Names that arent as common as they used to be?

[Zorak Masaki]

Are there any names that used to be commonplace, but now are rarely used? A good example is Sylvester. I've never met a sylvester in my life, and the only well-known person ive seen with the name is Sylvester Stallone.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Adolf. Ebenezer. Benito.

[Tay the Cat]

Adolf. Ebenezer. Benito.

Benito is a very common name in Latin America.

[Bloody Marquis]

You don't see that many Bruces nowadays, or Agathas.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Benito is a very common name in Latin America.

Probably not so much in Italy, though.

[the greenman]

My name's Mitchell.

In High School I met a guy named Lemuel. As in Lemuel Gulliver, but he said it was biblical, and upon research it is from the bible.

Alot of naming has to do with culture and ethnicity. For instance I can pretty much tell the Beatles (outside of Ringo who is Jewish), were raised Catholic. St. Paul, John, and George.

[Dr.Pepper]

I know that girls' names generally become popular out of nowhere and die down as quickly as they came. Think about it. I think that most any Debra or Linda you know are in their 50's and all the Heathers and Jennifers are in the 30's.

[ShadowBlinky]

I don't hear "Carol" all that much.

[defunctzombie]

There are bunches. How many Ludwigs or Klaus' do you see out there?

Interestingly, I never met another Kelly until I went to college. I was the only one in K-12.

[Michael24]

I've never encountered a Blanche, and aside from my great-grandmother have never known another Mabel.

[Mario500]

Here is the address to the Social Security Administration's World Wide Web site where users may check the popularity of given names:

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

[defunctzombie]

Wow, I went from 32 to 260. When I searched boy's data, it stopped at 2002. I guess the girls have finally claimed Kelly!

[Kiddington]

I think Arthur is a name that has really fallen by the wayside over the years. I mean, I've never met another person named Arthur. Obviously there are still living people with that name, but it certainly isn't very common anymore, especially when it comes to "new" baby names.

...oh, and just for the heck of it, I'll throw in my own name (Bryan) as well. Not the actual name itself, but the spelling, which I don't find to be all that common. Anyone that I've ever met with the same name as me has always spelled it as "Brian" with an "I". I've never actually met anyone in person that spells it with a "Y" like I do. I know I'm not the *only* one in the world that spells Bryan with a "Y" (as TZ's own Bryan Alford would attest to), but I'm just saying; from what I've seen, it isn't nearly as common as spelling it with an "I". Of course, growing up, people always thought my name was weird because of this. Thanks, Mom.

[Silverstar]

Funny, I have a cousin named Bryan.

One name that wasn't common at all when I was growing up was my own name, Damon. As a kid it felt like I was the only person on the planet with that name. When I would tell people my name, they would typically mistake it for Dana, David or worst of all...Damien. (Not good when you grew in the 70's and The Omen had just come out.) Of course, now there are other Damons coming out of the woodwork: racer Damon Bradshaw, actor/comedian Damon Wayans, actor Matt Damon, etc.

Other not very common names: Eustace, Francis (or Frances), Mabel, Petunia, Hortense and Lulu. I've never met anyone with those names.

[Michael24]

Here is the address to the Social Security Administration's World Wide Web site where users may check the popularity of given names:

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

This is too funny! According to that Top 10 2009 names, the 3rd most popular boy's and girl's name is both my name (Michael) and the name of the first girl I ever had a crush on in school (Olivia). That just made me laugh.

[Peter Paltridge]

"Bea" seems to have been a generational thing. I've met plenty of old ladies named Bea, but none younger.

Sometimes a name can be so associated with a popular character that it's retired as an actual name. "Barbie" comes to mind. Even though it's short for Barbara, no Barbara takes the name Barbie anymore.

I doubt there have been many Barts after 1990, too.

[Sam Hill]

Mary, which was among the top 10 girls names from the 1880s to the early 1970s and WAS the number one girls name for at least 70 of those years, has become less and less popular over the last 40 years for some reason. I don't believe it's even in the top 100 anymore. How the mighty have fallen.

[defunctzombie]

That could be simply due to changing cultural trends. Look at Maria's performance compared to Mary.

[PC!]

I'm friends with both a Francis (she goes by Fran, though) and a Barbie.

[Daxdiv]

Wow, my name is really consistent on this list. In the 80's it was in the single digits, but as of 1993, it has been 11-16 with it being 14 recently. Considering how many people I've encountered with my name, I would have been surprised if it was low ranking.