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[Opinions] Lost Generation Names
A post recently about name tastes got me thinking about mine, and how a lot of my more recent favorite names surged in popularity in the late 1800s, particularly the 1890s. Basically, these were the names of young people who endured WWI and then wondered what the heck life meant afterward (and then partied in the 1920s).Looking at the popularity list (https://www.behindthename.com/top/lists/united-states-decade/1890) on this site, these are some of the most popular birth names of that era that aren't "enduring classics":Frank
Harry
Walter
Arthur (this one's making a comeback)
Fred
Albert
Clarence
Willie
Roy
Louis
Earl
Carl
Ernest
Raymond
Richard (steadily falling)
Harold
Ralph
Howard
Herbert
Elmer
&
Ruth
Florence
Ethel
Marie
Clara (this one's making a comeback)
Bertha
Minnie
Bessie
Alice (this one's making a comeback)
Lillian (this one's making a comeback)
Edna
Grace (this one made the comeback, could be Top 20 soon)
Mabel
Ida
Rose
Hazel
Gertrude
Martha
Pearl
FrancesThere are some names from this list that are among my personal least favorite (Roy & Edna), but the overall aesthetic is... incredibly charming. I'd love to encounter these names in fiction more often.Anyway, wdyt of "Lost Generation" names?***Please rate my personal name lists:www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/117507
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/109399
www.behindthename.com/pnl/69381/132018

This message was edited 12/19/2023, 8:39 AM

Replies

I like Arthur, Florence, Alice, Lillian, Grace

This message was edited 12/20/2023, 10:16 AM

I don’t love the boy names except Arthur, but the girl names are brilliant. Ruth, Alice, Lillian, Grace, Mabel, Ida, Rose, Hazel and Pearl are favourites of mine.
I like:
Harry
Arthur
Louis
Ernest
AliceHarry and Alice would be my favorites.
My favorites: Harry (Maternal grandfather's name)
Walter (Such a G.P name for me)
Arthur
Louis Marie (Prefer Maria more though)
Clara (4 Y.O niece named this. Always loved it).
Alice
Lillian
Ida
Rose

This message was edited 12/19/2023, 5:52 PM

Some of these are going to have very different images in different English-speaking countries.Harry has already strongly revived in the UK but has not caught on in the USA, probably because in most American accents Harry is pronounced the same as the word "hairy,", which is not the case in Britain.Carl peaked in the USA way back in 1915 and so should be ripe for revival here. However, it only became popular in Britain much later, peaking there around 1980, so it would have a middle-aged image in the UK and so shouldn't be coming back there again anytime soon.Hazel has already come back strongly in the USA and Mabel, Florence and Pearl have recently returned to the top 1000 in the USA.

This message was edited 12/19/2023, 2:45 PM

In today's world, most of them are unlikely to reappear; others of course have never left. My preferences:
Richard and Roy; I also like Francis but not Frank, and not Frances for a girl either.
Ruth, Florence, Clare, but also Clara, and AliceIn my husband's family tree there is a Bertha who married an Ernest.
I love these types of names! I think of them as "belle époque" names, but "the lost generation" is wonderfully dramatic as well. The ones that are most clearly of their own time appeal to me.These names are endearingly awkward, I think that's why they speak to me. The fact that they capture an extinct form of beauty is fascinating. When parents were choosing these names, I'm sure most of them thought they were lovely. It's only over time that they turned lumpy.... And sometimes I wonder, if history had gone differently, would we look at them the same way? If those Elmers and Ethels hadn't lived through what they did, would we still find them so ugly? I think some of these names get a bad rap because they became synonymous with misfortune.
I like:
Lillian
Ida
Minnie
Bessie
Clarence

This message was edited 12/19/2023, 9:43 AM

I love such names! I recently reintroduced Clarence, Bertha, and Martha to my PNL; many of the others listed here are also on my list.

This message was edited 12/19/2023, 9:08 AM