Trends sometimes happen in cycles, with fading favorites coming back around after several decades. According to name expert Sophie Kihm at Nameberry, there is a 100-year rule for monikers, so names that are unpopular within a period will likely top the list in the next century.
Sophie added that some names refresh over time because the previous generation that used them is no longer present, making it feel new and interesting for the next batch to use. “Names tend to go out of fashion after they’ve been stylish for a while,” she noted.
What names are back in vogue?
You may have noticed that names from the 1920s like Otis, Florence, Felix, Theodore, and Iris are becoming more common, and this is because the older generation that had those names have now passed on, while modern names like Stephanie, Kieran, Ellen, and Tony are now going out of fashion, likely to return in the next century.
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“Once a name is on the decline, we expect it to follow the 100-year rule— names take about 100 years to come back into fashion. That means names of the great-grandparent generation are starting to sound fresh again,” Sophie explained.
Some remain a classic for several generations
There are names that defy the 100-year rule by maintaining their spot through time and centuries. These are mostly boy names— commonly associated with royal families, and influential figures, that tend to be historically passed down in the paternal line. “They still cycle up and down in usage, but these traditional names feel evergreen because of tradition,” Sophie pointed out.
“Names like James, Thomas, Henry, George, William, and Alexander have never left the top 30 in England and Wales,” Sophie said. However, girl names are more dynamic and can change with the trends. “Girl names were historically more ornamental and thus more susceptible to trends,” she added.