The Vintage Baby Names Making a Big Comeback
Photo by George Marks/Getty Images
by Pamela Redmond Satran
Every year, the US government issues a list of the names that are making the biggest leaps up the popularity list. And there, among the reality TV-inspired Daleyzas and Jayceons, sprinkled in with the new-fangled Jurnees and Zayns, is a collection of vintage names that for a range of reasons have suddenly become hot.
Sometimes, the inspiration is a film or television show, as with Marjorie and Game of Thrones or Walter and Hank from Breaking Bad.
A name’s choice by celebrity parents can make it go from sleepy to sizzling too, as happened with Olive after it was used for their daughter by Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Here, 40 vintage baby names making big leaps up the popularity list. The +number indicates how many places each name moved up the US popularity list in 2013. And the second number is the name’s standing on the popularity list. Please note: Only those names in the Top 1000 are tracked.
girls
Marjorie, +735, to 910
Mabel, +338, to 707
Rosie, +235, to 883
Leona, +176, to 734
Alma, +154, to 701
Mercy, +143, to 854
Hattie, +138, to 570
Millie, +124, to 598
Dorothy, +115, to 808
Beatrice, +102, to 593
Pearl, +80, to 677
Anastasia, +79, to 257
Vera, +77, to 422
Felicity, +76, to 579
Mae, +74, to 674
Olive, +73, to 291
June, +70, to 362
Frances, +70, to 693
Sadie, +69, to 50
Rosemary, +68, to 533
boys
Enoch, +178, to 836
Harvey, +176, to 616
Cassius, +172, to 760
Clyde, +160, to 999
Samson, +129, to 671
Theo, +129, to 666
Gilbert, +112, to 885
Thaddeus, +105, to 797
Otto, +89, to 696
Francis, +86, to 506
Roland, +77, to 665
Lionel, +74, to 733
Reuben, +72, to 896
Hank, +58, to 626
Frederick, +46, to 492
Augustine, +45, to 955
Uriah, +34, to 539
Walter, +34, to 342
Franklin, +33, to 495
Ephraim, +32, to 972
