Baby Name Trends: What A Difference a Century Makes

Family History
5 February 2015
by

Baby name trends are changing
[Image: Shutterstock]
Elizabeth and William — two strong, Anglo-Saxon names. A current queen and a future king. They’re also the only two baby names to appear in the top 10 for both 1914 and 2013, a span of 100 years.

For today’s American babies, traditional names like Charlotte and Benjamin are nearly as popular as more trendy choices like Avery and Jackson.

What’s most striking in baby naming in the last few decades is the decline in popularity of names from the Bible. From 1962 to 2012, the use of New Testament names such as Mary, John, and Joseph declined by 68 percent. Old Testament names, though not dropping off quite as sharply (about 15 percent), still remain popular, with Noah, Jacob, and Daniel leading the 2013 boys’ list.

Extending the comparison to the top 25 in each year reveals a bit more overlap between generations. Evelyn and Grace were as popular for girls then as now, and James and Joseph, while more popular at numbers 3 and 5 respectively in 1914, still made it into the top 25 in 2013.

Top 25 Girl Names

2013

  • Sophia
  • Emma
  • Olivia
  • Isabella
  • Ava
  • Mia
  • Emily
  • Abigail
  • Madison
  • Elizabeth
  • Charlotte
  • Avery
  • Sofia
  • Chloe
  • Ella
  • Harper
  • Amelia
  • Aubrey
  • Addison
  • Evelyn
  • Natalie
  • Grace
  • Hannah
  • Zoey
  • Victoria

1914

  • Mary
  • Helen
  • Dorothy
  • Margaret
  • Ruth
  • Anna
  • Mildred
  • Elizabeth
  • Frances
  • Marie
  • Evelyn
  • Alice
  • Florence
  • Virginia
  • Rose
  • Lillian
  • Louise
  • Catherine
  • Edna
  • Gladys
  • Ethel
  • Irene
  • Josephine
  • Ruby
  • Grace

Top 25 Boy Names

2013

  • Noah
  • Liam
  • Jacob
  • Mason
  • William
  • Ethan
  • Michael
  • Alexander
  • Jayden
  • Daniel
  • Elijah
  • Aiden
  • James
  • Benjamin
  • Matthew
  • Jackson
  • Logan
  • David
  • Anthony
  • Joseph
  • Joshua
  • Andrew
  • Lucas
  • Gabriel
  • Samuel

1914

  • John
  • William
  • James
  • Robert
  • Joseph
  • George
  • Charles
  • Edward
  • Frank
  • Walter
  • Thomas
  • Henry
  • Paul
  • Harold
  • Albert
  • Raymond
  • Richard
  • Arthur
  • Harry
  • Louise
  • Ralph
  • Clarence
  • Donald
  • Carl
  • Willie

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

Tracing your family tree back through the generations is easy and free with Ancestry. Your search may provide an unexpected source of “trendy again” baby names.

After all, 1914’s Edna and Harry were 2013’s Addison and Anthony. Popular monikers from 1914 to watch for on future baby name lists? George, thanks to Britain’s Prince George of Cambridge, and Anna, thanks to Disney’s animated feature “Frozen.”

— Melanie Linn Gutowski