Baby names: 100-year-rule means Esthers, Agneses, Opals and more

By nameberry.com

If the Hundred-Year Rule — which states that it takes a century for most names to come back into fashion — holds true, then we’re in for some interesting times, judging from the list of 100 Most Popular Names of the 1910s.

A handful of the top names in the decade from 1910 to 1920 are already solidly back in style. These include:

Girls

• ANNA
• CHARLOTTE
• ELEANOR
• ELLA
• EVA
• GRACE
• JULIA
• LUCY
• ROSE
• STELLA
• VIOLET

Boys

• ANDREW
• BENJAMIN
• CHARLES and CHARLIE
• HARRY
• HENRY
• JACK
• LEO
• RAY
• SAM
• WILLIAM

A larger group is, not surprisingly, on the cutting edge of style, supporting the whole hundred-year theory by indicating which names we’ll be hearing more of in the decade ahead. The names from the Top 100 in the 1910s that sound fashion-forward today include:

Girls

• ALICE
• BEATRICE
• CLARA
• EDITH
• ESTHER
• EVELYN
• FLORENCE
• HAZEL
• JOSEPHINE
• JUNE
• LENA
• LEONA
• LILLIAN
• MABEL
• MAE
• MARGUERITE
• MINNIE
• PEARL
• RUBY
• SYLVIA
• VERA
• VIOLA
• VIVIAN

Boys

• ARTHUR
• EDWARD
• FRANK
• HOMER
• LEON
• LOUIS and LEWIS
• OSCAR
• RAYMOND
• VICTOR
• VINCENT
• WALTER

Other choices still seem a bit far out right now, but we predict will become more stylish and feel more acceptable over the next decade, echoing their popularity of a century ago. These include:

Girls

• AGNES
• ALMA
• BESSIE
• BETTY
• BLANCHE
• DOROTHY
• EDNA
• ELSIE
• GENEVIEVE
• HELEN
• IDA
• IRENE
• MARIAN and MARION
• MARJORIE (by popular demand!)
• MAXINE
• MILDRED
• MYRTLE
• OPAL
• PAULINE

Boys

• ALBERT
• BERNARD
• CECIL
• CHESTER
• CLARENCE
• CLAUDE
• CLYDE
• EDGAR
• EDWIN
• EVERETT
• FLOYD
• FRED and FREDERICK
• HAROLD
• HARVEY
• LEROY
• LLOYD
• MARTIN
• MILTON
• RALPH
• ROY
• STANLEY
• THEODORE
• VERNON
• WARREN
• WILBUR
• WILLARD

Other names it’s just hard to imagine coming back in the foreseeable future….or ever. But we’ve eaten our hat before so we may well see a resurgence of babies with these, uh, not-so-attractive names last popular a hundred years ago.

Girls

• BERNICE
• BERTHA
• BEULAH
• DORIS
• ETHEL
• GERTRUDE
• GLADYS
• LOIS
• MARJORIE
• PHYLLIS
• THELMA
• WILMA

Boys

• ALVIN
• ARNOLD
• EARL
• ELMER
• ERNEST
• HERBERT
• HERMAN
• LESTER
• MARVIN
• MELVIN

Nameberry (http://nameberry.com) is a baby-naming site produced by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, co-authors of 10 bestselling baby name guides, including the newest, “Beyond Ave and Aiden: The Enlightened Guide to Naming Your Baby.”