Names that Peaked in 1910

Buford has lost any charm it once had. Try Beauford instead.

This spelling of the traditional nickname for John is a bit more feminine than Johnny, based on the fashion at the turn of the 20th century to use boyish diminutives ending in -ie for girls.

Arnie is a nerdy-tipping-into-cute nickname that may rise again, if not for this generation of babies then for their babies. Look for it in the nurseries of 2050.

A surname style choice that could get you nicknames Bear and Ozzy, which is pretty cool. It comes from the Old English variant of the Old Norse Ásbjǫrn, which was introduced to England after the Norman conquest and used occasionally as a given name ever since. Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell used Osborne for a character in her final novel, Wives and Daughters while it is also famously associated with Osborne House, the former royal residence of Queen Victoria on the Isle of Wight, and with musician Ozzy Osbourne.

While this has a distinguished male namesake -- astronomer Edmund Halley and his comet -- it still strays too close to the superpopular feminine Hailey family to work for some parents for a boy. Fewer than five baby boys were given the name last year, but that could change as formerly-female names become more acceptable for boys.