Unpopular Names: Which ugly ducklings grow up to be swans?
One of the biggest baby name stories this week is The Week’s look at the least popular baby names in the U.S. from 1880 through 1932.
While such monikers as Handy, Spurgeon, Icy, and Toy, culled from the bottom of the Top 1000, are indeed laugh-inducing, it may be even more remarkable to consider the baby names that were equally unpopular back then that went on to win widespread favor.
Names that were given to only five babies at the end of the 19th century, right down there with Spurgeon and Icy, include such future hotties as:
[column1]1880 Natalie1881 Madeleine1882 Iris1883 Juliette1884 Arabella1885 Rosemary1886 Susannah1887 Maryann1888 Karen1889 Miley1890 Willow1891 Stephanie1892 Beatrix1893 Lake1894 Erin1895 Penelope1896 Courtney1897 Maisie1898 Holly1899 Ariel[/column1][column2]Hudson
Lincoln
Griffin
Blake
Tyler
Sebastian
Reed
Brady
Gregory
Kyle
Weston
Wyatt
Tobias
Hayden
Tucker
Colin
Jonah
Casey
Dane
Jason[/column2]
All this while choices like Gladys and Bertha, Clarence and Earl pranced around at the head of the popularity lists.
But you don’t have to go so far back to find such baffling gaps in baby name taste. In 1972, tens of thousands of babies were named Heather and Tammy, Scott and Chad, instead of Adair and Coco, Sienna and Liv, Atticus and Finnian, which all languished at the bottom of the list given to only five babies each.
Of course, these names that sound cool 50 years later were joined down in the baby name dumps by such choices as Cachet, Candle, Classie, and Marijuana for girls; Friend, Kaiser, Lemon, Master, and Mister for boys.
And what about today? Names given to just five girls, the lowest number counted, in 2012 include the following 20 choices:
[column1]Anthea
Atlanta
BetteCherithComfortDisneyFredericaGarlandGoodnessHeartlynn[/column1][column2]JerseiLunetteMoneyMurrayNessiahPerpetuaPetalRosaryRyeThai[/column2]
Names at the bottom of the boys’ list in 2012 include:
[column1]BartEgbertEliteFitzpatrickIggyJerusalemLotusLuciferMesserMillion[/column1][column2]MossMunroNewtOsricPacerPoeRomanceSabbathSabreZytaevius[/column2]
So which will be the Sebastians and which the Spurgeons of the future? That’s a decision our grandchildren will make.