The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Jeanie is a midcentury bobby soxer kind of nickname that might almost be so old it's new again.

The ultimate dad name.

The mostly Americanized version of Geoffrey was a trendy mid-century hit, with nickname Jeff the epitome of cool. Jeffrey entered the pop list in 1934 and was a Top 20 name from the mid-fifties to 1978.

This one-time trendy form of Jeremiah hovered just outside the Top 25 throughout the 1970s and 80s.

Jerry is one of those short forms that, like Mike and Debbie, rose to popularity on the coattails of their formal versions. The equivalents today are nickname names like Ellie and Theo.

King David's father turned 1980s cowboy, Jesse is now down in popularity but still a Biblical classic, ranking in the US Top 1000 for its entire history. The name is associated with a wide variety of bearers, from outlaw Jesse James to Olympic athlete Jesse Owens to activist Jesse Jackson to current actors Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Eisenberg. The spelling Jesse is more usual as a boys' name while Jessie is more traditional for girls.

When Jennifer finally gave up her Number 1 place on the girls' popularity list, her crown was passed to Jessica, who reigned for not one but two decades. Jessica was the Number 1 name in both the mid-1980s and 1990s, never sounding quite as trendy as its predecessor, maybe because of its classic Shakespearean pedigree.

Joe is still the ultimate good-guy name, not at all diminished by its longevity or popularity or its everyman rep as Regular Joe, Cowboy Joe, G.I. Joe, Joe Exotic, Joe Blow, Joe Millionaire, Average Joe — and now President Joe (Biden).

The ultimate midcentury nickname, retaining a good measure of retro charm, was chosen for her son by Mira Sorvino.

Jolie is as pretty as its literal meaning; nowadays it is also seen as a girls’ name, via Angelina for whom Jolie was originally her middle name.

Streamlined version of the classic boys' names, sometimes a short form of Jonathan, which is in fact an entirely different name from John attached to a different Biblical personage. Jon feels more modern than the traditional John, but some may find it an overly slight variation on an already slim name. Jon Snow is a popular character on HBO's Game of Thrones.

Joseph is one of the most classic names in American nomenclature, popular with parents from many ethnic backgrounds and having dual-religious appeal.

Once the quintessential bouncy teenager name, Kelly helped launch the trend of unisex Irish names . But it now takes a backseat to more substantial surname names like Kennedy.

Kevin came to the US with the large wave of Irish Immigrants after World War I, hitting the US Top 1000 list for the first time in 1921 and never leaving.

Kim was the coolest name... of the 1960s. Kim was popularized by actress Kim Novak, and its energy is still maintained by rapper Lil' Kim, but it holds lil' or no appeal for new babies. Parents who like Kim's short, sweet sound might look to a choice such as Sam, Lou, or Belle.

Far more friendly and open than similar one-syllable names like Kent, Kurt, and Karl, it's been associated for more than half a century with actor Kirk Douglas, whose birth name was Issur Danielovitch Demsky.

A name that defines itself, a bit more curt in the harder K version.

Kyle is still appreciated by thousands of parents each year for its combination of simplicity, strength, and style; it was in the Top 20 for most of the nineties. As a Scottish surname, it dates back to the fifteenth century.