West Side Story Names

This Latinate form of Bernard hovered in the lower regions of the US Top 1000 from the late 1940s until 2006, possibly inspired by the character in West Side Story. It remains popular in Portugal and it does have a little more flair than the grandpa style Bernard.

As a highly popular girls’ name in all Spanish-speaking countries, this saintly Latin variation of Mary retains a timeless beauty. Through the centuries, Maria remains one of the most widely-used girl names starting with M.

Natalie—a Franco-Russian name—became Americanized years ago and is one of those surprising names that's always ranked among the girls' Top 1000 names in the US.

One of the glamour girl names of the Rita Hayworth 1940s, Rita was once a Top 50 name and stayed on the SSA list until 2002.

Tony, as in classy. Or To-nyyy, as yelled out a tenement window.