View Message

Actually Gloria predates Shaw by at least a bit, because Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth published a novel called Gloria named after its main character in 1891. Few Americans have heard of Mrs. Southworth today, but many of her books were huge bestsellers back in the 19th century.

---

One can never predict with 100% accuracy when a name will come back into fashion. However, Gloria's previous high point of use in the USA was in the 1930s and 1940s; the typical American woman named Gloria is just around 65 right now. Normally previously common names only come back into fashion when young parents no longer remember older women with that name. If it was a name of their mothers' or grandmothers' generation, they will still think it sounds ugly, but once most young parents can't remember women with the name, it starts to sound pleasantly old-fashioned again. So normally a name will not be able to become really popular again until at least a century after its former peak of use. So I'm not expecting Gloria to become fashionable again until 2030 at the earliest.

---

There are always surprises, of course. Audrey came back into fashion much earlier than normal, for instance. But so far there is little sign of Gloria's being an exception to the "at least a century" rule.

This message was edited 12/2/2005, 4:59 PM