W-Names: Where’s Waldo?
Once upon a time, in the now distant past, popularity lists–particularly for boys–were teeming with names starting with the letter ‘W’.
In 1920, for example, there were twenty-seven of them in the boys’ Top 500, including every conceivable appendage to the first syllable Wil. Aside from the eternal William, there were Willie, Willard, Wilbur, Willis, Wilbert, Wilfred, Wilson, Wilmer, Wilburn, Wilford, and Wilton, while for girls there were ten W‘s, topped by Willie at Number 74.
By 1950, the number of W-_boys had shrunk down to nineteen, but with many of the Wil_s hanging in, and in that year only five girls remained: Wanda, Wendy, Wilma, Winifred and the surprisingly persistent female Willie. The 1980 Top 500 saw most of the fustier boys’ names having retired, leaving only seven stalwarts and just Wendy and newcomer Whitney among the girls. Currently, there are a mere five _W-_guys remaining in the Top 500—William, Wyatt, Wesley, Waylon and Warren, and one lone girl—Willow. There are a few others in the bottom half of the list, including Wilson, Westin and Winston, and the rising Willa.
But I’m sensing that the tide is about to turn, with a renewed interest in both the vintage _W-_names–many of which have that trendy Western feel– and some fresher options that are attracting attention. From the starbaby perspective alone, we’ve seen Rainn Wilson’s Walter, Jenna Fisher’s Weston, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Willa, Billie Piper’s Winston and several Willows, to name a few.
Here’s a rundown of the _W-_names I see on the frontier of this resurgence :
REVIVABLE GIRLS
NEWER GIRLS
REVIVABLE BOYS
NEWER BOYS
Do you have any _W-_names on your list?