10 Baby Boy Names That Used to Be Popular

Family History
22 January 2015
by Ancestry Team

Names — they can be as timeless as some found in the Bible (John, David, James) or as trendy as a celebrity’s kid (North, Sparrow, Brooklyn). Every parent understands the complexity of choosing a name, because while some names never fall out of favor, others can stop being in vogue in just a few generations. Of course, the reverse phenomenon is true as well, with old-fashioned names that make a comeback.

We took a look at the most popular boys’ names from 1880 (the earliest available date for government statistics about given name popularity) to the 1930s and picked 10 that are hardly used anymore. Sure, there are still tons of Williams, Henrys, and Edwards, but when’s the last time you received a birth announcement for an Ernest, Harold, or Herbert?

You can find out if you have any forebears with these names by researching your family tree for free on Ancestry.com.

Popular baby boy names
                   Source: Shutterstock

1. Clarence

According to government records going back to 1880, now maintained by the Social Security Administration, Clarence peaked in popularity in 1895, when it was the 17th-most-popular name and accounted for 1.046 percent of all names, or 4,929 boys per million. (By comparison, John, the most popular name that year, accounted for 8.155 percent of all newborn boys. Noah, the most popular name in 2013, accounted for 0.904 percent of all newborn boys.) A year earlier, in 1894, famed lawyer Clarence Darrow represented union leader Eugene V. Debs in his trial for leading an illegal railroad strike. Since 2002, when it was the country’ 976th-most-popular name, Clarence hasn’t made the list of the 1,000 most popular boy names. It slipped out of the top 100 after 1951, when it came in 98th. The name derives from a title for junior members of the British royal family, the Duke of Clarence, which derives from the town of Clare in Suffolk, England. Clarence has been used as a given name since the 19th century.

2. Herbert

Herbert is another name that has fallen in popularity. Since 1880, Herbert’s popularity peaked in 1929, when it hit number 25 and accounted for 0.710 percent of all newborn boys, or 2,535 individuals per million. Maybe not coincidentally, 1929 was the year one of the 20th century’s most famous Herberts, Herbert Hoover, took office as the 31st president. Perhaps the fact that he presided over America’s slide into the Great Depression accounts for the name’s drop in popularity. Herbert’s last time in the top 100 was in 1946, when it ranked 97. In 2010, it was the country’s 985th-most-popular name, and Herbert hasn’t cracked the top 1,000 since. Deriving from the Germanic elements hari, or “army,” and beraht, “bright,” the Normans introduced the name to England from France, where it supplanted an Old Englishname, Herebeorht.

3. Elmer

In 1893, Elmer peaked in popularity at number 32 and accounted for 0.474 percent of all newborn boys, or 2,338 individuals per million. The name — best known now for a brand of glue — stayed in the top 100 for six decades but has steadily declined since the ’40s. In 2009, Elmer had fallen to 928th. It hasn’t made the top 1,000 list since. The name derives from a surname that was in turn derived from the Old English name Aedelmaer, meaning “noble and famous.” Try searching the meaning of your surname

4. Ernest

Ernest made it to number 21 in 1885, when 0.619 percent of newborn boys, or 3,261 per million, were given this name. Ernest last made the top 100 in 1956, when it was 94th. By 2013, it had fallen to 933. The name derives from the German Ernst, which is derived from the Old High German ernust and ernost, meaning “earnest” or “resolute.” Adults who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s probably remember the name as late comedian Jim Varney’s alter ego in a series of “Ernest Goes to…” movies.

5. Harold

Harold’s modern heyday was in the 1920s, peaking in the first year of that decade at number 12. That year, it accounted for 1.243 percent of all newborn boys, or 5,989 per million. But two generations later, in 1966, the name made its last appearance in the top 100, at number 99. In 2013, the name hit an all-time low in popularity, at 893. The name derives from the Old English Hereweald, a name meaning “army” and “ruler” or “power.” After King Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the name largely died out with him, but it was reintroduced in the 19th century with other Old English names.

6. Eugene

The popularity of Eugene peaked in 1929 at number 20, when it was given to 0.817 percent of all male births (3,802 per million). The name last made the top 100 in 1957, at number 92. In 2013, it stood at number 779, an improvement over its all-time low of 827 in 2011. The name is derived from the Latin eugenius, which means “well born,” and arrived in England from France.

7. Willie

It’s now usually considered a nickname for William, but Willie was one of the most popular names for boys in the first decade of the 20th century. It hit number 11 in 1910, when it made up 1.389 percent of all newborn boy names, or 6,169 per million. The name stayed in the top 100 until the late 1960s, perhaps kept popular by baseball star Willie Mays, who won National League rookie of the year in 1951 and played until 1973. The name Willie last enjoyed top-100 status in 1968, at number 96. By 2013, it had tumbled to 708. By comparison, William was the third-most-popular name in 1910, but unlike Willie, William has stayed popular. William was the fifth-most-popular name in 2013, and it has never dropped below number 20 since 1880. After William the Conqueror led the Norman invasion of England in 1066, William, not surprisingly, became the most popular name introduced to England by the Normans. In Norman French, the name meant “resolute protector.”

8. Albert

Like Willie, Albert peaked in popularity in 1910, when the name reached number 14 and constituted 1.047 percent of all boys born that year (6,227 per million babies). Albert had been popular, however, for much of the 19th century after Prince Albert took his place as Royal Consort to England’s beloved Queen Victoria in 1840, a title he held until his death in 1861. Prior to that, Albert had been popular among medieval German royalty. Today, Albert hasn’t fallen totally from favor — in 2013, it ranked number 421, just after Keaton and before Muhammad, but unlike Albert, those names are trending upwards. Albert comes from from the Germanic name Adalbert, which means “bright noble.”

9. Arthur

As with Albert, Arthur has been experiencing a steady decline in popularity since 1880, even if its popularity hasn’t plummeted as drastically as Elmer or Herbert. Arthur was ranked number 14 or 15 for all of the 1880s and 1890s and peaked in popularity in 1881, when it accounted for 1.454 percent of all boys born, or 7,009 per million. Arthur last cracked the top 100 in 1969 at number 97. In 2013, it was number 323. Arthur is, of course, the name of the central character in Arthurian legend, a 6th-century king of the Britons who resisted Saxon invaders. In England today, the name remains popular, at number 52. The origins of the name are uncertain. It could come from the Celticartos, or “bear,” combined with viros, “man,” or rigos, “king.” Or, it could come from an obscure Roman family name, Artorius.

10. Walter

Today, Walter is a name of middling popularity, clocking in at number 342 in 2013, which represents a bit of revival from its low of 393 in 2008. But Walter stands out because it once ranked the highest of all the names on this list. In 1914, it hit number 10 in popularity, but the greatest number of Walters was actually born in 1892, when 1.696 percent of newborn boys took that name, or 8.074 per million. Walter didn’t drop out of the top 100 until after 1972, when it was 98. Walter is originally a Germanic name meaning “ruler of the army” and came to England with the Norman invasion.

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