Claire has been popular in America for the past few years.

A friend had a baby Laura 3 years ago and I was surprised how fresh the name sounded. I also know a 5 year old Jennifer and again it seems modern sounding rather than dated. Good choices if you want something which isn’t common but isn’t wacky either.

I think over time the soft sounding Lily, Millie, Ella, Isla etc names that are popular for girls at the moment will shift to stronger sounding names. The most common girls names in my year group at school (born late 70s) included Laura, Fiona, Jennifer, Emma, Alison, Cheryl and Donna. I think with the exception of the last two, these could all rise in popularity again. But then future generations may think they are very uncool and ugly so who knows!

Names I have taught in the past five years at an infant school - Alan, Ian, Keith, Ann and Margret. They are on their way back!